Hey guys this topic has probably been brought up a whole lot but was curious what yalls break in style is for a new pipe. I got a couple new pipes and wanted to try a different way of doing it. I have a new meerschaum and 2 new briar pipes. None are pre-chard.
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Pipes Magazine » General Pipe Smoking Discussion
Breaking In.
(39 posts)-
Posted 2 years ago #
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You don't have to break in a Meerschaum pipe.
I used to use a honey/water mixture and coat the chamber. I also used to do the 1/3, 2/3, full bowl method. I don't do any of those now.
When I break in a new pipe I MIGHT smoke 1 or 2 half bowls first and then start smoking full bowls.
Most of the time I just load up the pipe and smoke it. I just make sure to smoke it slower than normal until it builds up a carbon lining in it."When the Government Fears the People, There is Liberty;
When the People Fear the Government, There is Tyranny." - Thomas JeffersonPosted 2 years ago # -
On the break-in, I'm quite the opposite from Bob. In an old post I wrote:
I get a real kick out of the whole break-in process. Talk about OCD! I'm positively anal-retentive; typically I fill up only halfway, or less, for the first (dare I admit it) 100 smokes! And I use the spoon end of my trusty pipe nail to burnish the developing cake after every smoke. OCD to the max :), but it produces a very durable and smooth cake, eventually. Well, hey, I'm retired and I'm entitled to my eccentricities.
Master blender Russ Ouellette has his own theory.
Like Bob said, don't bother breaking-in a meer. And if you want to color it nicely, shop around for a meer coloring bowl (insert.)
I find myself sitting idly on the line dividing past and future,
as if I could kill time without injuring eternity. -- ThoreauPosted 2 years ago # -
I will usually smoke about 10 half bowls, and then start smoking full bowls. The first ten I smoke i leave the dottle in the bowl until the pipe cools. Then put my hand over the top a give it a shake before empting it.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Anonymous
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KY was brought up in a previous post... It changes the "flavor" a lot!
I just load and smoke...
Posted 2 years ago # -
I've become a bit like Bob over time, with the exception of uncoated wood.
I only bother with the partial bowls on the first few if the bowl is bare wood and not coated with some sort of black B.S..
If it's coated, I'll fill it up normally but will be careful to smoke it to the very end to make sure a heel cake develops.
I don't know why I bother making the distinction, as it probably doesn't matter the least bit. I guess I'm just more willing to be gentlemanly if I don't have to deal with an annoying and unnecessary bowl coating.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I wet the inside of the bowl by lightly licking my finger, then I give it 1/2 to 3/4 of a bowl and smoke as usual. Like sapo, when I'm done I'll shake up the ashes, put my thumb over the bowl and shake but I do it right away.
A tattoo on a beautiful woman is like graffiti on a Ferrari.Posted 2 years ago # -
How does lightly licking your finger wet the inside of the bowl? LOL
Posted 2 years ago # -
ya rub it around the inside?
Posted 2 years ago # -
"Stop lick... I say, stop lickin' yor finger, son! If yor gonna use spit, then spit!
An' if ya miss some, don't pull no frilly handkerchief like some dadgum pipe babe. Wipe it off on yor shirt."
Now if ya wanna know 'bout spittin', ask that Iowa llama rancher, he knows all 'bout spittin'.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Anonymous
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Posted 2 years ago # -
Yea to be honest most of my pipes have been all estate pipe bought or passed down to me. I've only broken in about 4 to 5 pipes total from the start and 3 of which were Peterson's which dont require a break in process. I think I'll try the load n' smoke method on one and the honey and water mixture on the other. To be honest I've been wanting to try the honey and water way for a while just wanted to see if i heard a no go or a it works great statement lol.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Anonymous
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What is the honey/water consistency suppose to be like? I have one new pipe that I would try that on...
Posted 2 years ago # -
When I have done the honey and water it's fairly thick in consistency so it will stick to the walls of the bowl but I don't use a lot. I do full bowls right away then and have had no issues. Not sure if that's exactly right but it seems that I've had good success doing it like that.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Anonymous
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So you don't need to let it dry some before smoking? I'm guessing the honey is for the sugars to build the cake? Like I said, I have just smoked the pipe with out anything else...
Posted 2 years ago # -
Don't know anything about honey in the bowl but the llama spitting is funny.
Posted 2 years ago # -
That's what I was told. The sugars help build a char quicker giving it something to stick to on the walls of the bowl.
Posted 2 years ago # -
[T]reating the chamber with fluids like honey or saliva to accelerate the build up of cake: I strongly disagree with this approach. Using anything to expedite the development of a carbon layer generally leads to a soft crumbly cake. Then, when you ream the chamber, the carbon can come out in chunks, leaving thin or bare spots where the heat can attack the wood.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Cortez,
I agree with Mr. Oullette, though I don't know through experience. I just see it as unnecessary since a cake really forms fast enough that it doesn't seem to me like it would need to be accelerated. I'm impatient about a lot of things in life, but bowl carbon is one thing it doesn't feel like I've ever had to wait too long for.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Indeed...
