MODEL: Shenandoah
STYLE: Poker
LENGTH: 5.55"
HEIGHT: 1.71"
CHAMBER DIA./DEPTH: 0.71"/1.27"
FILTER: no
MATERIAL: Corn Cob w/ Bamboo stem
FINISH: Smooth
I am writing these words at a pivotal point in my life. My last unbroken clay pipe just recently broke and I shortly afterward and ago picked up a handful of cobs. This is one of that handful. No offense to the others but I was most excited about this Shenandoah. Why? Because of its all bamboo stem. More precisely because of its equally bamboo not-plastic 'bit.' It's so skinny. An Italian mother would be beside herself with concern and plates of pasta.
I liked the idea of puckering around something a bit more natural than plastic. There is no better way to have said that. So far so good and about a half-dozen bowls in I'm not seeing any sign of degradation via moisture. There is some colorization happening. That and the roundness of its shape help me miss my clay all the less. I'll say this, though, it's not a great clenching candidate. (At least you wouldn't get the clay pipe tooth notch if you tried.) Whilst it is lightweight, it does get spinny. Thankfully, I'm not much of a clencher.
It's a quite narrow stem, as said, and ends in a bit-area that looks like a sharpened pencil sans protruding graphite point. It's a weird aesthetic, really. Performace-wise, it leads to sipping over grubbing, and with its hardwood plug, I should maybe be employing it for a good while as a taste-tester. Thus far, I've smoked mainly cavendish in it, as smoking an English in it happened once and felt patently absurd. (Cavendishes and Englishes are what I pipe when on my own time and dime.)
Let's in closing address the bowl, shall we? It's of a slight orange-dyed hue and while not as clunky or wildish as many cobs, see what I said re aesthetic. More importantly than externally, the chamber within is somewhat narrow and tall and 'baccy burns slow on account of that combination. All told, what you're looking at is 20 or 30 minutes or so of rural sophistication that takes place sometime in the late 1800s. Nice place to visit. We'll see if I move there. I did wear a flannel shirt the day before yesterday.
::: very :::