Cooling a Hot Smoker

Chasing Embers · Dec 14, 2014

So I have had a Big Ben Dromedary 709 for a few years, and for the life of me, no matter how slow I smoke, it would set my tongue on fire. When purchased, it was extremely shiny, and the more I thought about it, it made sense that the shine came from some sort of laquer or varnish. I had read before that briar had to breath, so "borrowing" my eldest daughter's nail polish remover, I began rubbing down the pipe with small amounts of the remover. Was afraid at first that stain may come off with the finish, but as it did not, I proceded to remove the shine. After allowing the stummel to dry for an hour, I loaded it with a blend known to cause severe tongue bite in the pipe in question, and lo and behold, cool smoke. Just thought I would share this with anyone experiencing hot smoke from a very shiny pipe.

tbradsim1 · Dec 14, 2014

Good for you, you took the situation in hand. You will make a good piper.

Chasing Embers · Dec 14, 2014

Thanks! Been piping for over 2 decades now, and still making new discoveries!

ivapewithfire · Dec 14, 2014

I'd love to see what the re-finish looks like. Can you post any pictures?

jeepnewbie · Dec 14, 2014

Good to hear that. Gonna put that in my notes for future reference.

pipebaum81 · Dec 14, 2014

I'm not quite understanding so please forgiveme. Is the suggestion here that the laquer or varnish was serving as some sort of insulator?

kaboom · Dec 15, 2014

More of a sealant than an insulator is what's being suggested.
Its not the first time i've heard of lacquered pipes smoking unbearably hot.

wnghanglow · Dec 15, 2014

Pipebaum81, the smoke is hot but there's also lots of moisture in smoke, removing the laquer means the wood can absorb some of the steam giving you a more Plesent dry smoke. San theory as to why you should let your pipes dry.

cosmicfolklore · Dec 15, 2014

I think this goes back to the notion that I read in one of Rick Newcombe's books, he mentions that some believe that the "veins" (?) in the briar breath, making for a cooler smoke. And, when the "veins" are filled with lacquer or wax, then the pipe smokes hot. But, this has been dispelled time and time again on here, by pipemakers who have cut well smoked pipes in half and examined them under microscopes to show that this is bunk. The Nording Valhallas are all heavily lacquered pipes, and I have 7 of them now, and they all smoke great, very cool.
But, faith in an idea is a powerful thing, and maybe once this idea is set in your mind, then removing the lacquer helped you start smoking the pipe slower, or in a manner that better fits the way the pipe is made. Mind over matter is powerful stuff.
If someone has one of those old youtube videos of the pipemaker cutting the pipe in half, maybe you can post. Or, at least one of the links from one of our previous threads on the subject.
Either way, happy smokes : puffy

: And, as long as you enjoy the pipe, what does it matter.

cosmicfolklore · Dec 15, 2014

Ahhhh, in reading wnghanglow's comment, maybe something else is going on here. Set aside the briar breathing thing... Lets say that the cake is absorbing the moisture, and the reason we let pipes rest is to allow the cake to harden back up (hang with me here), then maybe the pipe was smoking poorly because it was still building cake, and at the same time the lacquer is removed there was also sufficient cake to absorb the moisture (steam) and insulate the bowl, reducing bite.
That said, I am not biggest fan of lacquered pipes, not because they smoke any different, but because I just like the feel of the wood in my hand. Wax is enough, I don't want a plastic coating between me and the wood. Except of course the Nordhallas. The look of those overrules the "feel."

tbradsim1 · Dec 15, 2014

I believe the laquer was an insulator and the pipe was able to radiate the heat better, laquer was like a thermal blanket trapping some heat, and yes the coke is very important in heat transfer or no heat transfer. Whatever it smokes better for you, glad it's going well for you.

misterlowercase · Dec 15, 2014

Or, at least one of the links from one of our previous threads on the subject.

That was a fun topic!

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/the-breathability-of-briar-wood-what-do-you-think
Congrats on "fixing" the pipe, I'm with Bradley, whatever works, works.

