New Briar Pipe - No taste?

jaq6q · Oct 9, 2016

Hello! I bought two pipes, one Savinelli and one Stanwell. Those are beautiful pipes. I was smoking Capstan Original (Blue) in new Stanwell. Without hesitation, it delivered the fruitiness, cool (minty?), hay flavors. And I enjoyed smoking it. On the other hand, I could not seem to taste any flavors in Savinelli. I was smoking Mississippi River (SPC) but it seemed like everything was muted. I occasionally got burst of sweet flavor when I relighted it, but that was all. It seemed like there was a wall between myself and the flavor. In Savinelli, I also smoked LNF and Dunhill Flake, which I find them fantastic in MM, but same no-flavor thing happened.
Will it get better as the time goes on?

Any tips?

Chasing Embers · Oct 9, 2016

Does the Savinelli have a filter in it?

mayfair70 · Oct 9, 2016

I'm guessing the Savinelli had a black coating in the bowl?

jaq6q · Oct 9, 2016

Savinelli did not have a filter when I smoked it.

Yes, it had the black coating inside the bowl.

Will that be the culprit?

hugodrax · Oct 9, 2016

Could be. It usually passes once broken in.

mayfair70 · Oct 9, 2016

It usually passes once broken in

Or, you could do what some others do with bowl coatings and gently sand it off. Very fine grit until you see briar. Some coatings ruin taste, maybe you are lucky it just blocks it. I never buy pipes with coated bowls, except really old Yello-Bole's and they cause no ruckus. Then there is Hugodrax's suggestion to wait it out. I've heard Carter Hall might help in this area, speeding along the process. As long as it doesn't stink or bubble, you are probably fine with it. Good Luck!

pagan · Oct 9, 2016

Sand or ream the bowl, get rid of the coating

hugodrax · Oct 9, 2016

I am too bad with my hands to sand! If you are better with them, that's a very good idea.

jaq6q · Oct 9, 2016

I am not good with my hands either haha. However, it is a relief to hear that it will get better. I will definitely try CH/PA. Thank you for your inputs! I appreciate them.

texmexpipe · Oct 10, 2016

Get some GH Black Bogie and enjoy the nicotine without the terrible taste and consider yourself blessed!

ltstone · Oct 10, 2016

I find my Falcon Pipe mutes taste as well.

foggymountain · Oct 27, 2016

If I may suggest, smoke it until it gets dirty inside, then it will have a taste.

mawnansmiff · Oct 29, 2016

I too recently treated myself to a new pipe and it also has a black coating in it that though I cannot taste it, it does mute the flavours of the blends I am smoking in it.
Two solutions; either sand it back to bare briar or just keep at it and eventually it will smoke as it should. Whichever you choose, good luck.
Regards,
Jay.

jaq6q · Oct 30, 2016

Thank you for your inputs! I've been smoking it with SWR for last few weeks. From muted flavors, now I can taste brown sugar sweetness with some nuttiness! And I also noticed that when black coating "melts" and becomes sticky, that is when pipe starts to stop muting the flavor and taste better. It seems like when the coating becomes sticky, that is also when cake-building process is accelerated, maybe because tobacco ash easily sticks to the sticky coating?
But I may be wrong, it is just a theory.

Happy smoking!

jpmcwjr · Oct 30, 2016

I've not experienced a coating become sticky.
Ash sticking to the sides is good if you want to build a (soft) cake quickly; not good if you want a thin hard cake. Many wipe the bowl clean after a smoke with a damp paper towel. Some of us rinse it out with hot water.

kane · Nov 1, 2016

A pipe will develop and deliver more flavor as it seasons and breaks in. Keep smoking it and see what happens.

I sent a very well smoked estate pipe to a pipe shop for a deep cleaning before I tried smoking it. When it left me it had a thick cake in the bowl. When I got it back all the cake was reamed out and it really was close to a new pipe. At the time I had never smoked a new briar pipe, just my dad's old pipes that were all well broken in with good cake in the bowls.

When I first smoked the cleaned and reamed pipe I could hardly taste the tobacco compared to the other pipes I was smoking. I was bewildered. Every other pipe I had delivered billows of flavor. I even posted here, how could a pipe rob all the flavor from tobacco? There were a few amused comments. After about the fourth bowl the flavors started coming more, and now it's great smoking pipe. Give it time.

jaq6q · Nov 5, 2016

@ jpmcwjr : HOT WATER??

Would you suggest using paper towel instead of bent (U-shaped) pipe cleaner?
@ kane : As you have mentioned, I agree that time is the solution, as the pipe is getting better and better!

sk806 · Nov 9, 2016

I just wanted to jump in and say that I have been in the same boat. I had one briar for the few couple of weeks of pipe smoking, and, as I am a sucker for flame grain, birdseye and all things wood grain, I got two more. I find that the one from the beginning let's me taste the tobacco more and more, while the other two (both unfinished bowls) are taking a while to get to where that first one is. It's kind of fascinating how the roots of a Mediterranean shrub are so perfectly suited for this pursuit. However, hot briar (not too hot! I am being careful!) does not taste so great, to me, anyway. Can't wait to get a cake going in all of them. Hot water, eh? I also use the "U" shaped pipe cleaner. Very interesting (and kinda scary)...

.

mawnansmiff · Nov 11, 2016

"Hot water, eh?"
SK, hot water is fine for cleaning the pipe bowl just so long as you towel dry it immediately afterwards then leave it to 'air' for a few hours.
Regards,
Jay.

New Briar Pipe - No taste?

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