Today was a slow day for Pipe smoking. I am on my First. Was in Day Surgery at 9:15 out by 1pm, After a couple hour nap and a small dinner. I thought I would get back into the mix of things with my First Pipe, an Arlington Standard filled with some F&K Lancer Slices.
For me this is a Nice Va/Lat for me it seems very heavy on the Latakia. Not a Every day type of tobacco. One that I could put in my Rotation 2 or 4 times a week.
James

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Smoking a MM Cob some nice Orlik Golden Sliced. Smooth pipe, Smooth blend.

James
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I'm giving pipes another try so I had some Dunhill Nightcap in a Grabow Silver Duke ¼ bent apple I just picked up. I like the smaller bowl on this. It was very good! I have another couple of estate pipes on the way. They're in really nice shape and I shouldn't have to do anything more than clean them. I have high hopes this time around as I have learned to dry out the baccy a bit first and it seems to have worked well. It was probably one of the most enjoyable pipes I've smoked; it was nice and cool and dry. :-)
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Dunhill Nightcap.......:-)
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I definitely seem to have the most luck with the English blends. I have a lot of tobacco and a few pipes coming. About 2/3 of the way through my tin of GLP Stratford and I'm excited to try some different VaPer blends. I'm particularly excited for the Escudo. I see that being tossed around on just about every forum and review site there is.
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Loaded up a cob today with something that is from 2004 or before and never had enough time to go outside to sit long enough to smoke it. On the go all day long. MAYBE in the next couple of hours or in the morning.

I truly do not know what the tobacco is. A friend of mine gave me his pipe tobacco in 2004 and this is from one of the bags which were not marked. Chances are it is not going to be smoked completely. So far, a couple of the "no name" bags haven't been worth keeping IMHO.
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Got my new Mark Twain cob today. It is rather large with a smaller bowl. The walls are the thickest I've ever seen on a cob. Since the bowl is fairly narrow, I'm going to dedicate it to Virginia's.

ImageNew Mark Twain cob by brianhusk, on Flickr
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Brian, That is an interesting looking Cob, Congrats. Hope it is a great smoker.

James
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James,

Thanks!

The first bowl seems to be smoking really smooth and sweet. I decided to leave the filter in for now, until I can get a new stem for it. My thoughts were the filter may help with some of the residues or other junk left over in the bowl. I don't think I've ever used a filter, but I gotta say it doesn't really seem to reduce the flavor at all, from what I can tell. Is it better to use a filter? What's the point?

Brian
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That's a great looking Mark Twain cob Brian. I like the thick walls on the bowl. Here's some measurements on the diameter and inside bowl depth:

Chamber diameter: .75 in/19.05 mm
Chamber depth: 1.625 in/41.275 mm

I've never used a filter myself, but you may want to go ahead and smoke a few bowls with the filter, then remove the filter and smoke a few more bowls of the same pipe tobacco to ascertain if there is indeed a difference.

Again, nice looking cob my friend:-)
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Great advise from Mark there, I would smoke a few with and a few without and see what one you like better. I know that there are some people that smoke really fast and hard. They tend to like the filters to help keep the tobacco or ash from getting into the mouth. Under normal use I like to smoke without the filter. If I am going to mow the lawn or do something where I can forget to take it slow I too use a filter just in case I draw to hard. I don't like ash in the mouth lol... If it is a wet blend, The ash most times don't make it to far past the shank.. Another reason I use a filter if I am out mowing is I don't have to worry about running a pipe cleaner in the pipe. I can just smoke away.

James
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Mark--Thanks, I couldn't find the dimensions on the MM site, but admittedly I didn't look very hard either. I thought the bowl would be bigger though. It's not as wide as my country gentleman bowls. It smoked really great though.

James--That's good advice. My forever stems won't take a filter, but I have all the original stems, so maybe I'll keep a few filters on hand for some of the reasons you state. Are you not supposed to run a cleaner though while the filter is in?

I can't wait for my new tobaccos to get delivered.
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Mixed up some remnant of LNF and Louisiana flake. Sounded good, but it's not.
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Lord of the Manor in an old yello bole I rehabbed from ebay.
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Revisited 10 Russians last night. I find the bolder English blends hit a sweet spot with me when beer is flowing (though it could be the cooler nights as well). I do enjoy this plug but I'm happy I had a full belly and a comfy chair.
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Got one pipe in today after the rain stopped. Finished up the last of my Semois in my favorite Meer from BAKI.
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WOW that is one stunning looking Pipe. Makes my IMP look plain. Very nice. :-)

James
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Very nice looking pipe!

I got my PS Luxury Navy Flake in today, so I decided to try a bowl and my allergies went nuts and killed it for me. I have no clue how it tasted.
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Thanks gents! This is the one and only pipe I let my wife help pick/design before buying. The picture doesn't really do it justice either. Hard to tell but all the weaves are actually carved out not just scratched on the surface.

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Wow, beautiful. I was reading about meerschaum pipes earlier and Wikipedia said some people use gloves, or some sort of leather holder to ensure an even stain. Do you do this? I looked at a site selling baki pipes, and at $300 it seems like you would want to do this?
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