Now for something completely different...

[LatakiaLover]

Pocket magnum sized --- 2.75" X .92" chamber, 138.8 grams

.

[Sasquatch]

Kanso, check. Fukinsei, check. Shibumi, check. Shizen, check. Datsuzoku, check. Seijaku achieved through gesture and balance, check. Yugen... well, I'll assume the drilling is quite perfect even though I can't see it, and that the pipe wants to smoke because it's Quinton's crummy old wood, so check.

It turns out, you're Japanese, George. Congratulations!

[UnderShade]

Great work!

[LatakiaLover]

Sorry to confuse things. I didn't make it. I just took and posted the pics.

The maker is a legit member here, though: Doug535

He brought it to a KC club meeting last week, and I ended up buying the critter for myself. As in me, the lifelong Britwood guy. The older I get the more I'm smoking big bowls, and the hand feel of this pipe, never mind the workmanship, was phenomenal. It was also truly, legitimately unique. Not complicated and unique, but simple and unique. Quite a remarkable achievement in itself.

So, I thought I'd give it a turn here on the show-n-tell board.

[UnderShade]

Well... Great work Doug!

[wdteipen]

Very nice pipe!

[LatakiaLover]

Just now finished its first bowl.

GH&Co. Kendal Dark Thick Cut, thoroughly separated and evenly fluffed, then allowed to dry for a few minutes on a paper plate.

Minimal-pressure fill, because I assumed such a tall chamber could get too tight over the course of the smoke from tamping.

Must have done it right, because it was an effortless draw and burned like an underground coal seam fire.

Start to finish was 2.5 hours almost to the minute. MASSIVE flavor, never got hot, never got bitter. Not the slightest exaggeration to say it's the best & tastiest smoke I've ever had, period. Absolutely wonderful.

Conclusion: Too soon to say with certainty, but based on this one experience, the first thing to come to mind is that really big pipes DO smoke better, but it doesn't matter to most people (or the industry) because of the lack of practicality. Smaller bowls are a concession to portability and available time, in other words. Better than nothing.

A few more bowls should settle the matter, but if the dramatic superiority continues I'll likely move in the giant direction from here on out.

[Sasquatch]

Really big pipes smoke.... differently. Better? Yeah in some ways, it's easy to hit a real sweet zone and stay there, which is nice, and if you smoke the weak-ass sweet crap that I do (talking to you Mac Baren), then a 2" deep bowl offers an experience that a little group 1 billiard does not.

[Doug535]

Jeez George, your photos always look way better than mine. Glad the inaugural smoke went well and best wishes for many more.

[LatakiaLover]

Bowl #2 was identical to #1. Not a fluke.

It occurred to me that there's an inadvertent (so to speak) dead air chamber, reverse calabash-style, beneath the burning ember in big & tall bowls.

The sensation is very much like each puff only pulls the "existing smoke" from that volume, then the reduced pressure pulls in more air through the coal AFTER the puff in a back-fill sort of way.

Whether that's literally true I have no idea, but perception is a big part of pipe smoking's reality, and that's exactly what seems to be happening.

Why the increased taste? Cooler = more flavorful when it comes to smoke, the same way slightly warm cheese is more flavorful than fridge temp.

[JMG]

While the stem work looks great, I didn’t think it looked like yours.