Hey guys. I should be getting my first expensive (ish) briar, a nording signature, this week. When I get it I have the feeling I will want to smoke it all the time. Would that be a problem? I'm thinking a couple bowls a day. Does that harm the pipe? I just love this style and want to smoke it all the time.
Question about resting?
- Thread starter youngsterpuffer
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There is a ton of observation and experience regarding this on past forum posts. Type "rest pipe" or "resting" into the search window and you will get links to a number of threads.
Not sure it will hurt it at all, but I always rest mine a day after a bowl. Just what I've done. But that said, I've got several to alternate out. Yes, it's better to rest them, but necessary, I doubt it. I'm sure someone here will have a better answer for you. Some of these guys will rest a pipe for a week at a time. I don't. More often than not, one day is about it.
Past forum responses I've read in the past seem to indicate that most members rest their pipes a day or so after smoking, and others rest them for a day per each bowl smoked in it that particular day. However, others have said they've repeatedly smoked a pipe many times daily, with the only problems being more dottle or a wetter smoke.
Thanks everyone. I'm very excited to finally get to experience smoking something other than a cob, or a mm hardwood, and the pipe I picked looks beautiful in my opinion. Thanks for your input everyone
Yes most of us rest our pipes which we can easily do having a host to choose from. I've got about 35 that I smoke fairly regularly which makes it easy to rest them. When you've only got one good briar resting is harder. Since you have a Nording Signature coming I would say that resting for the purpose of protecting your pipe may not be a big issue as Nordings of that model tend to have nice thick walls. Do read the articles posted on here about resting and why. If you feel the need to smoke it more than once per day run a pipe cleaner through it when it cools, you will have a more enjoyable and tastier second smoke. And when you can try and invest in another good briar. Try to get a few to rotate them. I don't know why I'm saying this as the PAD will take over anyway. I'm not addicted to tobacco so much as I'm addicted to pipes.
When you smoke a pipe the water in the tobacco is released. As the pipe cools it runs down the chamber. Since briar is a root, it absorbs water. The water from the tobacco doesn't taste good. So if you let the pipe dry thoroughly you get a tastier smoke. This takes several days.
You'll get different trains of thought on resting and I've been doing something different for some time. I may smoke the same brier all day (6 - 8 bowls) while I'm out and about, then clean my pipe and put it away for a week or so. The trick is to use plenty of pipe cleaners during the day.
I find it's entirely idiosyncratic. I don't really rest my pipes when I'm using them. I.e, if I'm smoking a pipe, I'll smoke numerous bowls until I feel I fancy a change or another catches my eye. Then it'll rest. This may be after a score of bowls over a couple weeks for example. Never did mine no harm.
Pease wrote an article about this wherein he says that it's not the pipe that suffers from not getting rested, but the flavor and quality of the smoke.
Short answer is, it's not a problem and it won't harm the pipe ...
Longer answer is, your goal in smoking a pipe is to obtain what might be called 'smoking satisfaction' ... eventually, you will find that by having a sufficient number of pipes to give each a rest, greater smoking satisfaction will be realized ...
My first "quality' pipe was a Ben Wade freehand ... I smoked that pipe multiple times each day, every day, 7 days a week ... it got absolutely NO rest ... then, after I got a second 'quality' pipe, I alternated between the two with each getting a day off every other day ... each time I got another pipe, each got more rest ... eventually I reached the point where I could alternate after each bowlful ...
What I learned is that the additional rest each pipe got increased my level of smoking satisfaction ... which, IMO, is the original goal ...
So basically to get most out of my pipes I need to get more pipes? That is VERY okay with me. Ha!
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