Dunhill Elizabethan Mixture in a Big Ben Bora tonite. The Bora smoked well, a cool complete burn, but I don't really care for the pipe style. It doesn't feel right in my hand and I don't like the slanted bowl. I don't believe this pipe will make my permanent rotation but I'm going to get some more of the 9 mm filters and smoke several bowls in it to determine if I like the 9mm filter system though. There must be a reason they are popular in Germany.
If I'm in my garage, I use matches pretty much all the time, but sometimes use my Zippo pipe lighter. If outside I will typically use Zippo pipe lighter. The pipe insert is really useful with the Zippo. Sometimes I use a butane lighter.
I wish I could find strike anywhere matches. Around me its 98cents for 10 boxes of 32 regular matches. I think my kaywoodie is about the same age. They came out of the same collection off the same rack that I was told came out of a basement. They were filthy, 1/4 of dirt and dust. The cake was way too thick and the first few smokes nearly killed me with the nasty bitter taste. I took it down to bare briar and broke it in again and haven't had a bit of trouble since.
I've been curious about how their hardwood pipes would smoke compared to a briar pipe. Give us a report after you've tried it.
I will have to get more zippo fuel. I owe it to myself to try it since its usually too windy for a bic much less matches. Ive heard that you can send a zippo back and they will trade out for the pipe insert for free.
I don't know about the MO pipes but different hardwoods do taste different. Maple tastes sweeter but with more of a smokiness. I'm sure the smokiness will fade the more broken in I get the pipe. My Briar pipes had a bit of that the first few smokes too.
My good old zippo with their pipe insert. Matches when I am at my local BM smoking room (only place I can smoke indoors)
@Bama Samurai, do the balsa wood filters fit in regular 6mm filter pipes or is there a special pipe for them? I've never true smoking a filtered pipe before and I think one of the ones in my cart accepts them.
It's my feeling that a balsa 6mm would work in a Grabow or Medico type paper filter pipe, but not paper in a balsa system. Balsa is nutty expensive too. I use paper in my Grabow and Medico, balsa is wasteful there.
You might want to check the fine print, the postage and handling costs may not make it worthwhile. On Amazon, you can get a Mr. Brog pipe lighter for $9, I'll bet the insert fits a zippo. A zippo pipe lighter is about $16. I ordered some stuff from P&C a while back and got a butane pipe lighter - the case was crappy but the insert fit a zippo perfectly.
I thought about trying it once to see the difference. I normally smoke unfiltered pipes so if I start feeling the expense I'll leave it empty. If I rotate out my pipes everytime I smoke and smoke one pipe a day I will end up smoking the filter pipe once every 8 days That's only 46 smokes a year so just over $6 a year for balsa or just over $2 with the paper. What's the main difference between the 6mm and 9mm filter piles? Is carbon really worth the extra cost?
I was thinking about that. My Zippo only cost me about $10 so getting a cheap pipe lighter that had swappable inserts would be better for me.
I have no experience with carbon, and nearly all of my regular rotation (about 11 pipes) is either Kaywoodie stinger or completely unfiltered. I have one Grabow Filter, the first pipe I regularly smoked (circa early 90s), a Medico Burley with a push bit scoop stinger, and a Savinelli Balsa 6mm. Kaywoodie pipes, especially older ones, are ingeniously designed, are are some of my best smokes for everyday stuff. If I am smoking a wetter tobacco (McClelland) I might grab the Grabow. I also really like OGS out of the Grabow while working, but vastly prefer to take my tobacco from an unfiltered pipe, once my smoking techniques were good enough!
Starting out I had my Dr Grabow and Kaywoodie both older pipes with the stingers. When I got my basket pipe it was unfiltered. I'm looking forward to trying filters for wetter or harsher tobaccos. Do the balsa and paper smoke roughly the same? I'm sorry, I feel like I've been asking tons of questions. I may have been smoking for 8 years but it was 2 pipes and one tobaccoo with the occasional cut up cigar stuffed in for a change. I learned that habit from my great Grandfather. He loved cigars but hated how they felt on his lips so he bought cigars that fit in his pipe. He would cut off the end, jam it in the pipe and cut it off level with the top of the bowl and light it. I never saw him use loose tobacco. My fiancee says her grandfather had a rope of tobacco he would slice off and shred before he packed it. Now I feel like I'm rambling.
Sorry Mark, went to sleep! The filters perform about the same. Questions are no problem, I loooooooovvvvve pipe!
