Do you prefer meerschaum, briar, or cob? And why?

[Ultravox]

I only have one briar and one meerschaum so it's difficult for me to give an educated response on any 'technical' reasons as to why I prefer what I do but I favour my meerschaum. This is probably because of it's ability to smoke what I want, when I want and as much as I want whilst retaining a 'sophisticated' edge and without it faltering. Being on a student's budget, I'm sure you can imagine that I have limited funds to support a regular supply of tobacco as well as a briar for each day of the week. Perhaps if I was financially capable of owning multiple briars then I would vote for briar but as it stands I'm satisfied with my meer.

[TimB]

I recently got a meerschaum and smoked it every day, every bowl, for about two weeks. After doing my research on coloring, my plan was to go for a month that way and then let the pipe rest for a month.

After two or three bowls I was tempted to post singing the accolades of meerschaum, however I learned a very quickly with this hobby that I am better off letting things ‘settle’ for a while, both in my mind and my palate before committing to an opinion.

I noticed a curious thing on towards the end of week two, I was really missing my briars. I fired up a Heeschen with some Balkan Sobranie and I could have sworn it was the best bowl I ever had. This is not to say that the experiences I was having with my meerschaum were less than satisfactory, I believe that variety and change is a very good thing and that it tends to stimulate your palate after it gets comfortable with the status quo.

I’ll be honest here I am still very new to pipe smoking and I am sure part of this really pertains more to my own quest to find pipes that I like, rather than the more abstract argument of Cobs versus Briar versus Meerschaum, but here goes:

1. Briars – I have eight, I no longer smoke two of them. Of the remaining six, there are only two that I absolutely love smoking at the moment, though I periodically do smoke them all. These are like comfort items for me and the processes of filling, lighting and smoking these is effortless. There are a few blends that I love that only get smoked in my best broken in pipes and I feel the richness and complexity of flavor I get from these pipes far surpasses the ‘clean’ flavor one gets from a cob or meerschaum.
2. Meerschaum – I only have one. Let me state upfront that I find it somewhat unfair to compare all meerschaums based on the one sample I have. It is quite possible that some of my observations are based on the engineering of the pipe itself rather than the characteristic of the genre as a whole. I have found plenty of bliss in the meerschaum smoking experience, I find that my mid range IMP Meer smokes better than my mid range briars. It does smoke soft and cool, though the volume and density of the smoke seems somewhat less than I am accustomed to from briar. I am a tad neurotic about lighting the pipe (so as not to char the rim), to a degree in which it seems that smoking a meer is somewhat more taxing. By the same token I notice some discoloration on the pipe from the oils in my skin, (some suggest you wear gloves while smoking, but that seems far too extreme). These are clearly my issues, but they do influence my overall experience. If you do not suffer from these afflictions, this should not deter you from sampling the world of meerschaum. Having voiced some negative thoughts, I find the experience to be quite satisfying and I have a Peterson Squire meerschaum on order (and I am looking forward to it immensely).
3. Cobs – the best thing about cobs (outside of affordability) is they usually have a large open draw. I use them, like many others, to sample new blends, especially if I suspect casing or topping. Not bad for a once and a while experience, but incomparable to a mid range briar or meerschaum.

[dls]

I'm glad to see that my question provoked some thought, even from some of the senior gorillas . The answers seem to run the gamut, which I find very interesting. It appears that pipe material choice, just like everything else in this hobby of ours, is almost purely subjective. I look forward to gaining more experiene with all three types of pipe, and finding out each of their weaknesses and strengths.