Sampling tobaccos....finding pipes......arrrrrrrgh

[ashauler]

Ok, so I've been sampling through quite a few tobacco's that came in a trade I did on another board. I'm enjoying the experimentation, but I'm concerned with the way I'm doing it, mainly out of fear of "ghosting" the whopping 2 briar's that I currently own.

The pipes and what I'm using them for:

MM Bend diplomat - This one is used for all my sampling.....except aromatics, which I currently don't have any of. ;) I smoke my burley in this one as well. I clean it religiously after every smoke and have not noticed any "ghosting".

KW - I don't know the model, but it is a relatively narrow and tall bowl, straight. I'm using it for VA flakes and Va/Per blends.

Charatan's make belvedere 484DC - This one has a deep, wide bowl. I'm using it for English style blends based on advice received elsewhere.

For me, pipes are expensive, and I'm not ready to lay-out $70+ and then ghost the pipe, or smoke the "wrong" type of blend for the shape/style of pipe, etc.....
I'm also concerned that I'm not being fair to all the blends by trying them in the cob first and deciding if I like them.

Any suggestions or guidance?

[Paddy]

I never should have started smoking a pipe. I can see where this is headed.
By this time next year I'll own 2,369 pipes & 45,523 tins of tobacco.

[MrJeff]

I know there is a lot of emphasis put on the type of pipe that you smoke a particular tobacco in, but it is not something I have ever concerned myself with. Mostly. The only real exception is Erinmore. I won't smoke anything else in a pipe that has had Erinmore in it. I like the stuff, but I don't want everything else to taste like pineapple. I've smoked a pipe around twenty years, and for me there has never been a problem smoking different blends in the same pipe. Except Erinmore. Even if there is a ghost, I find that it goes away after a couple of bowls. Unless it's Erinmore. You may even find that the flavor of two or more blends smoked in the same pipe meld together to form something you would like to smoke. All that said, if it is an issue then you can always stock up on cobs for sampling.

[cigarsarge]

Cobs are the answer...Cheap and they do not ghost. I do not have any pipes dedicated to a particular brand of tobacco. I do have pipes I smoke latikia blends only. Aromatic brands go in my cobs. Anything else is random...What pipe I am in the mood for.