Your beautiful pipe that doesn't smoke so well.

[jpmcwjr]

If you have a pipe that you really like, but it’s never or seldom produced a great smoke, why not try this:
Load it about halfway with very dry tobacco. Smoke until it starts to get funky, then gently exhale through the stem to keep the ember going. Relight if necessary, but get to the bottom. If any moisture is showing in the heel, dry the tobacco even more. Repeat once or twice a day for 30 days. Then clean it according to your druthers. Load and smoke reverently!
Theory: Even the best factories and carvers may occasionally make a stummel from an ebauchon that hasn’t been properly cured. Sometimes it could be in a batch where the other blocks came out fine, but the particular grain, density or porosity differed. It might have been misrepresented by the seller of the ebauchons, accidentally or on purpose. Or someone else along the line might have made a mistake that was unnoticed by the carver. In any event, it ends up being a finished product that’s in your hands.
The theory of the cure: With every very dry smoke, you are slowly driving moisture out of the bowl. I’ve had success with two pipes which are now fine smokers.
In any event, I think it is—I hope it is—worth a try and that some will have great results. It will take some patience, and it is work. Please post results after a bit!

 

[sasquatch]

I'm not sure I agree with your policework.
Pipes, like all pieces of wood, retain some percentage of the ambient humidity they are exposed to. Living in Alberta, my pipes are, at rest, more dry in my 4% RH than my friend's pipes in the fine state of Georgia, where it's warmer and wetter almost all the time. So much so, that I made him a pipe and it expanded and stayed that way, the shank growing noticeably larger than the stem, because the briar was "too dry" for his climate.
If you smoke a pipe a pile, you'll cake it up (and possibly harden the briar a bit, inure it to the fire, so to speak) and it will not smoke worse for this - bad tastes from a poorly cured block will be masked by the tars and oils you leave in the pipe. But the idea that you are somehow drying out a bad briar by smoking it is wrong. It will return to the exact same state of humidity you found it in if you leave it for a few days.
Can you change a how a pipe smokes by "breaking it in"? Yeah, I'd agree you can, but I don't think it has anything to do with the cure of the block, per se.

 

[sasquatch]

I'd in fact go further and say that if you have a beautiful pipe that doesn't smoke so well, there's a physical reason in the airway construction, something that could be fixed.

 

[mso489]

Interesting that worked for that pipe, with that particular problem. Other less-good smokers might have a different diagnosis and respond to some other cure. Some are never quite right. Luckily, the odds with most name brand pipes are pretty good, but this is a good trick to have up your sleeve for some pipes.

 

[jeff540]

I have a big Nording freehand purchased used in 1998 that's beautiful (to me) and fits wonderfully in the hand. Unfortunately everything smoked in it tastes like a tire fire. I tried every method over the years to help it, and nothing worked.
I've concluded that at least half of this awful taste comes from the stem, and it's on my "to do list" try to convert this to a short churchwarden with a new fancy stem, but I just keep forgetting.

 

[ssjones]

I had two, beautiful Rad Davis pipes and neither smoked well for me. Both were made after his return to pipesmoking after health issues. I concluded that perhaps he had some sub-par briar, as there were no mechanical issues, drilling etc. was spot on.

 

[timt]

I'd in fact go further and say that if you have a beautiful pipe that doesn't smoke so well, there's a physical reason in the airway construction, something that could be fixed.

One of my meers is a Servi canadian with a screw in tenon. I love everything about the pipe, weight, balance, looks, etc.. The only problem is that it seems to want to smoke somewhat wet - a shame for a meer. I'm assuming it's turbulence in the airway that's causing this. It's been quite a while since I've reached for it so maybe it's time to give it another chance. Is there a way to fix airway issues in these setups?

 

[lordofthepiperings]

Living in Las Vegas I don't think I have to worry about humidity left in briar since it's typically 5% here or less 300 days out of the year.
I know that's why some carvers oil cure the briar, to draw out the saps/resins aka moisture of the wood before they carve it. Savinelli has been around so long they just buy the briar and throw it in a warehouse to sit for 20yrs before they decide what to do with it. I think a lot of people though let the briar cure quite a bit before they use it. I want to say Mimmo sits on it for a few years before he sells it and a lot of the carvers that buy from Mimmo let that further sit more years before they carve it.
I do think one should try different cuts, different blend types, make sure the drilling is correct, and see if there are any problems that could be smoking technique related before deciding the briar tastes bad. I do believe that Fred Hanna is on to something about briar being briar and it could very well be something weird happened while the briar was growing in the ground which caused the wood to acquire a bad taste. No matter who carves that or how perfectly the drill it the pipe would still "taste like a sewer".

 

[mso489]

jfeff540, stem replacements are quick and not expensive, done by a pro.

