Recent convert

[Fatman]

I just recently started smoking out of a corncob pipe. I have been missing A LOT! For the price, and actually given the price of mid-range briars, in my humble opinion they excel above a lot of others in all aspects! I now have 3 and will buy more for certain. Cheers to the brothers here that extoll their virtues, it is those fine folks' love for them that prompted me to give them a try!

My hat is off to you!

/cheers!

John

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

For a long time I wouldn't smoke cobs as I considered a cob inferior to briar. Well, it is as regards enduring through time. But that was a narrow practice. I didn't actually give cobs the go until I resumed smoking again last October but had very little money to buy pipes, which certainly ousted my practice of buying briar estates worth between $200.00-$300.00. Instead I bought about 8 cobs and was as amazed as you as regards their worth as smoking instruments, albeit at a fraction of the price.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Cobs are the blue jeans of the pipe world. Tough, cheap, casual, accepted, easy to replace.

 

[somedumbjerk]

maybe i haven't smoked my cobs enough yet, but they have a certain taste they impart to the tobacco. i'm still figuring it out, but some tobaccos i really enjoy in my briars get to a "meh" level quickly in a cob. i haven't had any tobacco that is the opposite yet, though.

well, maybe stormfront, but i've only smoked it twice, and probably i was biased to liking it more in a cob because of the blender

 

[Kyle Weiss]

JP's blends are for cobs, anyway. He knows what he's doing.

Briar also imparts flavor to the tobacco. So does meerschaum (that I notice, anyway). So does morta. Hell, clay probably does, too.

Maybe you're just used to briar...? *shrug* Nothing wrong with that.

 

[somedumbjerk]

JP's blends are for cobs, anyway. He knows what he's doing.

Briar also imparts flavor to the tobacco. So does meerschaum (that I notice, anyway). So does morta. Hell, clay probably does, too.

Maybe you're just used to briar...? *shrug* Nothing wrong with that.

actually i think i just realized what it is. most of my briars are dedicated to certain families of tobacco, and my three cobs are kind of anything goes. i should pick up a few more cobs and dedicate em and see if it makes a difference. i have the walker forever stems, so i can just swap em around.

 

[Rob_In_MO]

Cobs are the blue jeans of the pipe world. Tough, cheap, casual, accepted, easy to replace.

Couldn't have said it any better. :cheers:

 

[CigarKen]

I picked up 6 cobs recently and am really enjoyin the Country Gentleman. I do wish it had a more solid stem. I know they are available but I can't bring myself to put $24 stem on an $8 cob.
I have yet to have a cob gurgle.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

actually i think i just realized what it is. most of my briars are dedicated to certain families of tobacco, and my three cobs are kind of anything goes. i should pick up a few more cobs and dedicate em and see if it makes a difference. i have the walker forever stems, so i can just swap em around.

Well there ya go. I even dedicate my cobs like my briars: one set for set for Latakia, one for everything else that isn't Latakia. Since I don't smoke anything else (no aros, very little Perique, zero Lakeland Lady Douche), that keeps it pretty simple.

8)

 

[joemelon]

Cobs are great, I wish I had more than the 2 that I do. Will have to get a couple at some point to dedicate to English blends and virginia/burley tobaccos.

I picked up 6 cobs recently and am really enjoyin the Country Gentleman. I do wish it had a more solid stem. I know they are available but I can't bring myself to put $24 stem on an $8 cob.
I have yet to have a cob gurgle.

I've replaced the stems on my two cobs that I smoke semi-regularly and I plan on doing that when I get more cobs. It's a worthwhile upgrade and will probably outlive the pipe assuming you burn a whole in it or crack the bowl. Downside, if you drop your pipe in the lake while fishing or it falls into the campfire or the grill...you're out 32 dollars for pipe and stem instead of just 8. :lol:

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Downside, if you drop your pipe in the lake while fishing...you're out 32 dollars for pipe and stem instead of just 8. :lol:

Au contraire...I'm not entirely sure if the "forever stems" would negate any cob buoyancy, but I did have a cob fit with OEM stem plunk into the lake whilest kayak fishing for trout (got kind of excited when the fish hit), and I landed the fish, strung the tasty devil, and paddled back to my floating pipe to retrieve it. I dried it out in a day, and have smoked it ever since. :mrgreen:

Cob pipes are amazing things.

