Burning out every pipe I own

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Smoke bid

Lurker
Sep 22, 2024
14
4
As I told you before: No more posting until you provide clear photos of the pipes you say you have ruined. This thread is closed. Also, make a proper introduction, or just piss off.

Hi. I asked before but the calamity is getting severe.

Of date in three months I have damaged nearly 12 pipes mostly the first few weeks since purchase.

I have begun tossing them when they start a burrowed out hole inside the pipe. I use a soft flame lighter never a torch.

I have burned various places on the pipes inside from the back above the intake hole to the sides.

I can not see what is happening. I just started using a new techniqye of dripping tequilla in the new bowl to remove resin. I then used honey on my last pipe which I just broke in tonight. I put it in the inside of the bowl because I read a tip it might help build up a cake of carbon.

Either way, most of these pipes were new. At least three were $100 pipes. Kindly if any sense says it is just how I smoke, I do not know. I puff regularly and do not enjoy stopping the puff every puff I take. So I might puff five times at a time.

I have been pipe smoking nearly 14 years and it has not been until this past year the pipe has been burning out.

I have a new Viking coming soon and I am afraid. I started the Stanwell tonight.

I greatly would love more advice.

My smoking store in my town told me it might need to really be packed tight. I thought I was doing that.

So it is frustrating and the cost is building. Maybe I will go to meerschaum in the future. I have one that is ok.
 
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bullet08

Lifer
Nov 26, 2018
10,340
41,824
RTP, NC. USA
14 years without any problems, and now the pipes are burning out? What changed? That might be the answer. What exactly are you using as a lighter? You said soft flame, but soft flame can burn out pipe also. One good way to burn out a pipe is to suck the flame into the chamber. Heavy winds can possibly cause problem also. Since you have smoked pipes for 14 years, there must be something you changed when the problem first occurred.
 

/Adam\

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jul 17, 2024
250
433
48
Pennsylvania
You say you’ve been dripping Tequila in the new bowl to remove resin and that this is a new technique. I’d say if you had no problems in the 14 years prior to this new technique then this might be the culprit. Especially if you’re smoking that pipe shortly after using the tequila. Any liquor at 100 proof or 50% ABV will ignite and catch flame. Maybe this is happening. Or maybe it’s not catching on fire but just causing the inside of the new bowl to burn extra hot. I’d have thought that any alcohol used would have evaporated quickly. But maybe not. The honey might actually be keeping the briar a bit moist allowing the alcohol to stick around for much longer. Might want to try breaking in new pipes the old fashioned way and just smoke half bowls at first. I actually remember reading from somewhere that coating the inside of a pipe bowl with honey will help too. I did this on my very first pipe I bought. It was an $8 MM legend cob. It didn’t seem to do anything except make the routine maintenance of cleaning the pipe after every use sticky and difficult. Haven’t used honey since.
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
20,978
50,225
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
I only puff when lighting a pipe. Every else is slow easy sipping.
Packing tight isn’t a solution. Packing medium loose will help your tobacco burn better and with less effort. Also, dry down your tobacco, better flavors and an easier smoke will result.
Forget about tequila and honey. A cake will form just fine without them. Wiping out the chamber with a wadded up piece of paper toweling after each smoke will allow you to build up a nice hard layer of carbon, rather than a thick soft weak cake.
If you are burning out pipe after pipe, you’re creating way too much heat. Simple as that. Your pipe shouldn’t feel hot to the touch, ever.

52 years of pipe smoking and zero burnouts.
 

Roach1

Lifer
Nov 25, 2023
1,424
21,056
Germany
I would let the Tequila evaporate und use a pipe cleaner to soak up the excess. I also tried Honey with mixed results and ended up washing out the bowl and lightly sanded afterwards. My two cents.
 
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Sigmund

Lifer
Sep 17, 2023
3,137
30,313
France
Is the bowl burning your hands when you smoke? If it feels damn hot put down the pipe.
Also if the outside is quite hot in one region take a pick part of a pipe tool and run a circle around the wood. Your ember may be off center and hitting one side of the bowl more.

