New Pipe Bowl Coatings, Leave It or Remove?

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namuna

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 22, 2013
168
0
I must've missed the information somewhere, but I guess some new pipes come with some kind of coating in the bowl. I thought it was just leftover dust from drilling on my new Brigham (since it was orange colored), but when I got the same kind of gunk out of my new Peterson (but in black), I figured it must be a protective coating for new pipes.
So what's the general consensus on the coating? Do you tend to leave it and just keep smoking, or clean the bowl completely so there's no coating left?

 
Jan 8, 2013
7,493
733
I've read where some members here take it out, and others that leave it. It's supposed to protect the new pipe during the break in process, and perhaps speed up the break in process, but from what I understand, most here don't see where it makes any difference. Some take it out because they like that taste of new briar. Others leave it. Personally I've left it in all my pipes. It doesn't bother me.

 

samanden

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jun 11, 2013
247
48
Alexandria, VA
I've had pipes that I've left in the coating and others that I've taken it out. I prefer to wipe it out using some alcohol. The initial smokes of a pipe with the carbon coating can be a bit overwhelming. However, the pipes that I actually left the coating in, my first pipe in particular, are great smokers.

 

billypm

Can't Leave
Oct 24, 2013
302
3
I hate breaking in a new pipe so much that it doesn't matter to me whether the coating stays or goes. And since I avoid the problem quite successfully by simply buying estates that are already broken in, the question is moot. But if I had a new one I would leave any coating as it was when I got it and just break that sucker in as fast and as easily as I knew how.

 

namuna

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 22, 2013
168
0
On the Brigham I didn't know any better so I cleaned the bowl with 91% Isopropyl until the coating was gone. My Savinelli didn't have the coating, so I thought it was just some leftover manufacturing residue in the Brigham.
Man, I can't wait until all my pipes are finally broken in! I might have to buy an Estate pipe just to see how a pipe is SUPPOSED to smoke all the way through an entire bowl.

 

msandoval858

Part of the Furniture Now
Jun 11, 2012
954
3
Austin, TX
All a matter of personal preference. I have always broken in my new pipes as they come from the manufacturer.
Never been much of an issue for me.

 

tbradsim1

Lifer
Jan 14, 2012
9,092
11,008
Southwest Louisiana
I take them out, I am getting a Duca Bulldog with it and I'm thinking about leavening it alone to see. The worst one I've had was a Peterson Roslare, horrible, used almost a box of q-tips and Everclear, really grimy.

 

papipeguy

Lifer
Jul 31, 2010
15,778
35
Bethlehem, Pa.
I've had coated bowls and uncoated. Doesn't make a diffeerence to me other than being more careful during the break-in period with an uncoated bowl.

 

namuna

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 22, 2013
168
0
Found the PipesMagazine article on the subject: http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/out-of-the-ashes/bowl-coatings-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-part-i/
Thanks for all the responses folks.

 

allan

Lifer
Dec 5, 2012
2,429
7
Bronx, NY
I hate breaking in a new pipe so much that it doesn't matter to me whether the coating stays or goes. And since I avoid the problem quite successfully by simply buying estates that are already broken in, the question is moot.
So far in my limited pipe smoking experience, I have purchased 2/3rds estate pipes and 1/3 new ones. In the category of 'new' most notably they will include Scott Thile, Rad Davis amongst some others. Each one did not come with a bowl coating.
I entirely agree with BillPM's quote above. I dislike breaking in a new Briar. I don't think it is a matter of 'patience' in my case, I just really enjoy buying an estate pipe that has been broken in already and is just ready to go, so to speak.
Kind of like the old days when purchasing a new car, you had to drive under 50mph to break in the engine. Nowadays with computer controlled engine tolerances, it is no longer necessary.
I just love estate pipes.

 

jkenp

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 5, 2013
202
0
NW Indiana
I don't understand the anguish here. Breaking in a new pipe is an insignificant task if you are a normal smoker. I just fill them and go at it. Haven't seen the first real/serious problem.
Twice I have gotten briar taste indicating some faint wood charring. One was a rather expensive Zulu. I tried something suggested by Sidney P. Ram in his book How to get more fun out of smoking;: A guide and handbook for better smoking. Might seem silly but it worked for the new pipe.
To break in a new pipe he says to dunk the bowl in water for the time it takes to sing Happy Birthday. Sounds silly at one level but makes sense at another. You let it sit for a minute and the water seems gone. But, it is protecting the new, fresh wood.
When one buys and first smoke a new pipe -- especially one that's pricey -- it is reasonable to show some concern. But, reason for further concern is quickly ameliorated when you have success.
I new pipe isn't going to be as grand as when it is broken in. But, it isn't a horror and you and it survive and prosper. No big deal, really.

