And now for something completely different

[peter]

A couple of years ago, my step dad was down visiting. He's been a pipe smoker for a long time, learned from his grandfather. In watching him empty and fill his pipe, I noticed something I'd never seen nor ever heard of.
He doesn't empty his pipe all of the way. When he breaks in a new pipe, he leaves the dottle in the bottom from smoke to smoke until it gets to fill the bottom quarter of the bowl or so. Eventually, it hardens and I can only assume that it acts like a filter / moisture barrier. He said that that's how is grandfather always did it. Has anyone ever heard of something like this?

 

[admin]

Hmmm ... try it and let us know how it goes. ;-)

 

[python]

I think I have heard of this once or twice.
One time I was in a B&M and was looking at some pipes that people had brought in for repairs and never came to pick them up. One pipe had a clump of nasty looking used tobacco in the heel of the pipe that looked like it had been there for years. I guess that's what the person who owned the pipe did.
To each their own. As long as they enjoy it, I say go for it! But I won't be practising that technique for myself, lol.

 

[peter]

I think this might be like heroine or meth, Kevin. Sure, I haven't tried it, but I'm also pretty sure I don't want to.....
Science, she is a cruel mistress. And so the experiment begins.

 

[cortezattic]

The filter-like effect might work ...if you don't change blends at all.

I should think, however, that crossover flavors and ghosting would be a

problem. (Kinda like a parfait -- which, BTW, I've never had any luck with.)

 

[cortezattic]

2nd thoughts:

There may be nothing arcane going on here, just an anachronistic habit from the Depression Era, when everything was scarce, and you conserved every precious little ort. We can't imagine that today, so such behaviors seem silly, or we think they have some higher purpose. ...Just a guess.

 

[python]

That is a good thought and one that I wasn't even thinking about. By the way things are going these days, we may have to start conserving everything that we can in order to get by soon.

 

[dunendain]

I know that some company makes little crystals, that are put in the bottom of the pipe to absorb moisture. I haven't heard that one, though..

 

[sapo59]

I heard of this in my quest of pipe carving. Pipe makers will call this pipe mud, it is usually used in non briar and cob pipes to prevent burn out of the bottom of the bowl, like the cake does for the walls of the bowl. Don't know of any filtering effect.

 

[maxpeters]

Well Peter,
When I am breaking in a new pipe, I also leave the dottle in the bottom of the pipe, but only until the next smoke. Be it a couple hours later, or even overnight.
I do this for the first 20 smokes or so, and by then the bottom is coated in tar. From then on, I just fill and smoke the regular way, and the tar and heat from all future smokes begin to form a nice cake over the entire bowl.

 

[cortezattic]

I tend to agree with Russ Ouellette's break-in theory published at Pipesandcigars.com