So I have had a Big Ben Dromedary 709 for a few years, and for the life of me, no matter how slow I smoke, it would set my tongue on fire. When purchased, it was extremely shiny, and the more I thought about it, it made sense that the shine came from some sort of laquer or varnish. I had read before that briar had to breath, so "borrowing" my eldest daughter's nail polish remover, I began rubbing down the pipe with small amounts of the remover. Was afraid at first that stain may come off with the finish, but as it did not, I proceded to remove the shine. After allowing the stummel to dry for an hour, I loaded it with a blend known to cause severe tongue bite in the pipe in question, and lo and behold, cool smoke. Just thought I would share this with anyone experiencing hot smoke from a very shiny pipe.