Pipe tobacco contains many of the harmful chemicals found in cigarettes, including nicotine and toxic chemicals known to cause cancer. Smoking pipe tobacco is addictive, and users have an increased risk of head and neck, liver, and lung cancers. The bowls of tobacco pipes are commonly made of briar wood, meerschaum, corncob, pear-wood, rose-wood or clay.
This draught hole (3), is for air flow where air has travelled through the tobacco in the chamber, taking the smoke with it, up the shank (4). At the end of the shank, the pipe’s mortise (5) and tenon (6) joint is an air-tight, simple connection of two detachable parts where the mortise is a hole met by the tenon, a tight-fitting “tongue” at the start of the stem (7). The broad anatomy of a pipe typically comprises mainly the bowl and the stem. The bowl (1) which is the cup-like outer tobacco pipe shell, the part hand-held while packing, holding and smoking a pipe, is also the part “knocked” top-down to loosen and release impacted spent tobacco.
Matches, or separately lit slivers of wood are often considered preferable to lighters because of lower burning temperature. Butane lighters made specifically for pipes emit flame sideways or at an angle to make it easier to direct flame into the bowl. Torch-style lighters should never be used to light a pipe because their flames are too hot and can char the rim of the pipe bowl. Matches should be allowed to burn for several seconds to allow the sulfur from the tip to burn away Filling cut tobacco and the match to produce a full flame. A naphtha fueled lighter should also be allowed to burn a few seconds to get rid of stray naphtha vapors that could give a foul taste to the smoke.
Old, well-smoked meerschaum pipes are valued by collectors for their distinctive coloring. Later low-quality clay pipes were made by slip casting in a mould. Higher quality pipes are made in a labour-intensive hand shaping process.12 Traditionally, clay pipes are unglazed. Clays burn “hot” in comparison to other types of pipes, so they are often difficult for most pipe-smokers to use. Their proponents claim that, unlike other materials, a well-made clay pipe gives a “pure” smoke with no flavour addition from the pipe bowl. In addition to aficionados, reproductions of historical clay styles are used by some historical re-enactors.
Because of this expense, pipes with bodies made of wood (usually mahogany) instead of gourd, but with the same classic shape, are sold as calabashes. Both wood and gourd pipes are functionally the same (with the important exception that the dried gourd, usually being noticeably lighter, sits more comfortably in the mouth). They consist of a downward curve that ends with an upcurve where the bowl sits. Beneath the bowl is an air chamber which serves to cool, dry, and mellow the smoke.
Don’t be concerned if you have to relight several times; it’s better than having an overly hot pipe and an irritated tongue. Patience here will be repaid later with cooler and drier smokes. Children exposed to secondhand smoke have an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome, ear infections, respiratory infections, and far more frequent and severe asthma attacks. Adults exposed to secondhand smoke have increased risk of heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, and reduced fertility. Pregnant women are especially susceptible to the harms of secondhand smoke, because it can cause pregnancy complications such as low birth weights and preterm birth. Shop our assorted premium pipe tobaccos and latest pipe tobacco blends.
The smoke will flow through the stummel and the stem before reaching your mouth, this is why the stem lenght has its importance. The main difference between a long pipe and a short pipe comes down to the warmth of the smoke. In France, the very short pipes are called “Brule gueule” or “mug burner” but we do not recommed these for beginers. View our best selling and highest rated products, continually updated with the hottest devices, juices, and tobacco gifts and accessories on the market.