Laminated wood safe for pipesmoking?

[wirtsleg]

Hey everyone, i just started making pipes and for my first attempt i used some cherry wood, i could only find a plank of the cherry so i had to glue/laminate two pieces together to get a good size block to make the pipe from. I chose to do this as a way to get good practice working on hardwood for pipes rather than ruining expensive briar blocks since i am drilling the bowl and airhole myself. My first attempt worked out very well the bowl and airhole line up nicely in the centre, and I am wondering if it would be safe to actually smoke from this pipe even though it is from 2 glued pieces? It was just gorilla glue i used to laminate the wood, has anyone ever used a pipe that was from 2 pieces glued together then shaped? any help appreciated thanks.

 

[moses]

Fwiw, I would probably avoid smoking it. Polyurethane fumes are not an approved aromatic compound lol

 

[darwin]

I have a Ropp pipe that is constructed of many fine laminations glued together but it has a briar insert in both the bowl and and shank so hot tobacco is only in contact with briar. If you put burning tobacco on a laminated glue line you will probably regret it, a lot.

 

[jruthledge]

I wouldn't.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Agreed. Only if you can fashion a liner that gives real heat protection to the laminate.

 

[lonestar]

Obviously you *could* smoke from it, but I can't see where it would be a good idea. Besides not holding up, and possible health concerns, I can't imagine burning Gorilla Glue would add anything nice to the flavor of good tobacco.

 

[bigpond]

Gorilla Glue contains urethane prepolymer, diphenylmethane-diisocyanate, isomers, and homologues.

Short answer: NO
There's a lot to be said about short bowled pipes and if you have a narrow board, I would try to drill it out wide and shallow rather than use and adhesive. Be mindful of the treatments in most lumber too. It might help to make a bowl coating (charcoal or pipe ash and I believe people often use sour cream as a bonding agent?).

 

[okiescout]

As those above, stick with just baccy, briar, and stone, that other stuff ain't lung friendly.

 

[tobyducote]

No way...adding those additional chemicals can't be healthy...do you have experience making pipes? Why not spend $15 for a pre-drilled kit and practice shaping with real briar??

 

[mrbigglesworth]

I'm not a pipemaker but here are few of thoughts:
A. Elmer's wood glue is non-toxic

B. You could coat the bowl with some pipe mud (http://aristocob.com/Product.aspx?ProductId=3248829)

C. Be sure the wood you use is non-toxic. (Ex: rhodadendron and hemlock are toxic woods)

 

[mso489]

Don't smoke it. It was excellent practice on shaping and drilling a pipe. For your next project, I recommend a pre-drilled block of briar with a stem, which can be bought for not too much at many of our sponsor online retailers. The pipe you have would likely end up channeling some fumes from the burning glue into the airway. This could happen even if you lined the bowl with something else. Likewise, don't carve pipes out of various hardwoods; some of these can be toxic.