fishnbanjo
Broken Pipe
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2013
- Messages
- 1,714
- Reaction score
- 2
I read a bit about the Tsuge Tankard just prior to purchasing mine, here are some of the questions and concerns I read and my report after smoking it 50 times touches upon those questions and concerns.
Does the metal get hot?
I have found the top metal will get hot initially when lighting it but it cools rapidly and I have never found the bottom metal nor the shank metal to become hot.
Does the shank come loose, many reports are that it unscrews.
Have never found my shank to be anything other than secure.
Will it smoke well given it's just a cylinder of briar with metal on top and bottom with a metal shaft screwed in?
Well, the briar is anything other than just a cylinder, it is in fact a total briar bowl that is flat on the bottom for the application of the bottom metal and probably flat on top since there is no apparent ridge but the bowl has been drilled and bored in the traditional fashion so it seems to be a very solidly engineered system that smokes extremely well.
What is with the pricing and is a pipe this cheap worth buying?
I found pricing to range from $96 for a low to just over $200 for the high plus shipping. I don't know why mine was available so cheap but if I had paid the $200 price I would not feel as I had over paid for this pipe, it is that good.
Now that I've given replies to the concerns and questions I'd read I'd like to report my findings. I began smoking the pipe with Plum Cake which is the tobacco I generally smoke in any new acquisition since it can smoke hot if pushed.
It smoked very well, yes, the bowl got hot when I pushed it which all of my pipes do if pushed but it cooled quickly by just holding it by the top metal and then continue smoking it normally and it smoke clear down to ash on the first bowl.
Second bowl was Reverie, my staple smoke for a good many years, this is an aromatic from Georgetown Tobacco and can be moist as aromatics tend to be so I made no attempt to dry it and it did begin to gurgle a bit 1/3 of the bowl through. I then placed the Savinelli leather zip cover on it and set it aside for a DTG later. When I came back and relit it the pipe came to life and I finished the smoke to ash w/o further gurgle.
The remaining 48 bowls were VA's, Anniversary Kake and AJ's Vapers all of which smoked wonderfully to the end with nothing but ash. I use this pipe as my daily walkabout pipe which can be very windy here in southern ME and I have had glowing embers fly out of other pipes during walkabout but not once with the Tsuge, don't know if the metal top caused some sort of venturi effect but everything stayed within the bowl.
Conclusion:
The pipe is well built both engineering wise and component wise. It smokes extremely well and is even beginning to form a cake at the bottom heel. The metal to briar fit is outstanding and the cake build up after 50 smokes is thin. The metal can discolor a bit from being lit and tars from the smoke condensing on top but a lightly moistened cloth removes it in one swipe.
The metal, bowl and stem look as good 50 smokes later as it did when it originally arrived. The only fault I've had is that I put my pipes away with a pipe cleaner inserted and when I pack the pipe I often realize I had the pipe cleaner in so when I take it out I put the pipe in my mouth and light it then when I grab the bowl to tamp I'm left with a stem sticking out of my mouth. I have rectified this by placing the stem in the pipe 1/4 off then turn it clockwise to the correct position and have not had the stem come loose since. If one is looking to buy a quality smoker for not much money you need not look any further than a Tsuge Tankard. Regards....
banjo
Does the metal get hot?
I have found the top metal will get hot initially when lighting it but it cools rapidly and I have never found the bottom metal nor the shank metal to become hot.
Does the shank come loose, many reports are that it unscrews.
Have never found my shank to be anything other than secure.
Will it smoke well given it's just a cylinder of briar with metal on top and bottom with a metal shaft screwed in?
Well, the briar is anything other than just a cylinder, it is in fact a total briar bowl that is flat on the bottom for the application of the bottom metal and probably flat on top since there is no apparent ridge but the bowl has been drilled and bored in the traditional fashion so it seems to be a very solidly engineered system that smokes extremely well.
What is with the pricing and is a pipe this cheap worth buying?
I found pricing to range from $96 for a low to just over $200 for the high plus shipping. I don't know why mine was available so cheap but if I had paid the $200 price I would not feel as I had over paid for this pipe, it is that good.
Now that I've given replies to the concerns and questions I'd read I'd like to report my findings. I began smoking the pipe with Plum Cake which is the tobacco I generally smoke in any new acquisition since it can smoke hot if pushed.
It smoked very well, yes, the bowl got hot when I pushed it which all of my pipes do if pushed but it cooled quickly by just holding it by the top metal and then continue smoking it normally and it smoke clear down to ash on the first bowl.
Second bowl was Reverie, my staple smoke for a good many years, this is an aromatic from Georgetown Tobacco and can be moist as aromatics tend to be so I made no attempt to dry it and it did begin to gurgle a bit 1/3 of the bowl through. I then placed the Savinelli leather zip cover on it and set it aside for a DTG later. When I came back and relit it the pipe came to life and I finished the smoke to ash w/o further gurgle.
The remaining 48 bowls were VA's, Anniversary Kake and AJ's Vapers all of which smoked wonderfully to the end with nothing but ash. I use this pipe as my daily walkabout pipe which can be very windy here in southern ME and I have had glowing embers fly out of other pipes during walkabout but not once with the Tsuge, don't know if the metal top caused some sort of venturi effect but everything stayed within the bowl.
Conclusion:
The pipe is well built both engineering wise and component wise. It smokes extremely well and is even beginning to form a cake at the bottom heel. The metal to briar fit is outstanding and the cake build up after 50 smokes is thin. The metal can discolor a bit from being lit and tars from the smoke condensing on top but a lightly moistened cloth removes it in one swipe.
The metal, bowl and stem look as good 50 smokes later as it did when it originally arrived. The only fault I've had is that I put my pipes away with a pipe cleaner inserted and when I pack the pipe I often realize I had the pipe cleaner in so when I take it out I put the pipe in my mouth and light it then when I grab the bowl to tamp I'm left with a stem sticking out of my mouth. I have rectified this by placing the stem in the pipe 1/4 off then turn it clockwise to the correct position and have not had the stem come loose since. If one is looking to buy a quality smoker for not much money you need not look any further than a Tsuge Tankard. Regards....
banjo
