Shire Cobbit Corn Cob Pipe – Product Review

I have smoked corn cob pipes for some years now, so I was excited to try the Shire Cobbit from the Missouri Meerschaum corn cob factory. I also love churchwarden pipes for they provide a cool and very satisfying smoke and I find them aesthetically pleasing as well as very relaxing smokers.

The acorn shape of the Shire Cobbit is very comfortable in the hand and the length of the stem is pleasing yet still easy to clean and very rarely gurgles; I am a bit of a wet smoker so I am used to occasionally using a pipe cleaner as I smoke a churchwarden pipe.

As with any corn cob pipe I always get a taste of the cob itself with the first few smokes, though this does dissipate over time. Corn cob pipes definitely smoke hotter than a briar, so if you smoke slowly, especially at the beginning you will gradually break your pipe in with no problems. As a rule, if the bowl is hot to handle, I’m smoking too fast!

With the Shire Cobbit I noticed that I had to pack a little looser than I would usually. In fact, packing looser than you would with a briar pipe is a generally what I tend to do when I smoke corn cob pipes.

The smoking experience is very satisfying, from the holding of the pipe to the flavours of the cool smoke through the mid-size churchwarden stem. I have smoked Falcons in the past, and still do when I am trying a new tobacco, and I find I do get more flavour with a corn cob pipe than I do with a Falcon.

Some corn cob pipe smokers say that cobs do not ghost. Well, I have found that they do, though this is also dependent upon the tobacco you are smoking. Thus, I like to keep my favourite tobaccos allocated to a single pipe. I feel that the flavours develop over time and the tobacco gets better as the pipe breaks in.

Corn cob pipes are not just throw away pipes either. With good care and maintenance your corn cob can last a long time. I simply run a pipe cleaner through the stem and wipe out with tissue after use. Some smokers prefer a cake and some don’t. I don’t really think about it, I simply smoke slowly and do a quick clean at the end of the day.

Corn cobs do absorb more moisture than a briar, so on a damp day it doesn’t perform as well and I also find that they benefit from a day off. In other words, I find it best to have more than one corn cob so that I smoke one on one day and use a different cob the next. This seems to help with drying out after use. I also leave a fresh pipe cleaner in the stem after cleaning to help absorb any remaining moisture.

The Shire Cobbit is a delightful and inexpensive smoker and will last you many years if you look after it. There are of course other shapes available, each one with its own character and cob collecting can become a hobby in itself.