Briar Pipes and Water

[sablebrush52]

I’ve seen your references to these coatings in the past, Jesse. Could you please enlighten me about these coatings? Are they a modern coating, or historical? Were these coatings original to the pipes, or applied more recently as a protective measure? Are they a bowl coating, or a finish?

It's a modern coating of the chamber walls. With very old pipes, at the century mark or more, the surface of the briar in the chamber may not be as resilient as it once was. It may have suffered some damage from an earlier owner, or it may have been charred, so the coating acts as a sort of "instant" insulation, returning the pipe to a safely usable condition. The coating doesn't interfere with the flavors, and a little cake over it provides added protection.

 

[sablebrush52]

I have read more than one comment recently that stummels are submerged in water in the process of carving. I submit this is not true.

I think this applies to meerschaums, not briars.

 

[crashthegrey]

Just to clarify, when carvers wet a block to see grain, more often than not it is DNA, and not water. Yes, the blocks are boiled and dried to remove as much sap and water as possible. And sometimes oil cured. I think this has very little to do with the water cleansing technique, but I thought I would clarify.

 

[pitchfork]

Any chance those same pipes got dried out in the sun after the rain?

Not direct. But it was warm -- late summer, early fall.

 

[weezell]

We are waiting to see the results..

...

 

[jpmcwjr]

Tension mounts!

 

[ashdigger]

So does turgor pressure. :mrgreen:

 

[olkofri]

Oh, man, and here I was thinking **I** had lotsa time on my hands... 8O

 

[luigi]

A public confrontation of several preferred members, nice.

Regarding a scale: I was using one accurate to 0.00 gram to see the difference between dry and wet pipes so I could know which one was back to its original weight and ready to go. A difference was minimal, 5-9 tenths of gram. I expect with two weeks of soaking your pipes should be much heavier, at least a few grams.

Good luck!

 

[craiginthecorn]

I think this applies to meerschaums, not briars.

That, indeed, makes sense.
Crash mentioned oil curing. I just recently read Alfred Dunhill's patent for his oil curing process. He specifically mentioned the use of olive oil, but IIRC, he said other oils might be used. The most interesting thing to me was that the process was all about appearance, not flavor. He mentions that oil curing produces an attractive finish that accentuates the grain, but that smokers objected to the oil which emanated from the pipe when smoked. His process removed those excess finishing oils at the factory. The perceived value to flavor was apparently a happy and unexpected byproduct.

 

[ashdigger]

I pulled the briar out of the water at 6:37 am (PST) and patted the external water away and then set it on the scale. It weighs 40 grams. When it went into the water it weighed 35 grams. I don't need a scale that rounds to the nearest thousandth gram. The pipe gained 5 grams in 12 hours.
AND the stem no longer sits quite right in the shank. The shank is now too loose and them falls right out.

 

[ashdigger]

I've just wiped out the chamber and took cotton swabs to the shank. The pipe now weighs 39 grams. So I wiped out one gram of water/crud. The pipe has been out of the water 20 minutes.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

So, as much as I appreciate the effort for entertainment, I see no correlation between this and rinsing out a pipe and then wiping it down. But of course we are going to have to deal with asswipes esteemed forum members referring back to this experiment every time water is mentioned as a method of cleaning, because of course members have always imagined the process of what we do to be akin to boiling the damned pipes for hours. ::

 

[jpmcwjr]

The only time I've had a problem with stem/shank fit is when I've left the stem out for long. Therefor, I just keep the stem in unless I have to de-gunk the mortise. (And water flushing keeps the build up to a minimum).
Ash- Had the pipe been smoked recently? The moisture content will differ from a pipe that has been regularly smoked, especially in a very low humidity area such as Las Vegas. Cosmic's results would be different, whether or not the pipe had been smoked recently.

 

[crashthegrey]

I don't think anyone should refer to this in reference to the water cleanse. It was a fun experiment to see. Obviously one should not soak their pipes.

 

[sablebrush52]

I just finished giving a few of my pipes a good warm water flushing out. Cumberland tastes great!

 

[haparnold]

I don't think anyone should refer to this in reference to the water cleanse.

Exactly. This is fascinating, and provides, if nothing else, a benchmark for how much water can be absorbed by a hunk of briar in a worst-case scenario situation. However, let the record show that the parallels to the water flush method are small.
I'm not a flusher myself, but I think I'll give less-prized several pipes a hot water flush to measure their absorbance over several different levels of water exposure, as well as the amount of time it takes the weight of the pipe to return to its pre-flush levels. you know, for science.

 

[ashdigger]

Seems to be a lot of butthurt for entertainment.
Relax, you water heretics, I'm not advocating either way.
They're your pipes....do whatever you want.

 

[crashthegrey]

I'm curious upon drying how the stem fits and aligns. Then we can dispel Cosmic's favorite myth of the pipe destroyed whilst fishing.

 

[mikethompson]

I took this thread merely for entertainment purposes. Am I missing something?