Bowl Coatings….Why!?

[coming to_falling too]

I just got a Nuttens Heritage sandblast Bing the other day. To my dismay it had a bowl coating, but I really wanted the pipe so I bought it anyway. When I received it I considered removing the coating but upon further inspection it didn't seem too bad. Definitely not like the good awful one Peterson used to use a couple years ago.

Anyway, first smoke it imparted an off taste to the tobacco. I just smoked my fourth bowl from it this morning and the taste is pretty much gone. I wish all coatings were as quick and painless as this one was.

 

[VDL_Piper]

Interesting, what sort of coating does the Castello have? Did you buy it from a Castello dealer? You can never say never with Castello but Castello doesn’t coat their bowls other than possibly a clear, thin coating of orange shellac.

Definitely a black coating Dave, possibly stain but not shellac. I’m still waiting on a response from Castello which is pretty slow in coming. Pipe came from Mike at Briar Blues, so very reputable dealer and great service.
‘I’ve been smoking it once a week with Burley and a nice fine cake is forming and taste is diminishing. I still get a bad flavour mid bowl for some reason, so I think it will disappear it’s just going to take some smokes. My other Castello’s are complete opposite to this one with no flavour from the bowl or pipe, just all the nuance of the blend.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Happens pretty commonly, here’s a quick shot of one right now. I have others but already coated over them. Can be from any part of the bowl depending on the grain, thickness, and external texture of the briar upon application. It happens most with the first darker applications in early sanding stages or after rustication and the pores are really open.

make it to the bowl in a spotty fashion.

That photo doesn't appear to demonstrate anything.. Stain soaking through the wall? Very unlikely.

 

[fireground_piper]

That photo doesn't appear to demonstrate anything.. Stain soaking through the wall? Very unlikely.

The spots on the bottom on the interior of the bowl leached through from the external application of stain on the bottom.

 

[fireground_piper]

Here’s another example, just stained it a few days ago. Walls 9-10mm thick at the top while getting thicker as it goes down the bowl.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Ah, ok, I see the dots, and will believe you that they migrated through from outside stain. I doubt that anybody else would notice!
So, that was applied to raw, freshly sanded briar?

 

[fireground_piper]

Correct. This application had 3 colors. Black was applied while smooth to 320 grit. Red was applied after rusticating. Top coat of orange was applied after that after sanding to around 600 grit.

Only the red leached to the bowl in this case, I imagine from the raw, open pours of a fresh rustication.

 

[telescopes]

I was never bothered by bowl coatings. But then I’m not too worried about much. Does it draw nicely? Does it hold and redistribute heat without getting to hot? Is the pipe smoking sweet and not sour?

 

[Chasing Embers]

Correct. This application had 3 colors. Black was applied while smooth to 320 grit. Red was applied after rusticating. Top coat of orange was applied after that after sanding to around 600 grit.

Only the red leached to the bowl in this case, I imagine from the raw, open pours of a fresh rustication.

Looks more like flicked in when applied with a pipe cleaner, I've had that happen when staining a pipe. I've never seen stain go more than a millimeter deep on the surface of briar.

 

[fireground_piper]

Looks more like flicked in when applied with a pipe cleaner, I've had that happen when staining a pipe. I've never seen stain go more than a millimeter deep on the surface of briar.

It wasn’t. I handle the pipe with the bowl plugged with an adjustable reamer.

just like with oil curing, the goal is to fully penetrate the Briar completely with oil which is much thicker than stain.

If you don’t want to believe it, I don’t know what to tell you.

 

[fireground_piper]

Scrap piece of briar, unsanded. Deep red stain applied only to the first side and it penetrated instantly.

Cut in half for further internal visual.

 

[crashthegrey]

As some have guessed, I can confirm that many bowl coatings are to reduce user error. Many buyers are first time or early buyers and will freight train the pipe, so the bowl coating is to try to give the pipe a fair chance of survival.

 

[jpmcwjr]

fireground: Very nice illustrations! One reason I was skeptical is that all the sawn-in-half pipes I've seen haven't exhibited stain penetrating.

At the same time, I understand that some/many (?) pipe makers apply very thin coats of shellac as part of the finishing. But I don't know at what point— before staining? After? During?

