metalhead357 said:
just my 0.02 but I've got a couple pipes already...but absolutely love my meerchaum one...........
Wish I'd known not to mix blends in it before hand but hey...guess it gives me yet another reason to get another!
You can mix similar blends in a pipe. English blends together, Cavendish blends together.
Aromatics with lots of what I call "syrup" in the tobacco tend to leave flavor in the pipe. I'm not a big fan of aromatics and so I won't worry much about residue and mixing tobacco in a pipe.
Meershaums don't develop a "cake" and so are going to stay pretty much free from picking up a "flavor" from a specific blend. -- But then again, I don't smoke syrupy aromatics.
That would be chocolate, strawberries, brandy, whiskey, caramel, hot fudge, petunias, candy canes, truffles . . . I'm exaggerating, but I think if it's "candy" it doesn't belong in a tobacco blend. The sugar forms a caramelized tar in the cake of the bowl. It's generally gummy, soft, and builds up rapidly. Also it' holds condensation from the pipe and leads to wet heels.
Corn cobs -- I've had a few. The cob imparts a flavor to the smoke until it gets well broken in. The cob is absorbent and will take on the flavor of aromatics -- like a sponge. If you have a decent cob that you like smoking a specific blend in, all's well. But you can find briars that are not expensive and smoke much better than a corn cob. Also, a half decent briar lasts a lifetime while a cob will burn out in pretty short order.
I see these $300 pipes offered online and understand why smokers in here have only one or two pipes. You can find "seconds" for $30 and have a fine smoking collection of pipes.
I paid $200 maybe six years ago for a Strambach, block meershaum Calabash. But the calabashes are antiques. They're not making gourd calabashes any more.
I have a few block meershaum pipes I paid in the $60 to $100 range for. CAO's -- which is a decent meerschaum.
My briars are running anywhere from $15 for a "basket pipe" that's a "second" to Nordings, Comoys, BBB, that approach $85. I don't think I've ever paid more than $85 for a briar.
They're all nice smokers, good looking pipes, and the collection runs about three dozen. I'd have a hard time paying more then $150 for a briar unless it were a collectable antique. And then I'd be hard pressed to smoke it much.