That's an interesting pipe for sure. I would try it. I always hunted for pipes in antique shops so I've seen some unique ones, and who knows, maybe one of those. I would have immediately judged it and walked on. But now I know.
I was actually thinking about making a corncob out of some old fieldcorn cobs. I wouldn't really know what to use for the stem though...maybe a dowel rod or something. I just like the idea of making my first pipe with something I had also grown, but maybe I'm getting a bit too adventurous and I should just buy something so I don't turn myself off to the hobby right away by making an awful pipe..haha!. "The Pipe" I saw recommended from @webmost actually sounds perfect for my current situation. Just one pipe to get me going that wont leave a bad taste in my mouth. Thank you everyone for the advice I will let you know how it goes!!
At any garden center, look for untreated bamboo tomato stakes. They are hollow except at each node. Cut a handy length and diameter. Another approach is to use an appropriately thin length of a branch from an ash tree. The pith of ash is soft, and can be easily removed with a hot length of steel wire.
Most commercial pipe tobacco contains propylene glycol, which tends to make a pipe gurgly. A filter can help trap all that goo. With home-blended WLT tobacco, I find gurgling to be a rare event. Missouri Meerschaum pipes that come with a paper, Medico filter have little effect on the tobacco smoke taste, and are not too obnoxious with the typically large diameter smoke hole of a corncob.
All it needs is some twink to give it a white dot on the stem
A pipe doesn't have to be anything special.
Bob
Excellent! how do you like that? I was fiddling with the corn cobs and was surprised that they are hard as rock in the center! I'm used to fresh cobs that you can snap in half with your hands. That wasn't possible with the ones I have! Nice pipe!!
A pipe doesn't have to be anything special.
Bob
Wow! impressive! Thank you for the advice, I just so happen to have a tube of Shoe Goo as well. I thought the corn stalk pipe was an antler pipe at first glance. Nice work! How big is the hole inside the bowl usually supposed to be (chamber hole i'm guessing it might be called)? There are no screens or anything used with tobacco pipes right? Is there ever any issue with sucking tobacco through? From what I've gathered so far people don't usually suck very hard anyway, it's more of a breath smoking type thing? Did that internal spackling on the stalk pipe help with ghosting? Would you recommend using that technique in a regular cob pipe? I just want to try to avoid ghosting in the beginning when I will most likely only have one pipe. I guess I could make a few cobs right off the bat while I'm doing it though...thanks and sorry for the barrage of questions.
Assorted cob pipes with assorted stem materials. The corn stalk pipe required an internal spackling of fire-proofing (plaster of Paris and sand, 50:50). The flexible tips are common Tygon tubing. The rearmost stem is ash.
Bob
EDIT: If needed, I seal the outer margin of the smoke hole to shank junction with Shoe Goo.
No screens. Just don't stuff dry, tiny bits of tobacco at the bottom.
I never...never give "ghosting" the slightest thought. I generally don't smoke aromatic blends. (I have one home-made apple wood pipe set aside for my twice a year bowl of chocolate flavored cheap crap.) I blend tobacco like blending stew: whatever seems nice at the moment. It's not rocket surgery.
Wild guess would be about 1 or 2 dozen pipefuls. On Amazon, you can find a dozen boxes of 10 Medico filters for under about $15. Sometimes I use them. Sometimes I don't.
red leaf, bright leaf, lemon leaf, burley, perique, dark air, basma, krumovgrad, katerini I think that's about it from WLT and I have all kinds of commercial pipe blends in jars from DandR, peter stokkebye etc...but I'm trying to avoid just popping a pre made pipe blend in there. I would like to create my own....thanks. I also have md 609, I think that may cover it.
