Help me figure something out.

[harkpuff]

You've pointed something out that I've experienced with almost every blend I have tried.In a briar tongue bite and off putting flavors is all I get.Had I not tried a cob I probably would've put the pipe down long ago.Now all those beautiful briars just sit on the mantel.......while the cobs do all the work.I'm mostly a vaper smoker and not one of those Vapers has ever tasted worth a tinkers damn in a briar.

After doing some side by side experiments on my taste buds, tallying up the number of briars I have been unsatisfied with, and the amount of time I will get back not constantly looking for the magical briar that will deliver a smoke free of the burning.. I have concluded that my experience coincides with yours. Any perceived flavor difference I could detect seemed to mostly just be placebo. I guess I will have to spend my time finding ways to hotrod my cobs.
You'd think after being ~10 years in, I would have come to this conclusion already.. and you'd be right. I just chose to ignore it

I just had a thought concerning your experience between cobs and briar.
I have not experienced this myself between cobs and briar, but was wondering if possibly some physical differences between the cob and briars migth have someting to do with it. For example the stem length or the stem shape. The reason I say this is because I have a bent billiard that angles the stem button more upward toward the roof of my mouth which will cause a hot spot in that place if I'm not careful. I know this is a characteristic of this pipe so I compensate for this by smoking it while I am sitting so I can hold the pipe in my hand and direct the pipe button to another angle rather than clinch it in my teeth and experience the burn. The cobs I have had over the years were typically straight stemed and did not create this problem.
Just a thought.

[Houtenziel]

I just had a thought concerning your experience between cobs and briar.
I have not experienced this myself between cobs and briar, but was wondering if possibly some physical differences between the cob and briars migth have someting to do with it. For example the stem length or the stem shape. The reason I say this is because I have a bent billiard that angles the stem button more upward toward the roof of my mouth which will cause a hot spot in that place if I'm not careful. I know this is a characteristic of this pipe so I compensate for this by smoking it while I am sitting so I can hold the pipe in my hand and direct the pipe button to another angle rather than clinch it in my teeth and experience the burn. The cobs I have had over the years were typically straight stemed and did not create this problem.
Just a thought.

I have thought this might be part of the issue for a long time as well, and so I've gone through a lot of different styles, lengths, and shapes of briars. I have also gone through virtually all manner of filters to stop it(paper, balsa, 9mm charcoal / meerschaum).. probably more than any sane person would go through before giving up. Most of my cobs are bent and the ones that aren't, I still don't experience the issue.

[Whistlebritches]

I just had a thought concerning your experience between cobs and briar.
I have not experienced this myself between cobs and briar, but was wondering if possibly some physical differences between the cob and briars migth have someting to do with it. For example the stem length or the stem shape. The reason I say this is because I have a bent billiard that angles the stem button more upward toward the roof of my mouth which will cause a hot spot in that place if I'm not careful. I know this is a characteristic of this pipe so I compensate for this by smoking it while I am sitting so I can hold the pipe in my hand and direct the pipe button to another angle rather than clinch it in my teeth and experience the burn. The cobs I have had over the years were typically straight stemed and did not create this problem.
Just a thought.

I have thought this might be part of the issue for a long time as well, and so I've gone through a lot of different styles, lengths, and shapes of briars. I have also gone through virtually all manner of filters to stop it(paper, balsa, 9mm charcoal / meerschaum).. probably more than any sane person would go through before giving up. Most of my cobs are bent and the ones that aren't, I still don't experience the issue.

Ditto.........same experience and bent cobs rule.

What part of Oregon?I have a Brother in Medford

[Houtenziel]

Eugene, OR. My Wife's Father actually lives in Medford, so we get down that direction every now and again.

[Houtenziel]

I just had a thought regarding heat.. has anyone noticed how stem material plays a role in smoking dynamics(aside from bite feel)? I have been pondering this issue and was reminded that my old Nording Classic Billiard had a Vulcanite stem, and I never had any kind of bite issues with burley or any other tobacco for that matter. I also started going through all the briars that have given me serious problems, and interestingly enough, they all had acrylic stems. Correlation is not causation, but I thought it coincidental enough to ask. Acrylic is a lot harder than Vulcanite, and so I wonder if it is markedly less heat absorbent. It also kinda has me wondering because I have a MM Charles Towne Cobbler with an Acrylic stem that seems to smoke significantly hotter than my other cobs, but when I switch it out to a regular softer propionate stem it seems to be fine. Am I crazy, or is there something to this?