Bigger is not better

[E.A. Fumare]

Americans have this ridiculous obsession with all things big. Big cars big homes big cigars and even big pipes. Recently I looked over a sizeable display of pipes in a local tobacconists shop and could find only a scant few examples of group four pipes and nothing smaller. Chambers so capacious that one could seemingly bury half a tin in them were in abundance and it left me wondering what in the world folks were stuffing into those things? Like a good cigar, I find that the best smokes come in smaller packages. A Lancero or Lonsdale will burn for an hour and give the wrapper much more of an opportunity to show itself, being that it makes up a bigger proportion of the tobacco used, unlike a 55 ring gauge log that is almost entirely filler. A group four or even three pipe will provide a solid hour or better of smoking pleasure once a flake of Virginia is caressed and nested between it's walls and will allow for a soft, slow smolder that releases sweet nectar when sipped. These smaller, intimate and more reasonable pipes are perfection, and perhaps the small straight billiard the quintescence of "Pipe".

I'm smoking a large, slightly bent Castello Sea Rock billiard at the moment and my only regret with this fine briar is that is is not smaller. I purchased it from a friend who was selling off a good portion of his collection and as I'd had no Sea Rocks at the time, and it was a billiard of sorts and kind of unique, I bought it. It is a solid group six with a shank and stem suggesting the hawkbill form, but thicker and much less aggressive than an actual hawkbill. More of a suggestion really, and attached to a finely executed and friendly billiard shaped bowl the effect is truly and artisinally Italian - a standard shape with subtle but great flair. The problem is I never finish it and am either too stubborn or have my patterns so ingrained in me that I cannot not fill the bowl when loading it. What is inevitably left after ninety minutes is a significant plug of unburned tobacco to be discarded. Also left is an uneven cake, or better put, no cake in the bottom quarter of the chamber.

Smoking the small Barling or Saseini, pipes that are maybe a large three/small four, works out perfectly as I can enjoy the last smoldering wisps of flake nestled in the bottom of the bowl and be perfectly satisfied with having completed an hour of perfectly executed enjoyment, happy in the performance and use of these perfect little pipes. No bitterness, nothing to have to put down and come back to later, just a great smoke right to the bottom leaving the pipe evenly used, sweet and dry.

It is said that the larger bowl is a good vessel for burning English or Balkan mixtures as it provides breathing room for the burning of it's components, but I must confess I am not a fan of Latakia so I seldom indulge in these. Perhaps that camp is in much greater number and these are the predominant pipe smokers? I'm not sure of that but would entertain your thoughts on the subject. My own infrequent forays into English blends are milder yet flavorful blends like Picadilly, smoked in a little prince. I find this to be a perfect vessel, the little graceful round pot with it's elegant swan-like neck. The modest chamber allows for a smoke not so long as to tire of the blend and shallow enough that it never grows bitter. It is usually finished in just the right length of time so that I am not left putting the tin away into deep storage from overload, but wishing to leave it handy for that next craving of sharp oriental piquancy.

Finally, there is much to be said for modesty, or to turn a phrase, when is enough enough? If the modest group four pipe is sufficient to do the job admirably, why push the limits of size? Is not a good workmanlike briar that delivers as it should good enough? Must it be bigger to produce desire in us? Are we so strung up on the American ideal of 'more is better' that we cannot recognize and celebrate what simply works well; what is modestly good enough and in no need of upgrading? If the direction modern society drags us is any indicator, we'd be better served with a little moderation, restraint and modesty, and in this case we'd waste a lot less tobacco as well

E.A.

[TheMacDonald]

I started pipe smoking in a vacum. I had no local influences to guide my exploration or general styles to harness my whims. I always assumed that the size and shape of a pipe was at the will and pleasure of the individual, and furthermore that one should choose a pipe that fit the face and personality. I am a tall, broad shouldered fellow, generously built from head to toe, and honestly fell a little silly smoking a small pipe. A good friend of mine is thin and nealry gaunt, a certain Laural to my Hardy and he always smokes a size 4 or smaller.

I will also add the English/Balklan ilk are much happier in the vast cavern of a size 6 than in a crowded side street of a size 3 or 4. Its nealry a cliche, but those blends do need some room to develop. Somewhat of an Orientilist myself I'd say the blends are Dervishes that need room to whirl.

Perhaps this personal disgression led me to be the gregarious Latakia enthusist I am today.