Breaking In A New Pipe

[ParkitoATL]

I didn't like the coating in my two Peterson Arklows. They smoke fine now but there was a distinctly chemical taint until the cake formed. My bare briars smoked sweet from the outset. Just go easy, as others have said, so you don't scorch the bowl before a protective carbon layer has had a chance to built up.

Were the Arklows the old chemical dip stain? APBC is gum arabic and activated charcoal so there's nothing that could really taste too bad. Peterson now uses this APBC on all their new pipes. I've bought three new Petes this year and they've all smoked great right out of the gate. Not perfect, but pretty dang good.

 

[Lucashly]

Just smoke the hell out of it. The best way I have found to break in a pipe.

 

[TheHellYeah]

Doing it right now!

 

[PipeIT]

Ok, it’s an uncoated chamber!

So, if you care about the pipe...

Here’s some ‘Breaking in Steps’.

You should barely light the tobacco, and smoke it slowly, just a few small sips and let it go out and cool down. Eventually as you build up a carbon layer, you can slowly pick up the pace.

Don’t worry about keeping it lit, you don’t want the pipe getting hot while it’s new/breaking in. It should only getting slightly warm.

The goal here is to go slow, until you build about a 1mm carbon layer to protect the chamber and turn it into a nice cool smoker.

Granted briar is tough and can take a good beating, but it’s better to go easy while the pipe is new.

I really baby my new pipes, and a pipe of that size, while it’s new, I’d be going so slow and easy, I’d be smoking it 6-8 hours.

Nice looking pipe, enjoy!

 

[TheHellYeah]

Ok here it goes. I smoked an entire bowl last night on it. Never got hot not even a bit. I was constantly having the need to relight it since I was fearing I could damage the bowl. Took me almost an hour.
This morning I smoked a third of a bowl on my way to work with the same criteria: never let the bowl get hot!
Side note: Yesterday the Presbyterian tasted a bit different from the other estate pipes where I smoked it. Don’t know if it’s this new neutral bowl that is giving me the “real” taste of the tobacco or if the other pipes had ghosts, specially because most of them were bought clean but I also clean them always before the first time I smoke them with some salt and vodka/whisky.

 

[Sigmund]

I think every pipe tastes different. I don’t know which type will taste which way but there are subtle differences. Your estates and the way you clean them will make a difference. They should settle in but you will still notice small differences between pipes if you pay attention. Ive still a couple of pipes where Im not sure what to put in them. Most are versatile but a couple haven’t been happy yet.

 

[Chasing Embers]

you will still notice small differences between pipes if you pay attention.

Excluding different materials, I've never noticed a difference between one pipe and the next unless they were ghosted.

 

[TheHellYeah]

Precisely my point! I tend not to mix different tobaccos in the same pipe. Since I mainly smoke 3 or 4 different brands I also very new notice subtil differences. The best way to describe what it tasted like goes by saying the tobacco tasted more neutral/less spiced than when I smoked it in my estates. More mild I guess.
I wanna smoke it a bit more with the Presbyterian and let it rest for a couple days. Probably I’ll make a test with Latakia after.

 

[RudyG]

Just load it and smoke it.

I usually start with straight Virginias for the first 10 bowls. No prepping the bowl, just easy and slow smoking.

For me its a neutral smoke before I decide if it will go into the Latakia rotation or something fairly aromatic like Frog Morton Cellar.

 

[AroEnglish]

Precisely my point! I tend not to mix different tobaccos in the same pipe. Since I mainly smoke 3 or 4 different brands I also very new notice subtil differences. The best way to describe what it tasted like goes by saying the tobacco tasted more neutral/less spiced than when I smoked it in my estates. More mild I guess.
I wanna smoke it a bit more with the Presbyterian and let it rest for a couple days. Probably I’ll make a test with Latakia after.

Sounds like it’s clearly defective. Feel free to send it to me for disposal

 

[El Capitán]

Excluding different materials, I've never noticed a difference between one pipe and the next unless they were ghosted.

Same here. A good cleaning between tobaccos usually prevents the ghosting.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Break in a pipe the way you're going to smoke it. Load it up, apply flame and smoke. Perhaps pay more attention to smoking slow. If it starts to feel warm, set it down for a bit. Applying honey is absurd, does nothing to help. Keep smoking, the cake will form.

 

[Chasing Embers]

A good cleaning between tobaccos usually prevents the ghosting.

Many of my pipes are blend specific so as to cultivate the ghosting to enhance the specific blend's flavor.

 

[El Capitán]

Many of my pipes are blend specific so as to cultivate the ghosting to enhance the specific blend's flavor.

Oh I'm not that nuanced to have a single blend pipe.

 

[PipeIT]

@TheHellYeah

There is no hard fast rule when it comes to pipes, just best practice guide lines to follow.

Since you are asking about this, then I highly recommend you going slower, because without experience, you’re not going to know, whether or not, if you are pushing the pipe to hard in the beginning.

Because when you said ‘One Hour’, that’s pretty fast. It’s also not about the fire/heat, but the moisture, and not building a lot either in a new pipe.

Do you know the Chamber Depth specs on the pipe? Taking a best guess here, that looks like around 40mm.

Now, this is just my own personal take, again, I believe in the slower/easier is always better, because there’s less chance of issues, but with briar being so resilient, issues are rare, but it’s still good to go easy on a new pipe.

My best guess, looking at the pics, you should be smoking a bowl in 4-6 hours, not 1.

As I said before.... ‘Slow’

A lot of people smoke their pipes to the bottom, but you also want to make sure you don’t char it at the bottom, or char the air way. Stop smoking when you think it’s 1/4 at the bottom. After smoking, you can run a pipe cleaner through it dipped in Everclear, high proof like 150 is better for cleaning.

I share these style of methods, because unless your rich, or don’t care, someday, you buy a $500-$1000 pipe, you will probably want to know how to really take care of it, to give you the ultimate in smoking.

 

[JohnnyBeach]

No hard and fast rules. Load it up and smoke it. Just don't smoke it too hot. Go easy.

If a pipe goes out with still a lot of unburned tobacco in it, will relighting it cause problems? Should I just dump the bowl, let it cool and start again?

 

[BingBong]

If a pipe goes out with still a lot of unburned tobacco in it, will relighting it cause problems? Should I just dump the bowl, let it cool and start again?

No, just relight it. Sometimes you may need to put it down partially smoked, you can come back later and relight; sometimes this even tastes better that the first smoke.

 

[proteus]

If a pipe goes out with still a lot of unburned tobacco in it, will relighting it cause problems? Should I just dump the bowl, let it cool and start again?

Light it and then if it goes out quickly then relight and if it happens again you're out of tobacco. Relighting is part of the ritual of pipe smoking. That's never caused problems for me.

 

[JohnnyBeach]

I tried a pack of Amphora today. I couldn't believe how harsh it tasted. I used to smoke it as my regular tobacco. Going back to Mac Baron.

 

[crashthegrey]

I would never salt a bowl. Especially so a new pipe. Just smoke it. Until a good carbon layer forms, really try to not smoke overly hot. When a carbon layer forms, still do not smoke it too hot. Load, light, enjoy.