Pipes

[CastAxe]

So does anyone know if certain pipe designs smoke better than others?

[DMI]

On some forums this question this might go round and around in circles about what you mean by design, but in truth the external appearance of a pipe has very little to do with its smoking qualities, what it is made off and its internal design are much more important. By varying the internal structure you can control how a pipe will smoke, different chambers and airway sizes have more influence than the shape of the pipe, system and filter pipes smoke differently than straight through airways.

Then you have to factor in the type of tobacco being smoked as flakes and ribbons smoke differently.

Having said that I prefer bent pipes as to me they smoke better, I prefer a Dublin chamber with a 3.75mm (5/32") airway tapered to 2.5mm (3/32) at the button.

[Sasquatch]

Um, some designs inherently are more dangerous than others - making an Oom Paul that doesn't gurgle, for example, is trickier than setting up a straight billiard.

I think there are upper and lower limits on bowl size, practical limits that if violated will reduce the pleasure of the smoke or the pipe's ability to consume tobacco without undue attention being paid.

But really, I don't send pipes out the door thinking "well, that's a 1/2 bent bulldog so it'll smoke okay". I send them out the door knowing I drilled them well and built a good stem, and bought good briar, so they'll smoke okay.

[CastAxe]

That is awesome advice, but i have heard that certain pipe designs dissipate heat better than others and can thus affect how well the pipe smokes.

[Dixie_piper]

That is awesome advice, but i have heard that certain pipe designs dissipate heat better than others and can thus affect how well the pipe smokes.

You'll come to find matters like this are 99% opinion, and many are so convinced that their opinion is right that they state it as a fact
The secret to how a pipe smokes has so many factors, including many that are smoker specific, that asking "which is best" is a catch 22.
Example; a seasoned smoker will usually prefer a certain pipe for a certain tobacco (for reasons other than crossover tastes) and rarely pair pipe and baccy combos outside that preference.
The efficiency of a design usually relies on the maker more so than shape, bend and whatnot. But as said before, more bend means more likely to gurgle. That's the only expectation varying by design that comes to mind at the moment. Too little sleep, dain bramage eminent