Some things are beyond explanation,

like why does some briar some hot while other briar smokes very cool?

Curious stuff.
I had a recent made Stanwell 19 that was lacquered and it smoked hot as Hades, I ended up selling it.

But, I also have a an old City DeLuxe lovat that had been barely smoked when I got it, and it's a "natural" finish, only a dark walnut stain, and for some reason it smokes really hot, but it tastes great somehow, it amazes me how hot the bowl sides get, hotter than any other pipe I have, but I keep it in hopes of one day it might magically turn around, and sometimes weird stuff like that does happen.
I've read stories about someone who bought a bitter pipe then left it on a shelf for like a decade and forgot about it, then came back to it to find it smoked sweet!
Anyway,

congrats on your Dromedary,

I think those are cool looking pipes!

: puffy

:

cosmicfolklore · Dec 15, 2014

Brad, I'm just throwing ideas out there. I guess I could have just posted a "righto" with everyone else. It would have been easier, but then what fun is that?

Just discussing...

Happy Smokes : puffy

:

tbradsim1 · Dec 15, 2014

Mike, I like to bat ideas back and forth, makes the old cells click and clack. : puffy

:

blueeyedogre · Dec 15, 2014

I had a Chacom army mount that heated up like a furnace and so it rarely got smoked. Couple weeks ago I was bored and found the Chacom again and decided that I was gonna do something with it. I scrubbed it with nail polish remover and barely put a dint in the varnish. I tried sanding it and sweet baby Jesus that varnish was tough stuff!!! Finally I pulled out my new dremel and a carving bit I have for rifle work and set to rusticating the damned thing, finished it with a couple coats of black leather stain and a quick polish with Carnauba wax. Smokes like a dream now and handles flacks perfectly, glad I kept it around.

I'm not against varnishing a pipe but I think the thinner the wall on the pipe the more help it needs to dissipate the heat. I have some thick walled Stanwells that are varnished and smoke cool but the walls on the Chacom were about a 1/3 as thick.

lochinvar · Dec 15, 2014

Some pipes are just roasters. I have a rusticated Celius that is unvarnished, old briar, with a decent cake, and no matter what I smoke or how slow I puff, almost from the char light, the smoke is scorching and the bowl gets so hot you can't hold it.
Maybe the wood needed another 50 years of seasoning or maybe a perfect storm of craptacularness came together in that pipe. We've all had pipes that should (by the numbers) smoke horribly, that smoke like dreams. Maybe these pipes are us paying for our raising.

sablebrush52 · Dec 15, 2014

If it worked, it worked. The issue lies in the particular block of wood and how it's been processed. I have a couple of lacquered pipes by Nording that smoke perfectly fine, so it's not as simple as having a lacquer coating. I've had unsealed pipes that went glowing red on eye contact.

That leaves the wood, the shaping, and the engineering. A cylindrical chamber in a conical shape is going to produce more heat at the base where the walls are thinner, that sort of thing. Couple that with the porousness of a particular briar block, based on its capillary structure and you have additional variables. The purpose of a thin cake is to reduce the effect of those variables by creating a heat insulator.

One more factor - hot smoking tobacco mixtures.
In any event, congratulations on finding a solution for this pipe.

Chasing Embers · Dec 15, 2014

Thanks for the thoughts and congrats guys. Kept trying to find a blend or a method to cool this pipe down, and glad something worked. Found this pipe at my local B&M a few years back with an oxidized stem ( new pipe, just had been there for a while) loved the shape and wanted to see if I could shine it up. After cleaning it up good, a few smokes in, the laquer on the rim caught fire and left a bald patch on the rim that annoyed me for a while. When researching what makes a pipe smoke hot, I came across the laquer/varnish theory, and figured I would take a shot at stripping the finish. Now not only does it smoke cooler, for whichever reason, it looks great and feels more natural in hand. Just one more briar mystery.

pipebaum81 · Dec 16, 2014

Thanks for all the explanation and view points

Chasing Embers · Dec 17, 2014

Here's a pic sans laquer/varnish.

Cooling a Hot Smoker

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