How Long Does It Take To Break New Briar Pipe?

[davedan]

Hi guys,
I've been smoking nothing but cobs (mark twain, country gentleman and freehand) and today decided to break in my new savinelli 320. It was an awful experience The person who introduced me to the hobby was a pure cob smoker although he had had a lot of other very expensive pipes...he said nothing smokes better than cobs and now I'm begging to regret buying a couple of briar pieps (the other one being Doran from shire)....should've listened. Mississippi River shines in Mark Twain..in the 320, it was like I was smoking something else! it was only my first somke though. how many smokes till it breaks?

 

[jazz]

Assuming that when you say break in you mean getting the pipe to smoke well then it depends on the pipe in my experience. I have had some take only a 2 bowls and some take 30. Actually, I have had one that never did.

 

[mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast]

It all depends on the pipe. I always use Carter Hall for more stubborn pipes. I get rid of the pipe if I can't break it in with Carter Hall over the course of a month. Breaking in a new briar pipe can be an unpleasant experience. Give it some time. I imagine it will come around in few more bowls?

 

[davedan]

OK. So just had a very strange experience. I had a tin of Escudo Navy De Luxe which I didn't really like in a cob. Just thought I'd use it to break in this pipe and it smoked really good! Interesting...pipe smoking is like quantum physics lol. If you think you know how to smoke a pipe, you don't know how to smoke a pipe! XD

 

[jazz]

Yea, you will find that different pipes will let you know what they really want to smoke well when you get them.
I normally start putting Virginia's in my new pipes. If after a while I feel I am not getting what I know I can out of a familiar Virginia I may start putting a Virginia/Burley blend in then finally a Latakia blend. My logic being if I smoke a lot of Latakia in the thing before Virginia then I won't be able to tell if it smokes Virginia well because of a lat ghost.
The system works well for me as I mostly smoke Virginia but the longer I smoke a pipe the more I realise that there are no absolute rules for it. There are good practices for sure but as you mention, just when you think you know what will happen you are often bowled a googly that challenges all previous knowledge.
Keep experimenting. Tis the only way.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

Your pipe will take on the characteristics of whatever you put in it, eventually tobacco is all that you'll taste. Initially you will be tasting the wood in the smoke, so whether or not that's a good combination will depend on the blend.
If you want to end up with a good pipe for Mississippi River then smoking any ordinary Virginia blend should do the trick.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Anywhere from a couple of smokes to a few dozen. I don't mind at all the break-in period. I've read some love it.

 

[mso489]

Yup, there is a lot of variation. Frankly, many pipes smoke quite well from the start. I'm not a cake builder, wipe my pipes out after every smoke and just rely on a thin carbon layer. Other pipes seem to start out a little less well in terms of delivering flavor and improve slowly, some over two years or more. The slowest pipe to break in, in my experience, is a Peterson rusticated author. It was never a poor smoke, but it took a long time to really smoke well, but it got there. It's got a nice big bowl and an open draw, but it took a while to deliver really well. Several of my Savinellis have been fine from the first light-up, as have some of my French pipes and a number of others. Right now I'm smoking a Tinder Box St. Ives, my first pipe, a bent pot, which was a good smoke from the start (in about 1977) and has been fine right along. I have quite a few pipes, about 70 plus cobs, so in rotation it takes a while to smoke them twenty times or more.

 

[sablebrush52]

It takes what it takes. Some pipes are good to go in a few bowls, others take a few dozen, still others take a few hundred dozen.

 

[latbomber]

+1 on the others. A well made pipe has almost zero break in period.

 

[tarheel1]

I really hate cobs. Just don't like them. I have one so I can smoke aros in it in till I can get a briar pipe for aros. When breaking in a new pipe I smoke what type of tobacco I am planning on dedicating the pipe to. That's either Lat blends, Va/per, or Va blends. Sometimes I smoke Va and Va/per blends in the same pipe. A lot of people complain about taste, but I only have British pipes and they taste great from the start.

 

[shutterbugg]

How long it takes to break depends on how quickly you drop it or how hard you sit, step or beat on it.
If you mean break-in, that never happens because there is no such thing, it's a myth and a fallacy. I've smoked pipes 40 some years, always filled them right up to the top right from the start, never had one crack, burn through or not form an even cake.

 

[jruthledge]

Ditto on what others said. Definitely don't give up after one smoke. The worst is a briar that has the "pre-smoked" carbon layer addd by the maker. That stuff is nasty.
Cool that you're already able to notice how it interacts differently with different blends.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

My favorite pipes are the ones that have a wonderful briar aroma on the very first smoke. I see breaking in a pipe as getting the DNA of the briar into my own DNA, so that I can identify with it and bond. Some pipes have lost their sparkle with me after the pipes starts to carbonize and lose that wonderful briar aroma that it first had.

 

[jefff]

I too love the way a new pipe smokes. You can taste some of the wood. It's different after 10-20 bowls. Not bad just not as... Fresh.

 

[davedan]

Thanks for all the info. guys! So just smoked some Orlik golden sliced and it was awesome! Better than any cobs ive smoked it in I think Mississippi river is a very temperamental blend! Shame as it's my favorite
Also, does anyone know what briar pipe would go best with Mississippi river? Thanks!

 

[shawnofthedead]

How Long Does It Take To Break New Briar Pipe?

A minute if you just smash one on the ground a few times. Or a couple of seconds if you use a hammer. :rofl:
Seriously though, if you are talking about breaking in a pipe, providing that you smoke the same pipe once each day, it should take a month or two.

 

[jpmcwjr]

No. As stated, it can take place virtually immediately to many dozens of bowls. Average perhaps a dozen.

 

[davedan]

Update: I think it was just a short learning curve! The packing technique etc. Have been smoking my Mississippi River and I daresay it surpasses the experience of smoking it in a cob the rustic 320 feels great...an altogether a classier experience :D I can actually appreciate the wood taste/smell as well now! Anybody reading this thread, DO GIVE QUALITY BRIARS A GO if you're a cob guy!