If you looked at my cob to briar ratio you would conclude I favour cobs. And that may be true. Their merits are manifold:

1. Readily available. I bought one at lunch so I could smoke some tobacco a friend sent to the office today.
2. I can smoke goopey, stinky stuff in them and not care.
3. I can clench them like Popeye.
3 1/2. They are light weight, don't exacerbate my TMJ syndrome.
3.99. I can keep them around new in the package for when my kid's bum friends come over and want to smoke a bowl with us.
4. I like the break-in taste.
5. I can use a pipe lighter and not care if it tastes like charcoal starter. That crap ghosts my briars.
6. I'm cheap and I'm from Iowa.

Drawbacks? Ugly as sin with no aesthetic value. That's why I love briar--it's beautiful.