Breaking In.

[dudleydipstick]

There are few hard and fast rules in pipe smoking.

I can think of one as far as breaking in a pipe goes. Don't try breaking in a brand new pipe with a strong liquor buzz and outside in a steady breeze. That happened to me a couple years ago on a Friday evening. The UPS guy showed up after I'd figured it was too late and I'd already began to tie one on. Evidently, my hand was a bit desensitized and I managed to get the bowl hot enough in the wind that it made a bubble on the finish.

 

[igloo]

The honey method has served me well my uncle who is pushing eighty taught me this trick and the boiling water cleaning method .Honey is the only food that does not spoil use natural honey as the wax and oils have not been boiled out of it .Natural honey will be a cloudy dark color . Some claim it is the sugars some say the oils .

 

[dudleydipstick]

Honey is the only food that does not spoil...

They've found jars of honey in ancient Egyptian tombs that was thousands of years old and still as good as when it was pulled out of the hive.

 

[cortezattic]

I have often wondered how pipe manufacturers coated the insides of bowls with carbon. Wikipedia suggests:

One method to prevent pipe from a [sic] wood burning is to make a 50/50 mix of honey or powdered sugar and water, then using one's finger to spread it around the inside of the bowl, and Allowing this mixture to dry. After a few bowls, the mix will create a barrier that will be burn resistant. Some people argue that this method is not effective, while others say it adds flavor which may be desirable to smokers. Some pipe makers use a combination of natural sour cream, buttermilk, And activated charcoal. The sour cream and buttermilk are mixed to the consistency of milk, and the activated charcoal is added until dark gray. A pipe cleaner is pre-positioned with the tip just entering the chamber, to keep the draft pick cleared, and the tobacco chamber is evenly coated with the mixture and allowed to dry.

I also read somewhere that creating a thick slurry of honey, water and tobacco ash is useful in coating the bowl, letting it dry before the first smoke. As I said before, using nothing at all, on bare wood, works just fine too.

 

[hauntedmyst]

I also read somewhere that creating a thick slurry of honey, water and tobacco ash is useful in coating the bowl, letting it dry before the first smoke.

I've had manufacturers reps tell me this is what they recommend to try and save a pipe that is burning out especially if you love the pipe. Carefully dremel out the burnt spot (as well as you can), then use this slurry to slowly build up the pipe wall and let it dry and then smoke it very very slowly and carefully while the cake hardens. With creful future reaming, you may be able to save the pipe.

 

[cortezattic]

Makes sense to me. Somewhere on this site there was talk about using "pipe mud" in the bottoms of new cobs, and I think it was about the same formula. Maybe it was Ghost45 or Phil.
That reminds me, plaster is used to seal cobs. I wonder if the rescue technique you described could be accomplished with plaster. Maybe it's not sticky enough for that.

 

[bytor]

I might have to give that a try...one of the estates I picked up has one spot in the bowl that I suspect will burn out. I've already started to sand out the area, but hadn't decided where to go from there.

 

[python]

When I used to use the honey/water mixture, I would lightly coat the chamber with it and let it dry for at least 24 hours. That way some of the water would evaporate from the bowl and help you not have a wet smoke. I never had any problems with my cake doing the honey/water break in method.
One of the reasons that I don't do it now is partly due to laziness and partly due to experimentation. I used to use the honey/water method when breaking in all of my pipes that needed it. I then decided to experiment and try breaking in a pipe without using the honey/water mixture. It worked just as well without the mixture coating the chamber. I do however smoke really slow when breaking in a pipe that I am not using the mixture in because there is no barrier of 'protection' from the mixture. I don't really know if the mixture added any protection, but I figure that it's better to be safe than sorry.

That's also where the laziness factor came in. Once I found out that it broke in just fine without using the mixture, I figured why waste the time doing the process. So I nixed it.
Pipe Mud is sometimes made by mixing honey, water, and ash to make a mixture used to help fix some things in your pipe. Most people use cigar ash because it is more consistent, it can be smashed down into a fine powder better than pipe ash can be, and you can get more of it from one cigar compared to one bowl of pipe tobacco.

