Burning virgin briar

[smokeyweb]

Question for you all. I have some new virgin briar pipes that I am trying to break in. The pipes have bare briar inside the bowl, with no precarbon coating. I smoke very very slow, coat the bowls of my new pipes with honey before smoking them, and don't allow my pipes to get hot to the touch while smoking them. But after I am done smoking I ream my pipes out with a paper towel and notice a few spots of charring on the briar walls..(not deep, thick charring, but just small spots where the briar itself actually charred). My question is... Is this charring of the briar a normal part of breaking in a pipe, or am I doing something wrong? I am almost afraid to smoke my new pipes because I worry that I am damaging them when the bowl wall gets scorched.

 

[ejames]

I'd say you need to quit wiping out the bowl after every smoke. You need to let the cake build up to about the thickness of a dime. The cake will help protect the briar. Cake is good,unless you're smoking a meer. Once you get a cake built then you can wipe it out,or not.

 

[goldsm]

Recommend using a PIPE MUD to protect a bowl from burning and to built a cake quicker. .

Pipe Mud : Tobacco Ash + water + honey (1:1:1)

 

[smokeyweb]

Thank you, gentlemen. I will consider both those suggestions. It just seems like no matter how slow I go, I still manage to burn the bowl.

 

[smokeyweb]

Thank you for the good advice.

 

[rmbittner]

I don't choose to start building a cake with any particular type of tobacco. But other than that, I have to strongly second junkyarddawg's note. You MUST stop wiping out the bowl; you NEED to build up a cake inside the bowl to protect the pipe and enhance your smoke. To be honest, I'm a bit baffled that you're using honey to start forming a cake -- and then you're wiping away everything it's doing when you're done with a bowl! (I used honey long ago, but have long since quit.) I think you'll be fine if you just smoke your tobacco.
Bob

 

[redheadedsmoker]

Breaking in a pipe is to each his own. Several experts, collectors and casual smokers alike, have recommended honey (although minute...and I mean, minute application). Some even slightly wet the inside of the bowl and use sugar. Some don't bother with the 1/3 method and simply load a bowl and start smoking. If done right, there is no wrong way to break in a pipe if it works for you. But, I am in agreement with the fact you don't need to wipe down the inside of the bowl after each use. Let the cake build up first to the thickness you would like (again, to each one's own). After that, using a paper towel to ream is a method used by many as well, but only after the cake has formed.
Personally, I'm a fill to the rim and smoke kind of guy. I clean out my pipe after every smoke, but tend to leave the chamber alone, or after its cooled down and any remaining tobacco/dottle has dried, then I use a pipe cleaner only enough to get it out. My preference is six to eight bowls like this before I'm satisfied with the cake buildup. Although I don't ream with a paper towel, I do like to quickly use a bristled pipe cleaner to keep the cake to the thickness I prefer after each smoke (and after the initial cake has formed).

 

[smokeyweb]

Thank you, gentlemen. Great advice from all. The advice to not ream with a paper towel until AFTER a proper cake is built is what I think I needed to hear. My first pipe was a Stanwell estate pipe and seemed to smoke great and not burn wood even with a wet paper towel ream after each smoke, leaving no cake. I guess I didn't realize the importance of forming a proper initial cake to protect the wood. I've only been smoking pipes for a few months, but I guess you sometimes need to "burn to learn."
Thanks again!

 

[mso489]

I'll give the minority report. I'm not much on cake building. I break in pipes with partial bowls for the first dozen or

so bowls, first a third, then a half, the a full bowl. I do wipe out the bowl after each smoke, not really a scouring, but

a thorough wiping. This has never been a problem with virgin or treated bowls. I have two pipes I bought new, unfinished,

and broke them in this way. They are about 35 years old and counting. A number of other unfinished bowl interiors have

responded well to this method of breaking in. I continue to wipe out the bowls every time I smoke, and this maintains

a very thin but durable carbon coating which does not require reaming. Reaming is destructive, in my opinion, and is well

avoided. People who do reaming carefully and have good luck with it find it useful. But avoiding it has served me well.

I don't own a reamer. A reamer makes you want to ream whether it's needed or not and can do a lot of damage to a pipe.

Done wrong, it can demolish a pipe in short order. Don't let anyone other than a pipe repair person (or you if you are

careful and willing to learn) ream any of your pipes. I had a friend, who had a friend who ruined his whole collection of

many pipes by "doing him a favor" and over-reaming all of them. Of course, the mad reamer paid for none of them.

 

[ssjones]

I use a burley blend to break in a new pipe, before dumping the ash, I swirl it around the bowl and coat the entire bowl. Then I dump and run a cleaner thru it. I do this until a thin cake starts. After that, I do the paper towel wipe after every smoke and consequently, don't ever need to ream.

 

[smokeyweb]

Thank you for the responses. I will try these different methods on a few of my smokers.

 

[mrmotoyoshi]

Ssjones and I are of a similar mindset. Burley blends help to build cakes faster than most. VAs are probably the slowest at building cakes. If it's the absolute first time smoking a new pipe, you can spread a teeny bit of honey at the bottom of the bowl and then pack your tobacco. But don't apply honey after the first smoke as it won't let the carbon form into the briar and will just be a superficial cake which can be detrimental to the interior of the bowl afterwards.
Like others said, once you build a nice even cake up and down your bowl, you can begin using the paper towels. Which isn't too necessary because a pipe cleaner folded in half can do the same job.

 

[topd]

More than likely, your not going to burn a new bowl unless it has a defect. Of course it'll char some and begin to build your carbon cake. Just choose the tobacco you like, smoke it and don't worry about it. I don't stuff a rag or paper towel in the bowl and twist. This will damage your newly started carbon cake. When breaking in a new pipe I don't do anything the first dozen bowls or so other than run a pipe cleaner or two down the stem. Some do a complete cleaning after each bowl, but I personally don't think this is necessary. After the cake starts to form I may double up a pipe cleaner and run it around the inside of the bowl lightly to remove the remaining ash stuck to the sides. (The ash is not what has carbonized to the inside of the bowl). This wont disturb the cake unless you dig at it. The carbon in the bowl is hard and difficult to damage unless you set your mind to it. Just enjoy your pipe and let it happen.

When you do get to much cake and need reaming, do it slow and just a little at a time, no more than dust, inspect it and decide if you need to get just a little more. Don't set your reamer so that you're breaking out chunks. It took a long time to build-up, so time and patience should be taken to remove a bit of it. Do it in miniscule amounts, don't be heavy handed. I usually ream just to make the cake even and smooth, not letting it get thicker than a American dime... less with a smaller bowl.

 

[smokeyweb]

Thanks, guys. I really appreciate the advice, and will employ these new techniques. It's nice to become educated on the different schools of thought on cake. I think I will try both, and see what works out best. Thanks again!

 

[themanny82]

Glad that I found this. just got a virgin briar wood yesterday and was concerned about how to break it in. I've never heard of using honey to do so. What is the honey supposed to do? I'm just curious.

 

[goldsm]

Upon my experience honey and ash and water mix(pipe mud) is good to built a cake and to protect(cover) burning

spot of inside chamber instantly.

 

[bryanf]

Here's some good news. I have burned out the bottom slightly very recently of one of my pipes. I blame it on bad briar. However, I just smoked it more carefully, and the burnt area caked over just fine. Can't even see the cracked wood anymore and smokes like a champ.