Well, when picking corn cobs for your homemade pipe, I would choose Cajun corn cobs. But please note that we also need to Stay away from sweet corn – those cobs are too thin and will burn right through.

And the cobs we use to make our pipes must be 2 inches wide. You need a good amount of surface area to carve out the bowl and airway properly. The cobs should be fully dried out too. This helps stop mold or bacteria from growing, plus it gives the cob a lightweight feel so it gives you a smooth smoking experience when you use it

Now I know some pipe makers like to use special hybrid corn that’s grown just for pipes. Like the Missouri Meerschaum pipes use a hybrid bred back in 1946 with the University of Missouri and some Dr. Marcus S. Zuber. This hybrid corn grows longer, bigger, and sturdier than regular corn, with super high fiber content. It needs special saws to even cut it!

After harvest, the vigorous cobs get the seeds removed and are air-dried day and night for two years until they reach almost the density of briar wood. That’s a key hardening process. Only then can they be formed into different sizes, with each average diameter making two standard pipe sizes. So pipe makers really care about the pipe corn source and genetics. But we may not get the material to make it, so when making corn cob pipes I will use Indian corn cobs.