 

[fireground_piper]

yeah, it's very block and finish dependent in my first hand experiences. If kept smooth, I usually don't see penetration all the way to the bowl. Rusticated is sure to have it assuming I apply a stain layer after rusticating. If a block happens to be pretty light/porous, I might see some penetration to bowl or even on the airway from shank application on a smooth.

I don't really know what many others do, but I apply oil after staining to act as a sealer and help bring out some grain details. Then I'll carnauba wax. I've never used shellac so can't comment on it, I prefer pure oils.

I've never tried oiling and then attempting stain. The ones I use harden as they cure so I'd expect there would be slim to no penetration but I can't confirm from experience. I could probably give it a go at some point......I'm always trying to do different things just to see what happens.

 

[sablebrush52]

I'm agnostic when it comes to bowl coatings. Don't care one way or the other and have never once experienced an unpleasant taste from one. Most of what I smoke are ancient Britwood, so the wood has already gone through its break in, probably decades before I was born.

With the new pipes I've bought, some came with a coating and some didn't and I experience no issues either way. I've clearly been lucky that breaking in a pipe has never been a problem. Then again, I notice which makes people tend to bitch about, and don't buy those makes.

One thing though. If you are of a mind to pop the cherry of an ancient pipe, in the neighborhood of a century old, you better make damned sure to coat that chamber first with a thin insulator of charcoal infused silicate or it will likely be the last bowl you'll get from that pipe because you will have split it. Really old briar can become quite delicate. So there's a "why" for the OP.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

fireground: Very nice illustrations! One reason I was skeptical is that all the sawn-in-half pipes I've seen haven't exhibited stain penetrating.

At the same time, I understand that some/many (?) pipe makers apply very thin coats of shellac as part of the finishing. But I don't know at what point— before staining? After? During?

I sawed a few in half, just on my own, and until the cut edges have been sanded smooth, you can't see the tars and such penetrating. The ones that get posted on here, are usually by people who want to demonstrate that they are smarter than the rest of us and they use this to prove that briar does not absorb tars. And, the pics are of rough cut edges, that prove that they are "righter" than the rest of us. But, if one were to sand the edges a little, it would show that the rest of us were right to begin with. So, I just don't play into the BS. Someone wants to prove their smarter than us... sure feed your own egos. Personally, I haven't anything to prove. Just don't buy hook line and sinker, stuff you see or hear on the interwebs.

 

[sablebrush52]

I sawed a few in half, just on my own, and until the cut edges have been sanded smooth, you can't see the tars and such penetrating. The ones that get posted on here, are usually by people who want to demonstrate that they are smarter than the rest of us and they use this to prove that briar does not absorb tars. And, the pics are of rough cut edges, that prove that they are "righter" than the rest of us. But, if one were to sand the edges a little, it would show that the rest of us were right to begin with. So, I just don't play into the BS. Someone wants to prove their smarter than us... sure feed your own egos. Personally, I haven't anything to prove. Just don't buy hook line and sinker, stuff you see or hear on the interwebs.

Do you have any pictures you can post of cross sections after the side has been smoothed out, or before and afters? Would be interesting to see.

 

[mingc]

Scrap piece of briar, unsanded. Deep red stain applied only to the first side and it penetrated instantly.

Cut in half for further internal visual.

View attachment 164759View attachment 164760View attachment 164761View attachment 164762

Very educational. Thank you.

 

[Chasing Embers]

If you don’t want to believe it, I don’t know what to tell you.

Wasn't playing believe it or not, just haven't seen it happen. Are you saying that you are trying to saturate the wood with stain? What kind of stain are you using?

 

[fireground_piper]

Wasn't playing believe it or not, just haven't seen it happen. Are you saying that you are trying to saturate the wood with stain? What kind of stain are you using?

No, certainly not saturating with stain. The somewhat sloppy oil reference was to allude to the fact that it's possible to saturate briar with oil, a much thicker substance than a stain, so getting penetration from stain is much easier under varying circumstances. It kind of shoots through at certain spots if the grain is open enough without any special external encouragement.

I use Fiebings Leather dye, premixed.