Posted 2 years ago # -
I've had cake come off the pipe wall in chunks before. A little disappointing, but no big deal. But by the time that happened, I had forgotten what method I used to break-in the pipe! LOL
Anymore, I'm pretty much in the dry-bowl camp with you two guys. I think the tobacco can supply enough moisture of it's own. What I do pay attention to, however, is the tobacco I use during the break-in. My favorite is heavy Perique blends. A while ago, Bob/Python mentioned that he favored Virginias ...now there's your sugar source.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I wish I had this site when I started pipe smoking. Seems like not all the info I was given years ago is accurate. Every tobacconist in my area pushes the honey/water method so I figured they should know. I didn’t want to ruin a new pipe so I religiously followed those directions (don't tell my wife I can actually follow directions). Never had any problems so I feel lucky I didn’t after reading some other posts. Great to hear some other thoughts and ideas.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Soldier, dont worry about ruining your pipes. The water honey method works just fine and doesn't produce a soft cake. People have been using the method for years without people complaining about soft cake. You'll notice he doesn't offer any proof - just opinion. What a ridiculous theory. I've been smoking for 30 years and never had soft cake (lol maybe these people need some cake viagra to stiffen things up!) There are few hard and fast rules in pipe smoking. If you find something works for you, go for it! Its part of what makes it so grand!
Posted 2 years ago # -
The only reason that I bother with smoking half bowls to begin with is so that I can get some cake development in the heal. I have a habit of smoking a bit too fast and accumulating moisture (and therefore not finishing a bowl). I keep working at slowing down though
Posted 2 years ago # -
There are few hard and fast rules in pipe smoking.
I can think of one as far as breaking in a pipe goes. Don't try breaking in a brand new pipe with a strong liquor buzz and outside in a steady breeze. That happened to me a couple years ago on a Friday evening. The UPS guy showed up after I'd figured it was too late and I'd already began to tie one on. Evidently, my hand was a bit desensitized and I managed to get the bowl hot enough in the wind that it made a bubble on the finish.
Posted 2 years ago # -
The honey method has served me well my uncle who is pushing eighty taught me this trick and the boiling water cleaning method .Honey is the only food that does not spoil use natural honey as the wax and oils have not been boiled out of it .Natural honey will be a cloudy dark color . Some claim it is the sugars some say the oils .
“There was an awful suspicion in my mind that I'd finally gone over the hump, and the worst thing about it was that I didn't feel tragic at all, but only weary, and sort of comfortably detached.”Posted 2 years ago # -
Honey is the only food that does not spoil...
They've found jars of honey in ancient Egyptian tombs that was thousands of years old and still as good as when it was pulled out of the hive.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I have often wondered how pipe manufacturers coated the insides of bowls with carbon. Wikipedia suggests:
One method to prevent pipe from a [sic] wood burning is to make a 50/50 mix of honey or powdered sugar and water, then using one's finger to spread it around the inside of the bowl, and Allowing this mixture to dry. After a few bowls, the mix will create a barrier that will be burn resistant. Some people argue that this method is not effective, while others say it adds flavor which may be desirable to smokers. Some pipe makers use a combination of natural sour cream, buttermilk, And activated charcoal. The sour cream and buttermilk are mixed to the consistency of milk, and the activated charcoal is added until dark gray. A pipe cleaner is pre-positioned with the tip just entering the chamber, to keep the draft pick cleared, and the tobacco chamber is evenly coated with the mixture and allowed to dry.
I also read somewhere that creating a thick slurry of honey, water and tobacco ash is useful in coating the bowl, letting it dry before the first smoke. As I said before, using nothing at all, on bare wood, works just fine too.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I also read somewhere that creating a thick slurry of honey, water and tobacco ash is useful in coating the bowl, letting it dry before the first smoke.
I've had manufacturers reps tell me this is what they recommend to try and save a pipe that is burning out especially if you love the pipe. Carefully dremel out the burnt spot (as well as you can), then use this slurry to slowly build up the pipe wall and let it dry and then smoke it very very slowly and carefully while the cake hardens. With creful future reaming, you may be able to save the pipe.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Makes sense to me. Somewhere on this site there was talk about using "pipe mud" in the bottoms of new cobs, and I think it was about the same formula. Maybe it was Ghost45 or Phil.
That reminds me, plaster is used to seal cobs. I wonder if the rescue technique you described could be accomplished with plaster. Maybe it's not sticky enough for that.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I might have to give that a try...one of the estates I picked up has one spot in the bowl that I suspect will burn out. I've already started to sand out the area, but hadn't decided where to go from there.
Posted 2 years ago # -
When I used to use the honey/water mixture, I would lightly coat the chamber with it and let it dry for at least 24 hours. That way some of the water would evaporate from the bowl and help you not have a wet smoke. I never had any problems with my cake doing the honey/water break in method.
