Dedicated Pipes and Aromatics

[Pugsley]

To the experienced pipe smokers I apologize in advance if the answer to this question seems painfully obvious but I'm still very new to the pipe. So far I have only one good pipe, a Peterson, that I have smoked only Va's in. Soon the USPS, in it's plodding fashion, should be depositing a new Stanwell and a Sav at my doorstep. One of these pipes I intend to dedicate to English blends and the other I have not decided what I'll smoke in yet. I have been sampling aromatics in cobbs and a small $12 pipe of unknown material, (that smokes suprisingly well), and have found some blends that I can see myself purchasing again. Now come the questions. Should I wait until I have settled on one particular aromatic that I know I will continue to smoke before dedicating a better quality pipe to it, or should I just dedicate one good pipe to all aromatics? Should I just stick to the cobbs and use my better pipes for non-aromatics? My fear is that I may ruin a good pipe by dedicating it to aromatic blends, something I really can't afford to do.

[cp478]

as far as aromatics go, there are certain stronger aros that i have kinda segregated from the rest. eventually you will probably have your favs and will dedicate one pipe to it.

the mixing of different aros in one pipe supposedly will sour the pipe. i myself clean my pipes probably too much and i havent had too much trouble.

i'm sure someone more qualified will probably offer up a better answer for ya.

good luck and keep on puffin!

[Requiem]

I don't smoke aromatics (well maybe once every couple of months), but for what I understand, aromatic lovers should use good briars for it. I understand your dillema and I think you should keep testing your aromatics in cobs and use a briar pipe for those you really like the best, although I guess it would be wise not to mix heavy different flavours. For instance, if you like some strongly cased vanilla blend you probably shouldn't smoke it in the same briar you use to puff on a strongly cased cherry blend... try to distinguish aromatics by "families", just like it's done with no-aromatics...
There's a lot of "rules" about keeping different pipes for different types of blends (vg: english vs. virginias) but I never read much about the problems of mixing aromatic's tastes... maybe a aro's smoker will enlighten us in this thread.

I mentioned aro's are worth good briars because they tend to smoke hot and wet, so a aromatic lover will get a much better smoke from a good briar, for sure.
In your situation, while you don´t yet know what aromatics you fancy the best, maybe a meerschaum or a good clay pipe would be the perfect choise.

[DubintheDam]

It's really hard to ruin a pipe, good cleaning will sort it out, one for VA, one for English and one for aromatics sound fine to me....most aromatics taste of fruit or vanilla to large degree.

[Lefty]

Another good excuse to have more than one pipe.

I don't smoke aro's either but when I do they go in a cob for trial, if they were find a spot in my regular rotation a dedicated pipe would be the route. I do enjoy a Cavendish from time to time and they do tend to smoke wetter then most but aren't as flavored as an aro and I can get away with smoking a VA or lighter English in them without a heavy cleaning. For the heavier English blends with more Latakia in them I dedicate a pipe.

Variety is the spice of pipe smoking, both with pipes and tobacco.