Is your tobacco wet to where you are having to torch the hell out of it?
Are you burning your mouth?

Its definitely not the pipes. 1 pipe maybe...2 pipes doubtful...12 pipes definitely your technique.

How long does it take you to smoke an average size bowl? It sounds like you must be freight training it.

I smoke at a moderate pace and occasionally a pipe gets hot but I put it down.

Id go back to square one and rework my technique.
 
Mar 1, 2014
3,660
4,963
My favorite way to break in a pipe is take some excessively dry Burley (e.g. Five Brothers) and smoke just a quarter bowl of it to make sure 99% of the leaf burns down, then mix some water (I spit on my thumb) with the ash and swirl it around the bowl
My thumb comes out black and my briar bowl gets the most beautiful matte black coating I've ever seen. Puts all the factory coatings to shame.
 

Roach1

Lifer
Nov 25, 2023
1,424
21,056
Germany
My favorite way to break in a pipe is take some excessively dry Burley (e.g. Five Brothers) and smoke just a quarter bowl of it to make sure 99% of the leaf burns down, then mix some water (I spit on my thumb) with the ash and swirl it around the bowl
My thumb comes out black and my briar bowl gets the most beautiful matte black coating I've ever seen. Puts all the factory coatings to shame.
Good idea,need to try that. I have cleaned up a few of my older 9mm pipes for Aros and this might help.
 

SmokeyJock

Starting to Get Obsessed
Oct 4, 2024
299
3,080
Scotland
Hi. I asked before but the calamity is getting severe.

Of date in three months I have damaged nearly 12 pipes mostly the first few weeks since purchase.

I have begun tossing them when they start a burrowed out hole inside the pipe. I use a soft flame lighter never a torch.

I have burned various places on the pipes inside from the back above the intake hole to the sides.

I can not see what is happening. I just started using a new techniqye of dripping tequilla in the new bowl to remove resin. I then used honey on my last pipe which I just broke in tonight. I put it in the inside of the bowl because I read a tip it might help build up a cake of carbon.

Either way, most of these pipes were new. At least three were $100 pipes. Kindly if any sense says it is just how I smoke, I do not know. I puff regularly and do not enjoy stopping the puff every puff I take. So I might puff five times at a time.

I have been pipe smoking nearly 14 years and it has not been until this past year the pipe has been burning out.

I have a new Viking coming soon and I am afraid. I started the Stanwell tonight.

I greatly would love more advice.

My smoking store in my town told me it might need to really be packed tight. I thought I was doing that.

So it is frustrating and the cost is building. Maybe I will go to meerschaum in the future. I have one that is ok.
You've been telt before, photos or it ain't real
 
Dec 6, 2019
5,162
23,707
Dixieland
I gave a friend of mine a bent briar pipe with a gurgle... He smokes weed out of it.

I've seen him lighting ash from the bottom of the chamber, over and over, with a torch lighter... He'll burn that pipe up, but not anytime soon.

I told him to show it to me before he throws it out, when it finally gives up.

I'll try to remember to post pictures someday, when the time comes.

I only use a soft flame and only smoke tobacco out of my pipes... But I doubt burn out is a concern.

The weak point on the pipe is the stem, not the chamber... Unless there's some kind of problem with the wood, like a soft spot. That certainly wouldn't happen time after time.

OP:

Give up smoking, it aint for you.

Whatever you're doing is going to catch you on fire somehow, eventually.
 

telescopes

Pipe Dreamer and Star Gazer
Where are you smoking? Wind, an QAopen window next to the pipe while driving - all of these can create a situation where the pipe will burn out. Being in a hurry or not allowing enough time to smoke as you should will create a situation where you might be puffing too much.
 

Hillcrest

Lifer
Dec 3, 2021
3,793
19,271
Connecticut, USA
Was this thread re-opened or is this a repeat ? The OP is creating a napalm coating in the bowl using honey and tequila then puffing like a locomotive. Operator error. Lucky he wasn't injured.

 
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