One of the reasons that I don't do it now is partly due to laziness and partly due to experimentation. I used to use the honey/water method when breaking in all of my pipes that needed it. I then decided to experiment and try breaking in a pipe without using the honey/water mixture. It worked just as well without the mixture coating the chamber. I do however smoke really slow when breaking in a pipe that I am not using the mixture in because there is no barrier of 'protection' from the mixture. I don't really know if the mixture added any protection, but I figure that it's better to be safe than sorry.
That's also where the laziness factor came in. Once I found out that it broke in just fine without using the mixture, I figured why waste the time doing the process. So I nixed it.Pipe Mud is sometimes made by mixing honey, water, and ash to make a mixture used to help fix some things in your pipe. Most people use cigar ash because it is more consistent, it can be smashed down into a fine powder better than pipe ash can be, and you can get more of it from one cigar compared to one bowl of pipe tobacco.
Some of the uses for pipe mud are; fixing a damaged cake, repairing the beginnings of a burn out, and it can also be used to fix an improperly drilled pipe that has a 'well' in the bottom of the chamber. But you need to let it dry completely before smoking the pipe again. It is supposed to dry up pretty hard.I have tried filling in a 'well' with pipe mud before without much success. It might have to do with where I live. I live in a high humidity area and I the pipe mud wasn't drying up like it should.
The bottom line is; do what works for you. If you have been breaking in pipes with a certain method and you are not having any problems, then continue to do what you have been doing. Unless you want to try something new and different.
The only thing that I would say that is imperative during the breaking in process and should be done every time by everybody is; smoke slowly and don't smoke a pipe that hasn't been broken in yet outside. If you are breaking in a pipe and start tasting or smelling burning wood, STOP smoking and let the pipe cool all of the way down.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I forgot to add this to the last post.
I always use Virginia or VA/Per blends when breaking in a pipe. One reason for that is; my favorite type of tobacco are VA and VA/Per blends. Another reason is that in my opinion, you can easily turn a VA or VA/Per pipe into a Aromatic or English pipe, but you can't easily turn an Aromatic or English pipe into a VA or VA/Per pipe.
So I break in all of my pipes using either a VA or VA/Per blend, with the exception that if I buy a pipe and I know right when I'm buying it if I'm going to use it for Aromatic or English blends.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Contrary to Russ Ouellette's break-in theory, Carl Ehwa Jr., (who I think founded or married into McClelland Tobacco), says that a soft carbon cake is the result of using heavily cased or flavored tobaccos. If those are your favorites, then the only recourse is to smash the cake against the inside of the bowl.
A cake that breaks away from the wall in chunks is the result of packing too loosely. (I guess too much heat results in temperature cycling between smokes, alternately expanding and shrinking some of the cake until it separates from the wall.) The only fix is to ream it to a uniform thickness and start over.
I couldn't find any place where Ehwa either endorsed or condemned using honey-type preparations, though he gives the impression that they are unnecessary.
As for the purist's concern about the detrimental effects of coating the bowl of a new pipe, check out Savinelli's Chocolate Pipes!
Posted 2 years ago # -
I have tried filling in a 'well' with pipe mud before without much success. It might have to do with where I live. I live in a high humidity area and I the pipe mud wasn't drying up like it should.
I filled in a well recently with pipe mud. I only used water and cigar ash. It only takes a very small amount of water. It worked like a charm and after it dried, it was hard as stone. I'm finally happy with the pipe now.
If I'd tried it in the summer, I may have had the same results as you due to Ohio Valley summertime humidity.
Posted 2 years ago # -
So what type of viscosity/consistency are you looking to achieve with the ash/water mixture?
Peanut butter-ish?Also...how much ash? A large cigar worth, or maybe a macanudo petite size?
Posted 2 years ago # -
Bytor,
Peanut butter-ish sounds about like the right description. Instinct is a pretty good guide, though. If there's too much water, you can definitely tell by sight. On the other side of the coin, you'll be able to tell when it's thick enough that it will hold fast.
As far as the size of the cigar, I used a large (don't remember guage as I'm not educated about cigars) Romeo y Julieta. Fortunately, I used half the ashes on the first attempt at making the mix. I had used too much water and then added more ashes bit by bit until it seemed like a mortar.
I was really surprised at the amount of the paste it took to fill in the heel to where it met the draft hole. I'd recommend that you use a larger cigar, as an abundance of the mud would be better than not quite enough, and you'll also have some leeway if you over-saturate the mix at first.
If you've got one, a medicine dropper would also be a good thing, I sure would've liked to have one at the time.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Good to know. Guess I'll have to make a trip out to the cigar shop.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I found some information on this subject in regard to an extensive testing done using honey or honey and water.Apparently the honey crystals do help for a good char in the short term,but are very weak to clinging on to the sides in certain areas for the long term, and will cause hot spots in those areas that the sugar crystals have separated from the wall, and was therefor not recommended.
Posted 1 year ago #
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