Show us your homemade pipes!

[ShiniKoroshi]

Near record low of 25F here tonight. This is January weather already. I'll be breaking out my little pipe for a quick smoke earlier than usual. I was in my short sleeve tee shirts and running the a/c a few days ago and the leaves had just started started turning. Brrrrr.

Thankfully no record low but cold enough at 38°F. Once upon a time though....

 

[StoneCarver]

I have a cut down clay that holds a pinch of tobacco that I use

That's basically how I smoke my stone pipes. The bowls on the Eastern woodlander style pipes I have barely hold more than a pinch. 1 or 2 puffs usually.
I have to admit I really like this way of smoking. Sometimes I don't want to commit to the big bowl of a briar pipe. Also, the nicotine from the stone pipes seems to hit much more satisfyingly. I don't know why but there it is.

 

[ShiniKoroshi]

....nicotine from the stone pipes seems to hit much more satisfyingly.

The spirit of the stone is happy with your work.

 

[Knucklehead]

That's basically how I smoke my stone pipes. The bowls on the Eastern woodlander style pipes I have barely hold more than a pinch. 1 or 2 puffs usually.
I have to admit I really like this way of smoking. Sometimes I don't want to commit to the big bowl of a briar pipe. Also, the nicotine from the stone pipes seems to hit much more satisfyingly. I don't know why but there it is.

True, and you're also smoking less stale, gone dead tobacco or wasting it. In the winter I was stubbing out half a cigarette or more and rushing to get back in out of the cold. A waste of good tobacco. With the small pipe I can make quick runs and save tobacco. I smoke both pipe and cigarette blends in mine. Stone and clay don't seem to ghost the flavors so much from the previous blend.

 

[StoneCarver]

Stone and clay don't seem to ghost the flavors so much from the previous blend.

y'know, I didn't really think about it but I agree. I've been experimenting with blending the tobaccos in different ways in my stone pipe since I only need to mix just enough for a pinch (which has its own challenges) and the smoke does seem to be untainted by whatever I smoked previously. So the flavors do come through true. Here I've been working with it and kinda taking it for granted. Having this ease of mixing the tobaccos for each smoke has been kinda fun and I've been learning a lot and developing ideas of how I want to mix the tobacco when I press my next plug. Eastern woodlanders did smoke in clay pipes too and I would assume the smoking characteristics of stone vs clay would be similar since they are both mineral instead of wood or corn cob. Not everyone had easy access to soapstone or alabaster back in the day but almost everyone could find clay nearby. I've been thinking of making a clay pipe just for some s&g but havent yet decided on a way to fire it. I got a whole yard of clay under my feet. Otoh, getting some soapstone is a multiday camping expedition up in the mountains.

 

[Knucklehead]

y'know, I didn't really think about it but I agree. I've been experimenting with blending the tobaccos in different ways in my stone pipe since I only need to mix just enough for a pinch (which has its own challenges) and the smoke does seem to be untainted by whatever I smoked previously. So the flavors do come through true. Here I've been working with it and kinda taking it for granted. Having this ease of mixing the tobaccos for each smoke has been kinda fun and I've been learning a lot and developing ideas of how I want to mix the tobacco when I press my next plug. Eastern woodlanders did smoke in clay pipes too and I would assume the smoking characteristics of stone vs clay would be similar since they are both mineral instead of wood or corn cob. Not everyone had easy access to soapstone or alabaster back in the day but almost everyone could find clay nearby. I've been thinking of making a clay pipe just for some s&g but havent yet decided on a way to fire it. I got a whole yard of clay under my feet. Otoh, getting some soapstone is a multiday camping expedition up in the mountains.

I bought my clay pipe from Missouri Meerschaum

Old Dominion Jamestowne Clay Pipe - Missouri Meerschaum Company

The Old Dominion Jamestowne Clay Pipe is a faithful reproduction of mid- 17th century based colonial-era pipe.

corncobpipe.com

Then cut it down on a belt sander, top and stem to this:

Pipe for cigarette tobacco

I modified a Missouri Meerschaum clay pipe for cigarette tobacco use. https://corncobpipe.com/product/old-dominion-jamestowne-clay-pipe/ The original: I put the bowl and bit on a belt sander (180 grit) and took off some height of bowl, and length of bit. Hand sanded the sharp edges by hand...

forum.wholeleaftobacco.com