Old, well-smoked meerschaum pipes are valued by collectors for their distinctive coloring. It is often said by pipe smokers that they will dedicate certain pipes to certain tobaccos. This makes some sense in that tobaccos do leave some residual Pipe Tobacco in Cans taste (sometimes called a “ghost”). Many smokers will not go so far, but might dedicate pipes to certain blends or types of tobaccos. One set of pipes for, say, Cavendish blends and another set of pipes for aromatics and Orientals.
Beneath the bowl is an air chamber which serves to cool, dry, and mellow the smoke. These typically do not have an air chamber and are so named only because of their external shape. The stem needs a long channel of constant position and diameter running through it for a proper draw, although filter pipes have varying diameters and can be successfully smoked even without filters or adapters. Because it is molded rather than carved, clay may make up the entire pipe or just the bowl; pipes made of most other materials have stems constructed separately and detachable.
Genuine tobacconists tend to offer a selection of high quality brands from around the world, packaged in vacuum-sealed tins and cans that keep the product fresh and allows it to age for the better over decades. Tobacconists also usually offer their own “house blends” of quality name brands, stored in sealed glass jars that often contain various forms of small humidifiers that keep them fresh and moist. Since many decades St. Bruno pipe tobacco has meant pleasure among pipe smokers. This gentleman tobacco is made according to the British purity laws and the first introduction was late 19th century.
Stoving (the process of literally cooking the tobacco) darkens a tobacco and changes its taste, usually reducing tongue bite. Humi-discs can be soaked in distilled water and kept with your tobacco to rehydrate dried tobacco or to help keep new tobacco fresher for longer… check the humidifier after a couple of days and re-soak as necessary. Dunhill 965 was discontinued in the UK in 2018, however Peterson of Dublin relaunched this classic tobacco range under their own name. The name may have changed but the recipe is EXACTLY the same – it is made from a blend of brown Cavendish and light Orient tobaccos with a little Latakia leaf which when combined offers a cool smoke. Captain Black remains one of the best-selling Pipe Tobacco in Bags brands in the world, together with Davidoff or Erinmore.
For this reason, clay pipes in particular are often held by the stem. Meerschaum pipes are held in a square of chamois leather, with gloves, or else by the stem in order to prevent uneven coloring of the material. Many modern briar pipes are pre-treated by the manufacturer to resist burning. Another technique is to alternate a half-bowl and a full-bowl the first several times the pipe is used to build an even cake. With care, a briar pipe can last a very long time without burning out.
Often ice, cough-drops, milk, or fruit juice is added to the water. Traditionally, the tobacco is mixed with a sweetener, such as honey or molasses. Modern hookah smokers, especially in the US, smoke “me’assel”, “moassel”, “molasses” or “shisha”, all names for the same wet mixture of tobacco, molasses/honey, glycerine, and often, flavoring. This style of tobacco is smoked in a bowl with foil or a screen (metal or glass) on top of the bowl.