Corncob question

[kzm007]

Is there a way to/should I even try to get rid of the smoked-in flavor of my corncob. It tastes stale and ashy, will this be evident when I am smoking lit tobacco in it?

I had to twist my shank off to break a piece of glue that was hiding dottles of tobacco I was trying to clean; the shank is now visually cracked and removed from the bowl, but MAY still be airtight - do you think it is? I've had cases where it wasn't, but as I said, I was trying to clean everything out.

How do you go about smoking different tobaccos in different pipes to avoid mixed flavors, since all tobaccos seem to be blends of different tobaccos any way?

Thanks guys, sorry for the directness. I searched a little, but it's early, I'm tired, have a wisdom tooth coming in I think, and want to type this while I feel up to it.

Kegan

[DSturg369]

A cob is a great intro into pipe smoking, so trial & error is ok. If you do something not quite right, it's not a big loss as compared to a more expensive pipe.

As for cleaning, try a new, never used auto battery terminal cleaning brush, but only use this on cobs and even then only in extream cases. Then, after every bowl smoked use a wadded up papertowel and clean out the bowl. Never, never let cake develope in a cob. To help with the stale taste, try some pipe sweetener.

As for the shank removal, it sounds like your cob needs to be replaced or repaired by someone that knows how. Being as cobs are pretty cheap, I'd just toss it and get a new one.

[IHT]

Originally Posted by kzm007

How do you go about smoking different tobaccos in different pipes to avoid mixed flavors, since all tobaccos seem to be blends of different tobaccos any way?

there are different tobaccos, but most are put in categories or types. there are VAs, VA/Periques, Burley, English, Balkan, Oriental, Aromatics, Lakelands, etc.
some are mis-categorized at times. example is Haddos Delight. some say it's a Va/Per, but it can't be as it has burley, a bit of cavendish and a rum topping. to me, there are 3 things in there that shouldn't be if it were a Va/Per, and that's anything that's neither VA, nor Per.

so, i have a number of pipes that i have dedicated to straight VAs (only tobaccos classified/listed as VAs in the mixture). i have a larger number dedicated to only Va/Pers. i have a couple dedicated to Lakeland flakes. i have one for Orientals (don't smoke 'em often enough for two pipes).
why?
wood is porous, so the flavors from different types can ghost the pipe (or the cake can also be ghosted). example would be: you have a wooden straw that you love to drink Grape Kool-Aid out of. you do it every day. one day, you decide to drink water through the same straw. guess what, you taste the grape kool-aid!!

if i were to smoke a straight VA from a pipe that i used for English/Latakia mixtures, i'd taste a whole lotta Latakia while smoking the VA mixture.

[dmkerr]

Originally Posted by IHT

so, i have a number of pipes that i have dedicated to straight VAs (only tobaccos classified/listed as VAs in the mixture). i have a larger number dedicated to only Va/Pers. i have a couple dedicated to Lakeland flakes. i have one for Orientals (don't smoke 'em often enough for two pipes).

That's quite a breakdown! I have three sets of dedicated pipes... about 7 or 8 for English blends, 3 for aromatics and the rest for all else. I don't have any problem with ghosting VaPers with straight virginias or those like "Haddo's Delight". Even a straight burley goes well in a VaPer pipe.

Now... it "could" be that they DO ghost, and I just don't mind it.

To the OP: Cobs are inexpensive and a rotation of several is quite affordable. So I'd work it the way I work all my pipes. I actually like to smoke a cob once in awhile - very neutral smoke as the cob imparts no flavor to the tobacco like a briar will. I have 3 cobs and the two larger ones get a fair amount of baptism by fire.

[IHT]

those were just examples, i probably have a lot more dedicated to VAs and Va/Pers. i think i have 1 pipe that's dedicated to Aromatics, 1 dedicated to Orientals, zero for English.

[DubintheDam]

[quote=IHT;...example is Haddos Delight. some say it's a Va/Per, but it can't be as it has burley, a bit of cavendish and a rum topping. to me, there are 3 things in there that shouldn't be if it were a Va/Per, and that's anything that's neither VA, nor Per..[/quote]

The wisdom of a true Va/per smoker speaks, but I do love my Haddo's! But cut to the chase, the old myth that cobs don't take on the flavor is frankly not true...they don't as much as briars, but they do take on some.

I find you still need to keep you cob clean, swabbing with alcohol and q-tips (cotton buds), a good alcohol clean should help neutralize flavors and sweeten the smoke in your cob...dub

[paperairplane]

you can also salt / alcohol a cob

mostly I don't do much but buy new ones