Breaking In A New Pipe:What Actually Does It Involve?

[mawnansmiff]

Most of my pipe collection is of pre smoked estates (properly cleansed!) but recently I have been treating myself to the odd new pipe now and then.
I have often read of a pipe needing a break in period afore it will smoke at its best but other than forming a cake I cannot see what other differences take place or how the smoke is improved upon.
Though none of my new pipes have given me a bad smoke I cannot see how they are able to be even better than they currently are.
One exception being a MM Mark Twain cob that initially imparted a certain sweetness to every smoke (not at all unpleasant in itself) but after about 15-20 smokes I now barely detect it.
So what is this break in period all about...does it hold some truth or is it yet another pipesmoking myth?
I regularly read of folks buying new pipes and without exception they all smoke great from the off. Do they really get better with more smokes? Has anyone bought a new pipe that initially smoked poorly but improved over time?
Regards,
Jay.

 

[oldreddog]

Jay I'm sure you will get a myriad of answers.
At this juncture I think breaking in is for Peterston's,I gave up after 8 months trying to break one in.
I also got a bit fed up with bowl,rest,half bowl. ... Now I just smoke away ,it seems to me that if a pipe is a good smoker ,well then it's a good smoker.

 

[backwoodsjack]

oldreddog,
I am really curious about this topic. I have heard of people naming Peterson pipes as the most stubborn of brands to

"break in". I have not experienced this, but many have.
Will you please define how the pipe was acting. Was it an off taste ? You must have had a bit of cake after 8 months.
Was it something else? Hot, wet? I'm Just really interested in this.
Thanks

Joe

 

[oldreddog]

Joe, it was a most stubborn yoke! It tasted of burnt chemicals and smoked very hot, mind you I would put some of the heat down to poor smoking technique. I tried a couple of different blends in it but I just got annoyed and left it alone.
On the other hand I better success with a Peterston churchwarden,although I did beat it into submission with Bosun Cut Plug.

 

[backwoodsjack]

oldreddog,
Thanks, was this a pipe that had been dipped in stain, or was the bowl and shank clean wood?

 

[davet]

I don't get it either, after a couple of smokes I can't really see much of a difference. Peterson's?, fill the bowl, light and smoke... no problem. I'm not one of the " stand on your head in the middle of a field facing north at midnight during a full moon " kinda guy. :roll:

 

[onestrangeone]

I think the break in is simply about getting an even layer of carbon in the bowl, I have noticed a significant change in the way a pipe smokes as the break in period progresses mostly with lower end pipes, I still wonder if it's the pipe getting better or if it's me getting used to the pipe. What I've noticed is that new pipes tend to smoke hot, wet and it's difficult to get a bowl to burn well past the halfway mark.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I love the flavors of new briar. It is a little woody on the first initial smokes, but it gives me an idea of the flavors the warm briar will add to the smoke for decades to come.

But, I think that a pipe is at full function when the little pores inside the shank gets filled in with the tars and gunk, the briar has at least a microscopic coating of cake, and the stem has started to oxidize for the first time. Of course pipes change as we do for the entirety of their lives. Never is it "just perfect" and then it stays there forever, just as we don't mature out of puberty and then stay stuck at 15 years old... although, mentally we might, ha ha, grey hairs eventually set in, rims get charred, finishes get mottled, bits get chattered, and the flavor of the briar gets ghosted.
But, my absolute favorite range of the briar's life has been the first few dozen smokes; fresh, untouched, virgin briar. Taming the beast, wrangling it in, learning how to make it sing the sweetest, giving her, her first taste of... Virginia/Perique, yes yes, I was talking about VaPers. Ummmm...

 

[oldreddog]

Joe it was stained, I suppose I could have sanded it back to bare briar.

 

[backwoodsjack]

onestrangeone,

it's difficult to get a bowl to burn well past the halfway mark

That is interesting. I have two pipes that are notorious for giving out at the have way mark.
But they are well seasoned. I had assumed it had more to do with the geometry of a tapered bowl and slightly high

draft hole. But none the less, they are finicky and want the last quarter of weed pushed to the shank side to burn well.
But this has kept them from building a uniform cake to the bottom quarter as well.

 

[backwoodsjack]

Oldreddog,
thanks again.
I have heard of more than one guy sanding his Peterson bowl/shank.

 

[theloniousmonkfish]

When new to pipes I tried to break in a couple using recommended techniques. Waste of time it seemed. Just smoke them, if the heel develops less cake than the top take back some of thicker stuff and keep smoking.

 

[jensen]

I have smoked many pipes from new over the last 54 years. Its come to mind that I only remember two which were

good from the first fill. A Peterson de Luxe shape 268 and a Redman Supreme shape 28.

