Oom Paul - favorite or seldom smoked?

[sstodvictory]

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I had never tried an Oom Paul before yesterday. I always figured they would gurgle and be difficult to clean. Because I'm a sucker for a Giubileo D'Oro if the price is right, I bought this yesterday along with the pictured Bird's Eye Flake. These and a book came together for my first smoke of the day. BTY, babysinister and PipedJimmy, here's a salute to you. I have enjoyed St. Bruno Flake over the years. This is one of three dried up cans I must rehydrate to continue enjoying.

Impressions of my first Oom Paul:

1) Had a great view of the char, light and tamping - cool!

2) Very comfortable no-hands smoking - cool!

3) Gurgled with the Bird's Eye Flake, but the water collects in the mortise and is reachable with a pipe cleaner - not a big problem.

4) It was gunkier than most pipes after one smoke - could have been the tobacco.

5) Smoke in the eyes - not cool!

6) Wearing a puffy down jacket (reading in my car)......can't turn head very much.

Overall - might be a good TV pipe, could make you look cool in a photo, does not get the highest scores from me.

Oom Paul fans - what setting and tobacco brings forth your enjoyment of this shape?

Steve

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[Justpipes]

I've always been intrigued by the shape but have never owned a true Oom Paul. I have a couple of true full bent pipes similar to an one that smoke well. In fact I smoked one of them today. Mike Brissett's Danish style version of an Oom Paul.

 

[Centurian 803]

I have a Savinelli Estrada Oom Paul and I love it. I smoke burlies exclusively in it. It's my favorite - sitting in the recliner reading - pipe.

 

[ftrplt]

Not my cup of tea!!!! FTRPLT

 

[Trout Bum]

I have a Pete 306 that's pretty much an Oom Paul, and I like it. When I had my own bachelor pad and could smoke in the house, I would lie down on the couch with the pipe stem in my mouth and the bowl on my chest, and puff away whils't reading a good book. That was my favorite way to smoke it...

JP-- that is one stylish Brissett!

 

[The Janitor]

My Oom Paul is absolutely my favorite pipe. Great for relaxing with a good book or my laptop. It's also a great pipe when I am out on the town. Not only is it easier to clench, but it is easier to palm when making my way through a crowded bar. And the unusual shape often draws comments from people that are used to seeing me with a pipe.

The Janitor

 

[Hermit]

I don't have one,
but I might someday.

 

[Joseph76]

I own a Cavicchi full bent barrel and it's one of my favorites. OPs can be tough to drill right but Cavicchi has mastered the drilling on these, a cleaner glides to the bottom of the bowl. Not that I ever have to use one (mid-smoke) because it smokes dry as a bone. My pipe is only 47 grams so you can't even feel it when it's clenched.

My only negative is sometimes the smoke stream goes into the eyes which is bothersome.

 

[Kapnismologist]

I have had a few, but pawned them off. Perhaps it was the occasional 'smoke in the eyes' thing? Not opposed in principle however - if I were to come across one which struck my fancy, I certainly would like to try the shape again.

 

[Doc Manhattan]

I adore my Hungarian made by our own Sasquatch, but as full-bent pipes go it's a statistical outlier, as it's so honkin' big. I do love the chinresting comfort of a full-bent stem!

 

[Mikem]

I have a couple of them and find myself smoking them more and more. Mainly because they are very comfortable to clench while working on the computer or reading.

 

[babysinister]

I too have a Sasquatch Hungarian - the Lugosi! Suffice it to say that it's one of my four favorite pipes out of a total 40 pipes I own. It's reserved for Virginia and VaBur flakes, and smoking it puts me in The Zone, every time. Perfectly styled and engineered, out of excellent briar. Not as radically bent as a traditional OomPaul, and with this one that's a good thing indeed. Smokes cool and, mirabile dictu, no gurgle at all. One in a million, I think.

 

[Justpipes]

I too have a Sasquatch Hungarian - the Lugosi! Suffice it to say that it's one of my four favorite pipes out of a total 40 pipes I own. It's reserved for Virginia and VaBur flakes, and smoking it puts me in The Zone, every time. Perfectly styled and engineered, out of excellent briar. Not as radically bent as a traditional OomPaul, and with this one that's a good thing indeed. Smokes cool and, mirabile dictu, no gurgle at all. One in a million, I think.

Nice looking pipe!

 

[Doc Manhattan]

Two in a million--mine also is free of gurgle. Mine has a rustication where the bowl and shank join, but otherwise, a very similar pipe.

 

[Sasquatch]

Sinister's pipe would fit inside yours, though, Doc. Statistical outlier indeed.


Oom Pauls are really hard to build right. And unlike some other pipes, if you miss a little, you are outright done.

Done right though, they are the nicest shape for driving, writing, ... or even carving pipes!

 

[babysinister]

Sinister's pipe would fit inside yours, though, Doc. Statistical outlier indeed. [..]

Would fit inside his what?? Over my dead body...!

 

[Dock]

I only own two. Both were special commissions made for me by Michael Parks. Truthfully I like the shape's looks far more than their performance. I'm of the school that a billiard or a canadian outsmokes any fullbent.

 

[Sasquatch]

That's okay DPG... you just don't know any better.

The vast majority of full bent pipes have some technical issue, the most usual being an impediment of the airway by the tenon. It's a hard shape to make into a technically good pipe, and an extremely easy shape to make a gurgler out of. Only through the most rigorous and dedicated testing and re-testing, a self-sacrificing determination to make non gurgling Oom Pauls, have I, through a veil of blood, sweat, and tears, been able to overcome this obstacle.*





*Also 40 dollar briar blocks, some good luck, and paying off Babysinister and Doc Manhattan.

 

[babysinister]

That's okay DPG... you just don't know any better.

The vast majority of full bent pipes have some technical issue, the most usual being an impediment of the airway by the tenon. It's a hard shape to make into a technically good pipe, and an extremely easy shape to make a gurgler out of. Only through the most rigorous and dedicated testing and re-testing, a self-sacrificing determination to make non gurgling Oom Pauls, have I, through a veil of blood, sweat, and tears, been able to overcome this obstacle.*

*Also 40 dollar briar blocks, some good luck, and paying off Babysinister and Doc Manhattan.

...Very foolish of you, Mr. Bond.... I'm afraid the price will be going up....

 

[Sasquatch]

D'Oh!