Greetings and other formalities,
I was just a renaissance festival, and I got a pipe from one of the vendors. It is a piece of persimmon branch with some other piece of wood for the stem... I forgot to ask about that. Anyway, it was $20, looked cool, and I recently broke the briar pipe I had obtained from some cousins who were not using it correctly. The bowl on the branch was fairly narrow, so I whittled out a wider bowl and tried it out. Tasted really nice; unlike the temporary pipe I got right after breaking the first one, which tasted like plastic, threw that away. My point is, after seeing how easy it was to make this branch pipe, I figure I'd never need to buy a pipe again, so I started researching other woods and whatnot. During research, I kept coming across sealing and drying, which I am pretty confident was not done on this pipe that I got. I've been smoking it about 3 days now, and I still enjoy it, but I was wondering how important drying is for the "health".
Basically, can I just cut down branches and make a pipe on the spot, or is it crucial to dry and seal? Or will I just have to constantly remake pipes? Is the sap going to have any adverse effects on mah body? Is it any worse than the tobacco its burning with?
I was just a renaissance festival, and I got a pipe from one of the vendors. It is a piece of persimmon branch with some other piece of wood for the stem... I forgot to ask about that. Anyway, it was $20, looked cool, and I recently broke the briar pipe I had obtained from some cousins who were not using it correctly. The bowl on the branch was fairly narrow, so I whittled out a wider bowl and tried it out. Tasted really nice; unlike the temporary pipe I got right after breaking the first one, which tasted like plastic, threw that away. My point is, after seeing how easy it was to make this branch pipe, I figure I'd never need to buy a pipe again, so I started researching other woods and whatnot. During research, I kept coming across sealing and drying, which I am pretty confident was not done on this pipe that I got. I've been smoking it about 3 days now, and I still enjoy it, but I was wondering how important drying is for the "health".
Basically, can I just cut down branches and make a pipe on the spot, or is it crucial to dry and seal? Or will I just have to constantly remake pipes? Is the sap going to have any adverse effects on mah body? Is it any worse than the tobacco its burning with?