13. Jan. this year I started on a zulu shaped pipe and almost smoked only this ever since. The first days were no pleasure,but today it is beginning to be a good pipe.

I smoke about 35- 40 grams a day.

 

[onestrangeone]

Backwoodsjack,

What I have found is when I get one that wants to quit early that's when I will start to smoke quarter bowls to get some carbon in the bottom, this seems to help a lot.

 

[tg51]

Ive been breaking in several new pipes as I am new to this hobby. I think I read every single way to break in a new pipe and almost always the writer said that it was the only "correct way." For me it came down to the simple fact that I wanted to enjoy smoking a pipe and not worry about building a perfect cake. I suspect that over many years I will just learn what works best for me and it will be different than most other peoples. Just a mere newbies opinion so I could be horribly wrong.

 

[mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast]

I haven't had much luck with some of the more affordable factory pipes. The ones I have tried to 'break in' and ultimately keep and smoke tasted horrible out of the gate (chemical taste mentioned) and maintained the bad taste long enough for me to give up.
The idea of breaking in a pipe is completely subjective, but for me it's taste, burn, and comfort. If I can't get a pipe to taste good, draw well and still burn cool enough to hold, and be comfortable to me based on the way I smoke then I don't consider it broken in. I generally expect a pipe to perform to my personal standard right away. I shouldn't have to 'break' it in so to speak.
I don't have a lot of patience for the first point. If a pipe tastes bad out of the gate I usually give it a half dozen tries with a couple different blends. I let it go if I can't get it to taste good after that. I'm just not willing to smoke a bad tasting pipe over and over again in hopes that someday it won't taste bad. I have had this problem with some of the more affordable factory pipes I have purchased, but not all. I am yet to have this problem with the more mid-grade and high-grade factory and artisan pipes I have purchased, with exception to one artisan pipe from a young and upcoming maker years ago that I think was bad briar?
Once a pipe has passed the taste test I then consider the temperature at which the pipe burns. I have more patience for this point because of my influence on it. The question becomes how does this pipe work with my cadence and can I find a good middle ground. I have had pipes across the spectrum of type/grades/etc that I could not get for the life of me keep from getting too hot. I had the most beautiful Cellini Freehand once that burned very hot no matter what I smoked in it or how slow I smoked it. I could not got it to 'break in'.
I'll get to the point. A pipe that requires me to 'break it in' gets sent back, traded, or sold. I'm not willing to subject myself to ongoing bad smokes in hopes that the thing will eventually get broken it. With that said, I also do not like breaking in shoes or baseball gloves and see pipes as similar to such items, but also very different in that pipes are not physically being shaped to something. They are much more static in nature, but do have some dynamic aspects based on personal preferences. In short, I don't really 'break in' pipes and expect a pipe to smoke perfect (based on my own idea of what perfect is) right out of the gate.

 

[dread]

I just fill it and smoke it. I used to do the half bowl, rest, full bowl, rest etc. I don't have the patience for it and I find that just smoking away is fine for me.

 

[bryguysc]

Smoke it.

If it tastes funky, clean it with alcohol.

Then smoke it some more.

 

[mawnansmiff]

I think Michael made a good point here...
"I think that a pipe is at full function when the little pores inside the shank gets filled in with the tars and gunk,"
...as that is fundamentally some major change to the pipe that of course can only happen with the passage of time.
Dave mentions his travails with Peterson pipes and the dreaded 'stain in the bowl', that would cheese me off bigtime and has indeed put me off buying any of their pipes unless I am able to physically inspect it.
Mothernature mentions hot burning pipes. I have a new Blakemar Hungarian that burns hot and I mentioned this to Mike the proprietor. He says he smokes the same model and his too burns hot but being a clencher he hardly notices it. I don't clench so am obliged to hold my pipe in my hand. He told me to allow some cake to build up to help alleviate the problem so that is what I intend to do.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[pitchfork]

As with so many things pipe related, it really just depends. I like new pipes and usually they smoke great from the start, including some of my Petersons. But I've also had Petersons that never tasted great. My new Stanwells usually start off smoking a little sharp (as opposed to mellow), but that changes after a few smokes. Sometimes it just depends on the particular chunk of briar used to make the pipe and that can vary from pipe to pipe, even from the same manufacturer. Ashton might be the exception here, as all of their pipes are oil cured -- every Ashton I've had smoked sweet and mellow from the first smoke. If only they could make a consistently decent stem...
Generally speaking, you can just smoke a new pipe as you would any other pipe, and that's what I do.