Advantage your favorite tobaccos
Tuesday, October 1, 2013 at 8:05AM | Neill Archer Roan | Permalink tagged Geiger, Stonehaven, pipe pairing | in Pipe Shapes, Pipe Tobaccos, Successful Smoking 
I am a nicotine lightweight. Maybe even a bantamweight. Tobaccos with a nic punch can send me ‘round the bend, and that is no pleasant experience. However, it is no uncommon thing that I discover a nicotine-rich tobacco the flavor of which I enjoy.
Stonehaven is such a tobacco. Ever since I was introduced to this blend by Richard Friedman aboard the Alaskan Song, I have loved smoking it on occasion, albeit with no little attention paid to an oncoming visit by “the swirlies.”
To my palate, Stonehaven’s flavors are advantaged by a larger circumference bowl not unlike blends rich with Orientals or Latakia. This posed a real dilemma for me. Pots and princes are my shapes of choice for English and Balkan blends. Their flavor blossoms in their bowl geometries. My experience, however, has been that optimal flavor delivery seems almost always to be accompanied by optimal nicotine delivery. A large distillation zone provides for distillation of nicotine right along with the volatile oils, resins, and sugars entering the smokestream. Obviously, I don’t want to sacrifice flavor if I don’t have to do so. What to do?
One day as I rolled the depicted pipe through my fingers, I contemplated its chamber geometry. Initially developed by the legendary Swedish pipemaker, Bo Nordh, Geigerpipes’ Love Geiger and Sara Mossberg created their version of the shape. It is endowed with a chamber that is a bit smaller than the prince and somewhat conical. It occurred to me that this pipe might be an ideal Stonehaven smoker. So, I decided to give the pairing a try.
This pairing was a remarkable success. The toffee-ish sweetness and dark molasses overtones that I find so delicious moved forward. I smoked with a relaxed, calm pace, and this little pipe stayed relatively cool to the touch compared to other pipes in which I have smoked Stonehaven.
Now, this Geiger Bo Dog is dedicated exclusively to Stonehaven. When I smoke it, I find that my experience has steadily improved. There is increasing complexity in the smokestream, but those foundational flavors that I treasure are reliably there. Most importantly, I have been able to relax a bit with respect to concern about feeling nicotine onset, a result that is quite welcome.
Sometimes, I feel impatient about the whole pairing exercise. I long for a simpler, less troublesome experience. I read pipe-smoker-forum posts from people who just load their favorite pipe with whatever they want to smoke, and then claim a series of sublime experiences, one after the other. I’m happy that this works for them, but it has not worked for me in the slightest.
I have found that most tobaccos are advantaged by particular pipes and particular chamber geometries. Likewise, I have found that some pipes offer much better smoking experiences when paired with particular genres of tobaccos.
These days, as I smoke an increasing number of Virginias and Virginia-Periques – and fewer English blends – I have found that my palate is happiest with more complex flavor delivery that seems to come about through disciplining myself to not mix blend types in the same pipes. While I accept that others are successful and happy by smoking whatever their impulses lead them to in whatever pipe they feel moved to smoke, I find that dedicating particular pipes to particular tobacco types works best for me.
Reader Comments (4)
I'm also a firm believer in chamber geometry for specific tobacco types. For me nothing beats a 3/4" bore 1 1/2" deep group 4 pipe for softer continental and McClelland Va flakes. This size or a slightly larger group 5 is great for Va ribbons. For the dense Samuel Gawith flakes I like a slightly smaller group 3.
Lat blends really sing in a pot, in a way that narrower chambers can't match. Even better are the huge, conical bores of some of the old Charatan Dublins. I have a Charatan Dublin with a conical bore with a 1 1/8" opening and it is the best Lat blend pipe I've ever smoked, once you manage to get a good light on the tobacco. Sour, briny and bitter amplified to skyscraper proportions where the same tobaccos seem muted in smaller bores.
Regarding Stonehaven, I don't need to ration it as I have quite a stash, but this is one I kind of regard as a special occasion tobacco. Going against all logic, the pipe I have dedicated to this is a large Colin Fromm Castleford bell Dublin with a very deep but narrow bore. My sessions with Stonehaven in this pipe last about three hours, and the pipe has never seen any other tobacco except 4 or so bowls of break-in Burley. I never would have consciously set out to make this pipe my Stonehaven pipe, but that's what happened and the match is magic.
I also dedicate pipes to genres of tobaccos, and some tobaccos that are favorites and always in rotation get dedicated pipes only for that blend. I've recently completely overhauled my collection, so I've been starting fresh with a lot of cleaned up estates that need to be broken in. In the comings months, a lot of those pipes will start being focused on certain tobaccos or blend types.
I agree with what Mike said above too, but as he points out with his exception to the general thinking, I also don't follow a formula in strict terms. I like to let the pipe decide whenever possible.
Yes, I do think generally some pipes shapes/geometries are better for flakes, some are better for mixtures, some better for Latakia blends, and some better for Virginias. However, I never buy a pipe with a predetermined blend in mind because they are all unique and you just never know. You may find a Pot that for whatever reason smokes flakes exceptionally well, or a small billiard, dublin, or zulu that doesn't (but does smoke Oriental blends well). I do look at the size of a pipe and that helps narrow it down, because I prefer not to smoke anything but loose cuts in larger pipes, and I generally don't want to smoke those loose cuts in a small pipe (and be done in 15 minutes).
Moreso than other blends, in my experience I've found that many VaPers and some Virginias are particularly fussy about the pipe and bowl shape you put them in. I can usually tell pretty early on whether it will be a match or not (or if I need to really be ready for a long battle to make it work). With that in mind, and since those blends are what I smoke the most, what I usually do is start every pipe on VaPers/Virginias that are fairly neutral in terms of ghosting briar. If I find a great match and they sing, they stay there. If not, I will try other blends until I find a good match... oriental blends, latakia blends, or last stop GH&Co scented/flavored blends which are usually relegated to cob territory.
If I get through all that and still haven't found a good match, I generally get rid of the pipe...
Maybe you guys are right about this geometry / single source burning devices. It makes sense but I just can't do it. Not all my smokes are perfect but they don't require a lot of thought either! Sometime, I may come over to the Dark Side but not just yet.
Thanks for the instruction and information. I love what I learn here even though I have been a piper for years. I have found too that zulus I have smoke a certain kind of tobacco I like very sweetly. I am game for trying more of this pairing idea.
Jim O