Some of the uses for pipe mud are; fixing a damaged cake, repairing the beginnings of a burn out, and it can also be used to fix an improperly drilled pipe that has a 'well' in the bottom of the chamber. But you need to let it dry completely before smoking the pipe again. It is supposed to dry up pretty hard.
I have tried filling in a 'well' with pipe mud before without much success. It might have to do with where I live. I live in a high humidity area and I the pipe mud wasn't drying up like it should.
The bottom line is; do what works for you. If you have been breaking in pipes with a certain method and you are not having any problems, then continue to do what you have been doing. Unless you want to try something new and different.
The only thing that I would say that is imperative during the breaking in process and should be done every time by everybody is; smoke slowly and don't smoke a pipe that hasn't been broken in yet outside. If you are breaking in a pipe and start tasting or smelling burning wood, STOP smoking and let the pipe cool all of the way down.

 

[python]

I forgot to add this to the last post.
I always use Virginia or VA/Per blends when breaking in a pipe. One reason for that is; my favorite type of tobacco are VA and VA/Per blends. Another reason is that in my opinion, you can easily turn a VA or VA/Per pipe into a Aromatic or English pipe, but you can't easily turn an Aromatic or English pipe into a VA or VA/Per pipe.
So I break in all of my pipes using either a VA or VA/Per blend, with the exception that if I buy a pipe and I know right when I'm buying it if I'm going to use it for Aromatic or English blends.

 

[cortezattic]

Contrary to Russ Ouellette's break-in theory, Carl Ehwa Jr., (who I think founded or married into McClelland Tobacco), says that a soft carbon cake is the result of using heavily cased or flavored tobaccos. If those are your favorites, then the only recourse is to smash the cake against the inside of the bowl.
A cake that breaks away from the wall in chunks is the result of packing too loosely. (I guess too much heat results in temperature cycling between smokes, alternately expanding and shrinking some of the cake until it separates from the wall.) The only fix is to ream it to a uniform thickness and start over.
I couldn't find any place where Ehwa either endorsed or condemned using honey-type preparations, though he gives the impression that they are unnecessary.
As for the purist's concern about the detrimental effects of coating the bowl of a new pipe, check out Savinelli's Chocolate Pipes!

 

[dudleydipstick]

I have tried filling in a 'well' with pipe mud before without much success. It might have to do with where I live. I live in a high humidity area and I the pipe mud wasn't drying up like it should.

I filled in a well recently with pipe mud. I only used water and cigar ash. It only takes a very small amount of water. It worked like a charm and after it dried, it was hard as stone. I'm finally happy with the pipe now.
If I'd tried it in the summer, I may have had the same results as you due to Ohio Valley summertime humidity.

 

[bytor]

So what type of viscosity/consistency are you looking to achieve with the ash/water mixture?

Peanut butter-ish?
Also...how much ash? A large cigar worth, or maybe a macanudo petite size?

 

[dudleydipstick]

Bytor,
Peanut butter-ish sounds about like the right description. Instinct is a pretty good guide, though. If there's too much water, you can definitely tell by sight. On the other side of the coin, you'll be able to tell when it's thick enough that it will hold fast.
As far as the size of the cigar, I used a large (don't remember guage as I'm not educated about cigars) Romeo y Julieta. Fortunately, I used half the ashes on the first attempt at making the mix. I had used too much water and then added more ashes bit by bit until it seemed like a mortar.
I was really surprised at the amount of the paste it took to fill in the heel to where it met the draft hole. I'd recommend that you use a larger cigar, as an abundance of the mud would be better than not quite enough, and you'll also have some leeway if you over-saturate the mix at first.
If you've got one, a medicine dropper would also be a good thing, I sure would've liked to have one at the time.

 

[bytor]

Good to know. Guess I'll have to make a trip out to the cigar shop.

 

[ernest]

I found some information on this subject in regard to an extensive testing done using honey or honey and water.Apparently the honey crystals do help for a good char in the short term,but are very weak to clinging on to the sides in certain areas for the long term, and will cause hot spots in those areas that the sugar crystals have separated from the wall, and was therefor not recommended.