8)

 

[Anonymous]

The whole point of them (beside quality) is they fit all your MM cobs.

:face:

 

[Kyle Weiss]

I'm leaning that direction... as much as I like the OEM stems, they're light, comfortable and conform to the teeth via a convenient indentation, said indent causes draft constriction. :lol: *sigh* I'll probably have to get one, or have a sack full'a plastic replacement stems from Mars on hand.

8)

 

[joemelon]

Au contraire...I'm not entirely sure if the "forever stems" would negate any cob buoyancy, but I did have a cob fit with OEM stem plunk into the lake whilest kayak fishing for trout (got kind of excited when the fish hit), and I landed the fish, strung the tasty devil, and paddled back to my floating pipe to retrieve it. I dried it out in a day, and have smoked it ever since. :mrgreen:

Cob pipes are amazing things.

8)

Well that solves one fear. Good thing to know, that. My dislike of the stock stems comes from the fact that I end up chewing through them, not that the aesthetic improvement of a forever stem isn't a benefit also.

 

[MisterE]

My experience is almost identical to Alfredo's.

I thought they were silly until I actually tried one. I won't "dis" the cob anymore. They work surprisingly well.

 

[Richard Burley]

Has anyone mentioned they are also LIGHT, among their other virtues? If briar/cob came down to either/or, I would not hesitate to choose the cob. They just have a forgiving mellowness that briars lack. "Blue jeans of the pipe world," the Weissonian formulation, is quite apt. I like it. Far better than "jockstrap of the pipe world," as some benighted souls insinuate.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Burley, you crack me up. May we never find the "jockstrap of the pipe world." Whatever that may be. Not going there. :lol:

The cob-floating experiment I unwittingly was a part of that fateful day of fishing both angered and fascinated me. I was less angry when everything righted itself a day later, but I do admit staring at the cob and how it behaved in the water. The OEM stem went straight down, and I could tell by the cob breaking the surface of the lake as it bobbed in the ripples it wouldn't have taken much to actually sink it. A cork it is not, but that was my concern about the fancy "forever stem..." would that have sunk $30 in fine cobiness? :scratch:

So, at least for now, OEM stems are fine...a year or two is probably absolute max for my bite, but eventually I'll church up the cheap cobs and get a more fashionable, permanent stem--they can all share it one at a time when needed. It'll be like a bolo tie at a squaredance wedding for the rubes.

Silly or not, cobs are what usually follow me out in public when I have a pipe. Who am I going to impress cob or not? 'Nuff said. :lol:

 

[lifeon2]

I've said before and I'll say it again cobs are ok if you're into that sort of thing

Big straight and Big bent

Extra large and long

Miniatures

Square shank or corn dog the second one is my favorite as it is actually cut like a bulldog

Old display board being filled with random pipes

Just some unique ones

Older pipes from when they were a bit nicer

Some hard woods that you just seem to pick up as you go along

Really old and fairly unique

Bamboo shanks

Current or modern cobs

Cool bents some old some new

Three different freehands

Complete unsmoked custom grade presentation set from the 50s

Reed stems some redone by yours truly

Whit I like to call the 44 cobnum it had a crack in the shank that I banded with a piece of 44 mag brass I fit the stem from my box of spares and gave it a hard wood plug bottom

A custom piece made by a fellow called smoking dragon

A santas pipe not sure how old but Marylin over at MM guesses from the 30s or 40s

A MKII nylon pipe with replaceable corncob bowls, I have 3 white, black and brown.

Well those are the highlights hope you like them.

 

[Richard Burley]

A stunning display, for many reasons, and rivals that of the factory. Great variety and the patina on some pieces is delectable. Makes one wonder why the company isn't still making some of the more interesting specimens. Thanks for showing.

 

[monbla256]

And your other name is mr.Cob Fantastic collection. The variety of shapes, sizes and such is amazing! Thanks for the S&T :twisted: