Rim charring

andya27 · Sep 12, 2014

As much as I've been careful with this Butz-Choquin, it's getting some rim charring. It's a fantastic smoker, and I really don't care if it looks like a well-used pipe as I continue to smoke with it over the years.
Question is - how do you avoid rim charring? I don't load tobacco to the top of the chamber. I use a soft-light lighter and I avoid touching the flame to the wood. So I'm not sure why this is occurring.

mso489 · Sep 12, 2014

... good idea. I think some pipes, some stains and finishes, are just more prone to rim charring. Many dark

blasts don't show char. Wider brims tend to show more if the finish is vulnerable. I'm careful to avoid putting

the flame to the brim, but if there is some char, I take it as a badge of honor for the pipe. One of my cobs is

rather cooked up top.

cosmicfolklore · Sep 12, 2014

I don't think of that as char, but love. I have a few that have that well loved look also : puffy

:

peteguy · Sep 12, 2014

My take is you are putting fire to wood. If you want to keep a pipe pristine and looking new you will have to stop smoking it. As stated it is love - less worrying about it and enjoy your hobby. No offense meant just my opinion.

andya27 · Sep 12, 2014

So basically rim charring is a normal occurrence. Won't worry then. Thought I might be doing something wrong.

peteguy · Sep 12, 2014

About all you can do is take the necessary precautions:
Use the correct flames for pipes.

Don't overfill and underfill if you are really worried.

Saliva and elbow grease to fight back residue.
Thats the extent of my knowledge.

papipeguy · Sep 12, 2014

I get that too, andy. I don't get overly concerned about it. Some day I'll get a buffer so I can take proper care of my pipes.

This is an extreme case of charring. The owner of this pipe did this in one week. Still not sure how he did it.

andya27 · Sep 12, 2014

Now that's funny. That's a bit more than rim charring. I suspected rim charring is pretty much a given. I can't imagine how that kind of charring occurred.

sablebrush52 · Sep 12, 2014

Charring can largely be avoided by wetting the rim with a little spit right before lighting up. I also find that a match works better than a lighter for accurately lighting the entire top layer. I have well smoked pipes with uncharred rims. It comes down to: does it matter to you or does it not?

buster · Sep 12, 2014

Don't know if this will help but after I smoke. I apply some spit to the rim and press the rim against my jeans and twist. It leaves a ring stain on my jeans but the pipe rim is cleaner.

cosmicfolklore · Sep 12, 2014

Also, even though a little discoloration doesn't ruin my day... if I hold my lighter about half an inch above the bowl and draw the heat down to the tobacco, I don't discolor my rims. You don't have to have the flame blasting towards the bowl to light it. The heat from the flame is enough to get the tobacco to start igniting.

But, for the most part, it doesn't wreck my day.
But, in your picture there, that doe4sn't look bad at all.
When I first started smoking a pipe, I had a nice rusticated Savinelli that had these beautiful polished birdseye along the rim. I obsessed every time I smoked it to prevent any little discoloration from ruining my pipe. And, after hanging out at the B&M and watching estate pipes come and go, I noticed that every one of them had at least some minor discoloration. So, I figured that I would just enjoy my pipes and love them, without treating them with kid gloves. There's nothing wrong with a pipe that looks like it was loved.

zekest · Sep 12, 2014

I have noticed on all of my pipes, the minor rim charring is always on the stem side of the bowl rim, never on the heal side.
Strange.

topd · Sep 12, 2014

I never use a lighter unless I'm on the lake and smoking a brier or cob that I'm not all that concerned with. I use matches indoors, so your drawing the flame to the tobacco, not torching your pipe. Over time your gonna get rim burn regardless, so learn how to deal with it. I have a little maintenance routine I perform periodically to clear things up..... I'll use a meerschaum as an example, but the same thing applies to a brier or cob. This pipe really wasn't ready for maintenance, but I did it to show what I do.

You can see a slight charring. I take 2500 grit paper and lay it on a flat surface. I sand the rim of the pipe, but very lightly and just enough to remove the char. Hold your pipe rim flat and do little circles... Real slow and don't hurry. Look at it often. Don't over do it...

You can see the char is gone, but it doesn't look a whole lot different. I could have went a lot more, but I'm happy with the appearance.... Like I said, don't over do it. Only sand as far as you need to get rid of the material you want gone...

andya27 · Sep 12, 2014

I smoke outdoors. I've tried matches - no luck there. Even soft flame butane lighters don't always work, as I live in a windy area. I often use a Zippo lighter with pipe insert.

numbersix · Sep 12, 2014

A little charring is sometimes hard to avoid but I am usually successful. Are you using a lighter specifically meant for pipes (i.e. an angled flame)? That makes a difference.
The other thing you may be doing is over filling your bowl - even if you're not filling directly to the top - the tobacco will usually swell on the first light and catch the edge.
This may be causing the rim burn you're seeing.

cosmicfolklore · Sep 12, 2014

There is creep and then there is char. Creep is where the cake becomes fluid and creeps towards the heat when you light the pipe. Cake is very similar to flux that I use when soldering metals, it moves towards the heat. It becomes very viscous and covers the rim. You can avoid it by not filling the pipe to the top, but you can also get it off with a little spit and some elbow grease. Char is where the actual finish on the pipe, usually wax, starts to carbonize. This is a little more involved, because it can sink as far as the wax has absorbed into the briar. However, you can try spit, but sanding or buffing is usually about the only way to get it off for sure. But, you avoid this with the spitting on the rim before lighting as many have mentioned above. But, I prefer holding the lighter up above the rim method that i mentioned above also.
Edit: sorry, am I posting too much on this? All of these are great suggestions.

rcstan · Sep 13, 2014

That rim just darkened with normal use from the tobacco oils and lighting. Some of that darkening will come off with a little elbow grease and/or a buffer.
Rim charring in my book is where the rim surface has been actually burned and the inner rim is out of round from scorching due to lighting with blow torches, flaming sticks, glowing coals etc.

andya27 · Sep 13, 2014

I use lighters designed for pipes (angled flame) and a Zippo lighter with pipe insert. This morning's smoke had to be done with the Zippo, as there was just too much wind for my butane lighters.
I'll try wetting the rim with saliva. But I'm also not averse to a little black around the rim, as I see it on so many photos of others' pipes.
If there is too great an effort involved with avoiding rim char, then I'd rather just enjoy the pipe for what it is and have some char. I don't have expensive pipes (I realize expensive is a relative term) such as Dunhills or custom-made. I figure my $100 or so pipes, if they get a bit of charring, will just show that they're well-used. The majority of my pipes don't show any charring - basically it's just this BC.
Thanks for all the suggestions!

Rim charring

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