Well, I've finally done it.

I have burned through my first cob.

This is the first pipe I bought last November when I first began dabbling in pipes. A Missouri Meerschaum Legend. I had noticed that I seemed to have trouble smoking the bowl all the way down when I knew there was still tobacco in there. This hadn't been much of a problem for me before. Then while cleaning, I discovered the floor of the bowl was soft. Maybe just soft cake from previous bowls not smoked all the way? Nope. The draught hole was well above the floor; about 1/2 an inch! I had smoked through the wooden shank inserted into the cob and was burning through the soft pith of the cob.

A bit of poking with a pipe cleaner and it went right through the bottom.


This seems like it should be a rite of passing in the pipe world.

How long does it typically take you to go through a cob?