Just got a savinelli Roma 320 and wondering if it was just me or does a pre carbonized bowl affect the flavor of the tobacco because I was excited about getting this pipe it's the nicest one I own but everything I've tried tastes nasty. I am also getting over a cold so that could maybe be it too. Just curious about opinions.
Pre Carbonized Bowl?
- Thread starter madmike740
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I've noticed needing a few bowls to smoke out that flavor in pre-carbonized Savinelli or Rossi pipes I dedicate to Virginia blends. English blends usually adapt quite a bit faster.
Some folks sand out as much of that bowl coating as possible before their initial smoke. Either way, it shouldn't trouble you for too long.
Some folks sand out as much of that bowl coating as possible before their initial smoke. Either way, it shouldn't trouble you for too long.
Could be the illness. I doubt, although some will disagree, a company would vend a pipe which turned off customers. We have some members who are vehemently against bowl coatings.
In my experience the nasty charcoal taste goes away after a few bowls. Stay the course and the problem will fix itself. I once wiped that black crap out of a new bowl with 200 proof ethanol on a paper towel. That method fixed the problem a lot faster but the end result was the same as just smoking through it, which shouldn't take long.
I smoked Italian pipes almost exclusively at first. Castello, naked bowls. I learned how to break them in and got used to the taste along the way. Then I started collecting Danish pipes, which have coated bowls by tradition. There is a noticeable taste to coating (like the Savenelli mentioned in the OP), albeit very mild and it dissolves after a few smokes. It's not a big deal, just different. Keep calm and puff on.
Oh, and as mentioned above, coated vs naive bowls seem to be like politics in the pipe community. People have strong opinions on one or the other and passions run high. I'm independent in this regard. Both are good, you just need to break in the pipes differently.
Oh, and as mentioned above, coated vs naive bowls seem to be like politics in the pipe community. People have strong opinions on one or the other and passions run high. I'm independent in this regard. Both are good, you just need to break in the pipes differently.
It's most likely not actually carbonized, which would entail it being smoked (by machine or human), but a coating which may or may not have carbon content. Actual pre-carbonization happened long ago, and I've not heard of it being done in this century, though it could be in rare cases.
As Neal and others say, smoke on through it and soon you'll have a nice little layer of actual carbon (cake) which will be neutral or take on tastes from what you smoke in it.
As Neal and others say, smoke on through it and soon you'll have a nice little layer of actual carbon (cake) which will be neutral or take on tastes from what you smoke in it.
Taste buds are often out of whack after a cold. I purchase pipes with and without the bowl coatings. Not a deal breaker for me.
M
mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast
Guest
Carbonized bowls are hit and miss. I've had all kinds of pipes up and down the scale, and more times than not they impart a bad taste. You can smoke it out or send it to the estate market. I send mine off because I'm not willing to fight it. I don't prefer them, but done right, they're not an issue.
As side note,I'm noticing that by some strange reason the majority of French make factory pipes are still coming with uncarbonized bowl chambers,
Are we talking about carbonized bowls or bowls with finish in them?
All smoked estates would have been pre-carbonized right? If that is the case then a good cleaning and de-ghosting session would be in order.
I bought a new Vauen that had a stained inner bowl and tasted awful. I just sanded the inside down to the wood and its fine.
All smoked estates would have been pre-carbonized right? If that is the case then a good cleaning and de-ghosting session would be in order.
I bought a new Vauen that had a stained inner bowl and tasted awful. I just sanded the inside down to the wood and its fine.
Yes, all smoked estates have some level of cake (carbon). Bowl coatings may not contain carbon. I don''t like them, and yet they do disappear with a few smokes.
Poster 1:
Poster 2:
Poster 2:
I think it is not incorrect but confusing to call a bowl coating or pre-carbonization cake. "Pre" designates a time before the usual events occur for which that object may have beeb destined. Prehistory is before history. Pre-carbonized refers to the time before a pipe is smoked, or before smoking, while cake refers to the laying down of deposit from the tobacco incineration and perhaps from the rising smoke. On getting an estate I don't believe one would be able to know whether or not under the cake, or in a professionally reamed bowl, if there had been a coating before it was smoked.
I prefer no bowl coating, and give extra points for pipes that come without it. However, I've never noticed a flavor from it or had any problem. I've had stain in the shank on a few pipes, but no problem with the bowl coating itself. I have no problem breaking in an uncoated bowl and have never had any sort of spot-burning in the bowls, so to me, that is the optimal finish for the inside of a bowl ... no coating.
I've read that bowl-coatings are a means of keeping pipe buyers from burning out the bowls from over-smoking and starting burned patches. From my experience, this would be a rarity, but maybe it was a problem when the pipe industry was larger, and to volume pipe makers today.
My bet is that it started as a gimmicky marketing ploy from back when there was actual competition to sell scads of pipes. "Oh, we have honey in our bowls." "Oh, our pipes are pre-smoked!" "We have a special 4-hole condenser widget in our pipes." You know, that sort of thing. And unfortunately, it was a bad marketing gimmick that stuck.
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