 

[sasquatch]

EDIT @timt You'd have to really carefully examine the airflow, and understand what's happening to make things condense - a bad tenon end, or drilling that leaves the end of the tenon occluding the termination point of the airway in the shank... figure out what's wrong and see if it can be alleviated. So my answer is "Yeah probably" but without seeing the pipe, I can't say for sure. This is the kind of thing that Ronnie used to do at Night Owl, he called it "blueprinting".
As to Rad's sub-par briar... you'd be speculating that he had a heart attack and also ran out of briar that day, and when he returned to pipe making, he had to order briar. I'd doubt that scenario very much.
Honestly guys, I've made pipes from Spanish, Algerian, Greek, Italian... it's all been pretty good. Tiny regional differences, tiny differences from mill to mill. But I have customers who have, say, 5 pipes from me, and all 5 are from different cutters, and all 5 get the same thumbs up from the owners. Very very seldom do I have a customer specify a particular preference about wood. And only a couple suppliers do I think I could smoke a pipe (new, unsmoked) and say "This is from THAT mill." After 6 smokes? I couldn't tell you anything about the briar.
I'd be VERY curious to see a poor smoking pipe from a guy like Rad who for sure knows how to make a good pipe, is a little famous for that very thing. The pipes I've had through my shop for repair have all had some fairly obvious problem, physically.
Now, all this said, I drilled twelve identical blocks from the same mill for my Christmas pipes this year, and a couple of them smelled just a little nicer, a little sweeter (or was I imagining it?), and probably that will transfer to the first smoke or two? I dunno. But I wouldn't say that all twelve were physically identical, that's for sure, and they should have been, really. But could I pick those pipes out as finished product if I smoked all the pipes? I very much doubt it.
I've heard in the quiet corners of pipe making that "the pipe is the stem". I didn't used to believe it, and I sought magic briar for years. I still like clean, well cut briar, of course, but I no longer try to buy wood that was harvested by moonlight on the upper western slope. But I don't reserve some particular mill for "the best smokers". If I make a good stem, the pipe is good. Is there some 5% magic from some briar or other? Maybe, real hard to be objective about this stuff. But roughly speaking my Castellos all smoke about the same (barring the one that is drilled at less than 1/8", it smokes very differently), all 6 of 'em. Cuz the stems are basically identical and the briar's .... decent briar.
Are there pipes made from "bad" briar? As far as I know, all briar you can get is treated basically the same at every mill - cut, boiled, dried... there's nothing new or revolutionary about the process. Is there some way to buy bad tasting, poorly treated wood? Probably, someone's always willing to cut corners to save a few bucks in every industry... but again, if you are buying a 15 dollar pipe, it has a 35 cent stem stuck in it, and that's probably going to cause more issues than the random chunk of wood.
But that's just my opinion, in the words of Dennis Miller. I could be wrong.

 

[sasquatch]

LOPR said "I do believe that Fred Hanna is on to something about briar being briar and it could very well be something weird happened while the briar was growing in the ground which caused the wood to acquire a bad taste. No matter who carves that or how perfectly the drill it the pipe would still "taste like a sewer"."
I have had a very very few blocks do this. I think I've thrown away 3 in ten years. Drilled it, thought it smelled sour, didn't want to make a pipe out of it. But I can't prove it would have made a bad pipe, cuz I didn't make the pipe. :D

 

[dmcmtk]

Sas, always enjoy reading your comments.

 

[jpmcwjr]

So do I, but sad that my idea has been shot down. I think it still has merit. The two pipes that have improved via this method had no drilling, airway or other construction defects.
Al- Did the two Rad pipes come around or did you give up on them?

 

[jpmcwjr]

Living in Las Vegas I on don't think I have to worry about humidity left in briar since it's typically 5% here or less 300 days out of the year.

Much less than those in 'Bama, etc. But you're way off on humidity levels in LV.

 

[sasquatch]

jpmc, I don't think you're wrong that a pipe will improve if you smoke it. I just don't think it's because of what you said - driving moisture (residual from a bad cure) out of it.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Sure if a pipe is smoked properly it will improve. But I was hoping to go beyond that, in that many folks don't smoke dry, and there's always moisture left in the chamber. It may take months or years to fully dry out due to the density of the briar. (another variable, along with ambient humidity and how it's been smoked.)
And why do cutters let their blocks dry for years? Sure, they are bigger bits than a carved stummel, but with the density of briar, I think it takes a great deal to dry it out thoroughly. Less for those in low RH areas such as yourself and the Lord. (I bought a pipe in Santa Fe, and the mortise swelled a bit to make the stem tighter and the band more secure once it hit the CA coastal area.)
Well, if anyone is fool enough or brave enough to try this not withstanding the uncertainty.....

 

[tbradsim1]

I had a Brad Pholman , expensive Diamond Shanked Billard that smoked wet, very bad smoker, never blamed Mr Pholman I just think his briar was not seasoned or good. Got rid of it, loseing some cash, but picked up a wonderful Moretti, that’s the name of the game, you win some you lose some. ::

 

[ashdigger]

I agree with Brad. I don't have the mental bandwidth to fix a problem pipe. If it doesn't smoke good.....its toast.

 

[headhunter]

My Clunkers go in the fireplace, life’s too short to be fiddling with a bad smoker. I’ve burned some beautiful pipes that smoked horrible.

 

[sasquatch]

"Well, if anyone is fool enough or brave enough to try this not withstanding the uncertainty....."
Unwittingly, carvers do this all the time. Sometimes a guy gets a load of wood and not all (or in some cases none) of the blocks are dry, but you just need that one special block and you drill it only to find that it's a little wet inside. Roughly shape the pipe and in a day or two the thing is dry - you can weigh it and watch it stabilize.
I don't think this make for the best smoking pipes though - I get more compliments on pipes I make from old wood than new wood, though I've never had anyone say "this briar tastes green to me". But then I often tell people where the block came from, how old it is, why I chose it, so we don't have an objective baseline on the pipe right from the get-go.
My suspicion is that there are some tannins or something which sort of "lock up" over time. I have no way to measure or prove this, but I feel like the old blocks I have cut, smell, and finish differently than newer ones... for sure you can see a color change all the way through a block as it ages, they turn a sort of mahogany color. But chemically what is going on? I don't really know. Does it make for a better smoke? Again I think so, and that's sort of common thought, but can I back it up? Not really.