Recently got a smoking deal from the Kirsten Pipe Company, it's a designer with a bulldog bowl and black stem, and of course if you know me it's a 3/4's bent pipe : )

anyone else into these dandy little things?

-Jay

I've never tried one. How does it compare to a briar pipe, and do you have any pics?

They look very interesting.... How do they smoke? is the cleaning as easy as they advertise?

well the bulldog bowl is made from italian briar which is great, cleaning it does take a little more time, they sell special tools to clean it with...as far as smoking it goes, it makes the tobacco feel "cleaner" i guess you can say? it traps a lot of the moister and heat that gives you tongue bite.

it's a pretty hip pipe i must say

cool, jay! i've been curious to know more about these pipes. the only reason i didn't put more effort into getting one, was i suspected they required a more intricate cleaning process than your average briar pipe (which seems to be the case from what you say). seems like the size is just right to carry it around in your mouth. enjoy your pipe. thanks for sharing! regards, mauricio

Thanks for the info Jay...

Thanks for the info Jay. Its probably worth getting one...

yeah cleaning it is really not so bad, it's pretty easy to maintain...if you can get one for under 70 bucks i'd say go for it to try it out...it's a really interesting pipe

i got mine for 35, it's a little older, this pic is from before i replaced the stem and put a bulldog bowl on it

you got a bent one, very nice! excellent purchase! yes... i've seen them go anywhere from 40s to 80s on ebay. you got a good deal!
thanks for the photo!

yeah i haggled with the guy for a minute, didn't bend his arm too bad though lol

Cool, thanks for the pic. I've never seen one like that.

look what i found...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Kirsten-M-KH-Rineman-smoking-pipe-w-3-bowls-fine-estate-/220764365899?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item336694e44b#ht_500wt_1156

i had no idea they made corn cob bowls for kirstens. that's pretty cool.

wow...oh wow i've never seen a cob for a Kirsten!

I own & smoke Kirstens rather regularly, have for decades. I've been meaning to take a bunch of pix of my collection, especially my numerous custom made bowls that really make them much better smokers.

If you're new to Kirstens and/or looking to try one, please allow me to add my totally biased opinion. Almost all the ones for sale on eBay are the small or medium sized stems (the aluminum body), and I fear many have been turned off to them by trying the smaller stems and bowls. Try to find a large stem, preferably the Lancer, and a large or X-large bowl if you can.

Natch

Interesting web site that looks at all the different metal pipes. Go to the index and then any of the Kirsten hits to see some interesting examples.

http://www.smokingmetal.co.uk/

Natch