Bong
A smoking pipe can be a birch pipe, a corn cob, or a meerschaum.
Experienced smokers say that a pipe is not considered cheap or expensive
– it’s either a good smoke or not. Corn cob pipes are inexpensive
and available in several different styles.
A beginning pipe smoker could afford to buy two or three types of these
pipes and experiment with all of them. This way you can discover what
you like about a pipe style. When you’re ready to buy your own
birch you’ll know exactly what to look for.
A smoking pipe has several parts to it: lip, bit, stem, filter, shank,
and bowl/chamber. The bowl is where the tobacco is burned. The shank
is the part of the bowl used to “neck the pipe down.” The
stem meets the shank via a mortise and tenon joint. The lip is the raised
ring around the stem. The filter is a metal piece attached inside the
stem.