light bulb moment.

[Ray Cover]

I had a revelation this week.

Out of all my pipes I have a stanwell that I like a lot. I can taste the tobacco with this one and I do a better job keeping this one lit. The shape of this tobacco chamber is obviously different than most of my pipes.

I took an old Alpha pipe that I have and this morning I reshaped the tobacco chamber in it and bored out the stem a bit larger and dang if it doesn't smoke a lot like my Stanwell now.

So it is obvious to me that chamber shape has a lot to do with my success smoking. Click the light bulb came on.

When I do get around to making my own from sctratch I know what bowl shape my first pipe will have.

I have a few good pipes Jobeys, Ben Wades, and other Danish pipes that I can't keep lit to save my life. They all have fairly narrow, deep chambers with little if any taper.

Now that begs this question. If chamber shape has such an effect, why are there so many various chamber shapes out there?

[Nick]

Because different people have differnt ways of smoking. That's cool that you found what works for you!

[kbadkar]

I believe it also depends on the final shape in mind. A roundish- thick bowl often has a straight-wall chamber with rounded bottom. A tapered-thinning bowl will often have a tapered chamber. The idea is to meet a minimum wall thickness. Most of my factory made pipes have the straight wall (drill first) chamber, while most of my Danish free-hands have the conical taper (shape first?). I believe the free-hand tapered chambers reflect the average spoon bit profile. I'm not sure about my assumption, but hopefully the piping experts will weigh in.

[Ray Cover]

The bowl shape in the Stanwell that is working for me is an acorn shaped stummel with a bowl opening that is about 15/16" at the opening and has almost a parabolic taper to the bottom. I don't remember who but someone on here recommended I get a wider chamber back when I was having a lot of trouble with tongue bite and smoking hot. They were right.

I am smoking TG's Blue note and Midnight smoke in this pipe and enjoying it a lot.

The Alpha pipe had a standard 3/4" straight walled chamber that rounded on the bottom. I had a hard time keeping it lit without smoking it hot and I can't actually taste the tobacco either (I have the same problems with many of my others with the same chamber shape). I took it out to the shop and used a rotary file and a mini drum sander and reshaped the chamber and opened it up at the top to make the chamber the same shape as the one in my Stanwell. I also straightened the stem and opened up the airhole to twice its original size. Now it smokes a lot like the Stanwell.

I am sure a lot of it has to do with my smoking technique or lack of technique and probably the tobacco I have chosen. It also may be because that is the only shape chamber I have been able to pack correctly.

One thing I do know. My first handmade pipe Is going to follow this same shape and design.

Ray

[pierredekat]

Now that begs this question. If chamber shape has such an effect, why are there so many various chamber shapes out there?

I found myself asking the same question a time or two, and my guess is that there are a lot of instances of pipes made with function following form, rather than the other way around.

It's visual designs that sell pipes, since there probably aren't a lot of pipe shops that will let you "test drive" a pipe. People buy one that catches their eye, with the assumption that they all pretty much smoke the same -- and they don't, obviously.

But something we do have to keep in mind is the fact that, for hundreds of years, pipe smokers, particularly those in rural areas, really didn't have access to the myriad of tobaccos that we have today.

Most would have been lucky to have a choice between maybe two or three different tobaccos: maybe one "pipe" tobacco, one "cigarette" tobacco, one twist that could either be smoked or chewed, and that was about it.

And I'm sure there were a lot of folks who just smoked whatever the guy down the road was growing.

So there wasn't very much expectation from a pipe beyond the fact that you could put tobacco in it and smoke it. Only folks living in the bigger cities could expect much more, beyond that.

But then I think there are some tobaccos that work better in certain tobacco chambers. Like there are some tobaccos with really peculiar flavors, and maybe a smaller, more restrictive chamber actually helps to tone down that peculiarity.

Like, when I have a taste for an English blend, I tend to smoke those in one of my smaller pipes, and I don't feel like I'm missing out on the English blend experience. I probably am, but I don't feel like I am. Does that make sense?

But I have definitely noticed how much easier it is for me to distinguish between aromatics with a bigger pipe. And I'm guessing you have to, from your post.

Maybe the bigger pipes have a larger margin of error, and that's why we like them: you can sprinkle tobacco down them, pack them tight or loose, tight at the top and loose at the bottom, or whatever, smoke them fast or slow, and no matter how you do it, you'll still get a good smoking experience out of a big pipe.

Smaller pipes, you have to do everything just perfect, every single time, or you're going to have troubles with lighting. That, or you'll wind up with only a generic "smoke" taste -- could be cavendish, could be crumpled-up newspaper, it's just "smoke".

That's been my experience with small pipes, anyway.

I don't know, just some random thoughts and theories on the subject, for what it's worth.

Cheers.

[kbadkar]

I just read an article in the Summer 2007 Pipes and Tobacco magazine about pipe shapes - called Back to Basics, Making it onto the Pipe Charts. In the article, the author discusses airflow and burn characteristics of the basic tobacco chamber shapes - ie, cylindrical vs. taper, rounded bottom vs. pointed bottom. I think you might find it interesting, if not educational.