 

namuna

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 22, 2013
168
0
I don't understand the anguish here. Breaking in a new pipe is an insignificant task if you are a normal smoker...
But what is "normal"? 1 bowl a day? More per day? Less? Also, at least for me, what about folks that have only bought new pipes thusfar, no estates?
I currently have 6, with a 7th enroute, new pipes and no estates. Doing the math; I smoke 1 bowl a day, it supposedly takes 50 to 100 bowls smoked for a proper pipe "break-in", you're supposed to let your pipe "rest" a day before using it again...With 7 new pipes to work through, it's going to take me FRICKEN YEARS to break-in all my pipes man! there's the anguish! :crying:
rothnh, I know you say piping takes patience, but daaaaaamn!
Time to look at some estates I suppose.

 

brdavidson

Lifer
Dec 30, 2012
2,017
5
Namuna, I've left the coatings in all my new pipes. I have a Brigham Chinook that had the orange clay coating which is different than the "glass" coating Roth speaks of. I have a Brigham Algonquin (2 dot) with the glass like coating and it is the pipe that has developed the best cake by far of all my new pipes. For inexperienced pipers like myself I say leave it in as the manufacturers know what they are doing and we clearly don't!

 

sorringowl

Starting to Get Obsessed
Dec 24, 2010
141
0
I prefer uncoated pipes, as I generally will dedicate one blend per pipe, so, I want the flavor of that blend in there, and nothing else. That being said, I have had one uncoated pipe, the briar of which, just tasted terrible. I don't know what it was, but, breaking that one in was torture. Almost tossed the pipe, as, the taste was so bad that I wouldn't want to pass it off to anyone else! But, it's been broken in now, and that taste is long gone.

 

allan

Lifer
Dec 5, 2012
2,429
7
Bronx, NY
I don't understand the anguish here. Breaking in a new pipe is an insignificant task if you are a normal smoker. I just fill them and go at it. Haven't seen the first real/serious problem.
JK
Welcome to the forum.
I'm not sure that any discussion involving pipe smoking is done with any serious degree of 'anguish'. After all, its a hobby. Life and death it is not.
If you examine the forum for the last year, you will see that folks bring up minor intricacies of 'do you smoke to the left or right?' or, 'do you use a match or a lighter to light your pipe?'.
These discussions on minute points of the hobby are what entertain most of us and make us come back day after day, often with compulsive behavior (I'm speaking for myself, here). :)
No anguish.
Just the thorough enjoyment of the unending quest for knowledge.

 

mike73

Starting to Get Obsessed
Aug 20, 2013
168
2
Namuna grab a bag of cobs and your issue is solved. Use the cobs between your new pipes and before you know it, you have a weeks worth of a full briar rotation ready to go. There should not be any anguish over breaking in pipes. There are to many options that one can use to enjoy the hobby. Even on a tight budget.

 

jkenp

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 5, 2013
202
0
NW Indiana
Well Allan, I love florid overstating. So, when you read me, keep tongue in cheek if it doesn't interfere with the stem.

 

cigrmaster

Lifer
May 26, 2012
20,249
57,280
66
Sarasota Florida
I think bowl coatings are an abomination and should never be allowed. The last new pipe I purchased had one and I immediately got rid of it. I was surprised it even had one because it was an artisan pipe and I did not expect to see it. It was the first new pipe from that carver and I did not have it commissioned, if I had I would have insisted no bowl coating.
For me, breaking in a pipe is not a chore but a pleasure. I like the taste I get at the end of a pipe with a naked bowl for the first few smokes. The briar flavor is kind of nutty and not off putting at all to me. I like how I get to know a pipe during the break in period. I always break in a pipe by filling it to the top, smoking it normally and then let it rest one day and continue that process for a month or so until it has a nice cake. Now granted I am only breaking in artisan made pipes and those break in very easily. The last two factory made pipes I broke in( two Ferndowns) and had bowl coatings so it did take longer.

 

namuna

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 22, 2013
168
0
Okay, so another question with regard to these coatings,
During the break-in period, if you leave the coating on and then build the cake up as you should...Isn't that cake actually attached to the coating and therefore you've got that coating as an intermediary for the life of the pipe? Kind of like painting a car, you apply a primer first and then the actual paint...But the paint is actually adhering to the primer and not the metal itself. Or is it more like the coating burns away, giving way for the cake to adhere to the wood, as it burns away?
I'm not trying to obsess over this, just interested in the science.

 
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