Good idea.....MacBaren makes the, hands down, best tobacco on the market today!!
In my opinion.
Breaking In A New Pipe
- Thread starter TheHellYeah
- Start date
In my opinion.
I usually remove bowl coating with hot water on new pipes. Load to top smoke to bottom repeat forever. If it’s a nasty estate I’ll clean out pipe with alcohol. Ream and maybe do a cotton ball/everclear soak in the bowl smells of a tobacco I won’t enjoy. I wouldn’t add anything to the bowl like honey or a bowl coating just smoke it slow and don’t let it get to hot for the first few bowls.
I tried a dab of honey in the bottom 1/3 of the bowl on my straight stem pipe today. It was a moderate 10 mph breeze in the park and cold, in the 60s.
I don't think the honey did very much to start the cake in the lower part of the bowl. I'll try again later. Too windy today.
Smoking outside of the Jeep allows me to avoid having the telltale smoke smell my wife hates.
I don't think the honey did very much to start the cake in the lower part of the bowl. I'll try again later. Too windy today.
Smoking outside of the Jeep allows me to avoid having the telltale smoke smell my wife hates.
I think honey just makes for a mess and too much unburt tobacco sticks to it making for a meh cake. Given how many people do so many different things with a new pipe and find it successful I have the feeling its not as big of a deal as some make out. The only common denominator is most folks take it easy early on.
In my experience, honey or sugar syrup just produce extra moisture. That's not to say they can't work for other people, but I think you need to be a pretty dry smoker.
Sigmund and Thermionic, your observations seem to be right on. I just tried that pipe again with a half bowl and couldn't finish it. Extreme tongue bite that I had not noticed before using the honey. Ow!
If it is new just start smoking it. If you want, you could put honey in it first, but I wouldn't.
Try the Peterson All Purpose Bowl Coating: a simple mix of equal parts activated charcoal and gum arabic with enough water to make a thin paint. It's been a big help for me with my break ins. I bought three new Petersons last year, all had the APBC, all smoked pretty nicely right from the start which made for a short break in period.
I found that honey actually did something -- not build up the cake, but did give me a real tongue burn.
Now I find that my pipe is smoking only for about 20 minutes before going all the way down to the bottom. I notice the Half and Half tobacco is feeling quite dry. Maybe too dry?
The new pipe came today. I was somewhat disappointed that it was a straight stem bulldog and smaller than I imagined it would be. Also, I am not sure, but I think It may be coated. I tried a 1/3 bowl of Savinelli. Mistake. I got tongue burn and the tobacco tasted bitter, really unpleasant. I'll try Half and Half tomorrow.
There is another pipe that is a bulldog with bent stem. I'll try that one maybe in a month or so. Probably it, too, will be small. But does size really matter?
There is another pipe that is a bulldog with bent stem. I'll try that one maybe in a month or so. Probably it, too, will be small. But does size really matter?
Smoked the new pipe with half bowls. It is a small pipe, only 1-1/3 inch deep, if that, so they were short smokes of maybe 10 minutes. I have hopes for this one.
I see some pipes listed on buyer sites mentioning pear, cherry and walnut woods. Any cautions I should know about these?
They're ok. I have a couple of pear wood pipes from my first purchases, as I thought I was saving $ or something??
But not really. Go with briar, many reputable brands are affordable, and a good ol' corn cob pipe will perform quite well.