Cleaning an Estate Pipe--Help?!?

[RevSmoke]

Originally Posted by Mister Moo

There are bigger ones and smaller ones in the sub-$5 area - that's about it. I think bigger is better, cobwise. I favor the Missouri Meerschaum Great Dane, for example.

For $15-up there are larger-bowled premium cobs from people like Jake Hackert - fine smoking pipes for the dough with all the benefits of a cob. I have two Hacket customs, either of which smoke VA and burley as well as my finest briar at 1/10th the cost.

Cobs handle moisture well which clay meerschaums and (new) briar tend not to. They can be smoked repeatedly with minimal dryout time and people say they tend not to ghost flavors from prior smokes;for a newguy its way easier to have a few barely-ghosted cobs for trying different tobaks than a seriously ghosted briar. Cobs don't care if you goof up and gnaw a hole in a stem and should you manage to burn one out you can get a new one for $4 and feel old and wiser but not broker.

Seriously. If budget is a factor, cobs are great. And Hackert cobs are exceptional.

If there is an issue with cobs, it would be this, a briar, once broken in, has a life expectancy that far outlives a cob (although I am not sure how long a Hackert cob will last as I've only smoked mine a few times).