"Breaking In" A Briar Pipe? Fact or Fiction?

[Talon]

So I present you fine people this evening with a topic of discussion and this is the breaking in of a Briar Pipe. So far I have "Broken" in a couple pipes. I have never really noticed anything markedly unpleasant about this experience? Although I see this topic come up time and time again referring to briar pipes how you must form your carbon cake and then it becomes a truly enjoyable smoke. What exactly is this nuance I'm supposed to be looking for once I've broken in my pipes because from what I've noticed there really isn't anything to it? I have enjoyed the very first bowl from these pipes right up into the latest bowl even with a well established carbon cake. Is the breaking in process specifically referring to adequately protecting the pipe from burnout or are there different nuances altogether?

 

[Waning Embers]

Just no longer tasting burning wood, cob, or allowing meer to soak up enough tobacco oil to not mute the flavor.

 

[anotherbob]

Yeah what he said. And also if there are certain imperfection in the wood the carbon will protect it. Pretty rare these days to have any issue but it can happen.

 

[solideogloria86]

Just no longer tasting burning wood, cob, or allowing meer to soak up enough tobacco oil to not mute the flavor.

This.

I used to think breaking in a pipe meant building a nice cake. Now, for me a pipe is usually broken in after 3 or 4 smokes. That's usually the magic moment when it quits tasting like wood and tobacco, and just tastes like tobacco.

 

[warren]

Although I see this topic come up time and time again referring to briar pipes how you must form your carbon cake and then it becomes a truly enjoyable smoke.

And, you should have noticed, many smokers disregard the so-called "breaking in" process. The pros and cons are mostly based on anecdotal information and the choice is up to you. Your pipe is broken in when you say it is broken in. Does it protect from imperfections in the wood? Hard to prove one way or the other. Tough to measure something that doesn't occur. Especially true when dealing with a natural material.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Don't over think it, sounds like you're doing it right.

 

[North Pole piper]

Cake in my opinion is overrated, but to each his own. Also depends what blends you smoke. I smoked straight Virginia’s out of a Mark Tinsky all summer and barely built up any cake, but I consider it broken in. Smoke an adulterated Sutliff tobacco and you will have a 2 inch cake built up in 2 or 3 bowls.

 

[Waning Embers]

Smoke an adulterated Sutliff tobacco and you will have a 2 inch cake built up in 2 or 3 bowls.

Wet aromatics always dissolve cake in my pipes. I use them to clean away any buildup in my meerschaums.

 

[North Pole piper]

Wet aromatics always dissolve cake in my pipes. I use them to clean away any buildup in my meerschaums.

Interesting, I don’t yet own a meerschaum but have wanted one for a while. I think I shy away from them because I don’t know much about them. I need to just do the research to ensure I get something good and go buy one.

 

[Waning Embers]

Interesting, I don’t yet own a meerschaum but have wanted one for a while. I think I shy away from them because I don’t know much about them. I need to just do the research to ensure I get something good and go buy one.

They smoke like any other pipe.?

 

[warren]

86: Smokers who have never allowed cake can't write with authority about the advantages of such over a caked pipe. The obverse means the smoker really can't address, with authority, the advantages of cake over a "clean" briar bowl. Smokers who have tried both will have. perhaps, a better understanding with regards to one over the other. If not, at least a personal feeling as to advantages and disavantage to either method based on personal experience.

My opinion is, growing cake means more attention to that process. So, one might feel more involved. Wiping and such to deter cake is less of a chore as cake should be thin and well maintained. So, to me, it boils down to personal preference and how much time and effort, and how complicated you want to make smoking a pipe.

It all boils down to a personal preference. Years ago, cake was recommended and embraced by many manufacturers and smokers. Guys these days are proclaiming wonderful smoking experiences with a "water" cleaning and little to no cake. Farmers and others of yore smoked the same pipe day in and day out with no maintenance until the bowl was so filled with cake one could hardly stuff tobacco into it. So, pick your poison, try it both ways if you want and find what gives you a great smoking experience.

I speaking to the briar pipe and not meerschaum. Cake in a meer inhibits coloring in my experience.

 

[Toast]

To add to the excellent comments above, I do think there's an element of the pipe breaking you in - figuring out how it likes to be smoked is a big part of it for me.

Then I do think that the way they're cured can also have an impact. I really like Rinaldo pipes, but all the ones I've had have all taken much longer to get tasting good than any of my other pipes.

 

[ssjones]

Fact. I hate it, which is why I like the right bowl coating (like Peterson's new coating). Most premium pipemakers use a gelatin based coating that I also like.

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

I've only got one Peterson and didn't notice a bad taste, but maybe it was there I didn't notice. I love using this pipe. There Derry rustic finish is beautful to my yes and has begun to develop a nice patina.

 

[SourShank]

Wet aromatics always dissolve cake in my pipes. I use them to clean away any buildup in my meerschaums.

This surprised me when I was just starting pipe smoking and saw the bottom of my bowl in the end was clean as a whistle.

 

[That Guy]

Normally the biggest thing I've experienced is the pipe getting hot easily when it's not been "broken in" fully. I'm just more careful to keep my pace very slow until a little bit of cake starts to build and insulate the pipe walls. Most the time when I'm breaking in a new pipe I'll actually smoke two pipes at once. I'll smoke one that's fully broken in a few minutes put it down take a few Puffs on the new pipe put it down and flip flop back and forth.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I've said this before, but I like to think of it in terms of the old saying, "you can never step into the same river twice." This means, that as a river is constantly flowing and changing it's banks slowly wearing away parts and depositing more sediment in others, a pipe is also in a constant state of flux. It is never static. With each different tobacco smoked in it, rinsed or cleaned, cake cut back, wiped out, a pipe is always in flux also. I like to enjoy my pipes from the first smoke forward, and I enjoy how they change and evolve over time.

A bad tasting pipe at the start has happened for me recently, but in a weird kind of way, I enjoy smoking through that as well, like a sense of accomplishment once the bad taste is gone. I see it as a period of bonding with that pipe. Getting that briar into my DNA. A merger of man and tool. In that case, I see it not some much as break in, as much as merging... but, then I am the sort that loves the poetics of pipesmoking.

 

[kcghost]

For me I find that the pipe tastes the same on the 100 bowl as it did on the first. But, then again I have the tastes of a Neanderthal.

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

I've said this before, but I like to think of it in terms of the old saying, "you can never step into the same river twice." This means, that as a river is constantly flowing and changing it's banks slowly wearing away parts and depositing more sediment in others, a pipe is also in a constant state of flux. It is never static. With each different tobacco smoked in it, rinsed or cleaned, cake cut back, wiped out, a pipe is always in flux also. I like to enjoy my pipes from the first smoke forward, and I enjoy how they change and evolve over time.

A bad tasting pipe at the start has happened for me recently, but in a weird kind of way, I enjoy smoking through that as well, like a sense of accomplishment once the bad taste is gone. I see it as a period of bonding with that pipe. Getting that briar into my DNA. A merger of man and tool. In that case, I see it not some much as break in, as much as merging... but, then I am the sort that loves the poetics of pipesmoking.

I had no idea you are the one who said that about rivers. So true!!

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

For me I find that the pipe tastes the same on the 100 bowl as it did on the first. But, then again I have the tastes of a Neanderthal.

Neanderthals are as bad a Neardowells.