Cake Question

[jaysin]

None of my pipes have cake. 3 just have issues building cake even with aros. As my friend had to use honey on his to get cake, my big question is this: it seems to be that english blends don't really build cake, so if I go to aros for this, how long will the aro note ghost in the pipe?

 

[jchaplick]

Too long for me, I smoke VAs and they dont really build cakes either, dude, to be honest, dont worry about them. I think cake is a very over-thought issue. The glass-like cake that VA's and English's make is just fine. Just smoke away

 

[nsfisher]

I do not allow cake to build on my pipes other than normal residue left from the bowl I smoked. Usually every 4-5 bowls smoked I scrape them clean. Unless you are running your pipe hot, I find it to be a nusiance and an over thought theory. Just my opinion.

 

[hnryclay]

Agreed, I don't worry about it at all. Most of my pipes are over 40 years old, some over 60. I don't allow any cake over a 1/32 or so to build up in the bowl. More that that serves no purpose to me, I have never understood the honey thing. You don't need a cake of ash to enjoy your pipe, and it might be a hindrance that ghosts your bowl.

 

[adam12]

I am also in agreement. There really is no practical reason for all that buildup and it only makes it worse when it needs to be removed. I have wondered where that preference came from and I still can't figure it out. It's like the urban myth of pipes.

 

[puffy]

I'm in agreement with those who say that cake is over rated.I have hardly any in my pipes.

 

[ejames]

I like to maintain a thin cake,which can be hard to do since I smoke mostly burleys and it has a tendency to cake up rather quickly. Can't say that having a cake adds or detracts from the enjoyment of a pipe. I see the main purpose of cake is to keep a hot burning ember from getting into direct contact with the wood.As heat resistant as it is,briar will burn and repeated charring of the walls of the bowl just doesn't seem like a good thing to me.

 

[jaysin]

I sually keep my pipes cake free but all this talk about being needed. Hell my Mr Brogs dont build cake but they do get warmer then briar.

 

[nsfisher]

Ya, both my Mr. Brogs are performing outstandingly. Absolutely no problems at all with them, very little cake on them and they don't heat up bad.

 

[edlogic]

in the 18 months or so since i started

i have been smoking the same one cheap pipe and the same 3 blends

at first i followed the instructions about getting the ash to coat the sides after emptying the bowl and i had not trouble getting the cake to build up pretty fast
after that it seemed like i didn't have to try anymore it just kept building until i had to cut it down a few times
all that time i always only tampered and never thought about poking or digging - if i tamped too much i would wait until the fire went out and i would blow on the pipe a little while covering the bowl and push the tobacco back up some to loosen it up - i don't know why i didn't try digging and poking until now
but lately i have been doing that and i am noticing that the cake does not build as fast - it is building slowly now compared to before
i think the poking and digging is scraping the side enough to slow it building cake

i am enjoying the smoke better also because i get better airflow after poking and i can smoke to the bottom of the bowl a lot easier now
before i started poking - it would almost always get way too hot before i could finish the bowl

 

[jaysin]

@nsfisher

I think Mr.Brog pipes are overlooked because of their pice and they are really great smokers. I dont have anything in the briar line.... yet

 

[edlogic]

oops

i believed that it was a rule that you had to start with a corn cob and a briar !

how can you possibly expect me to believe anything that you claim you know if you don't follow the rules ?
that just goes to show what i don't know

no wonder i always have to relight
uh oh - i must have done something bad - they took my signature away
i will manually put it here and see if i get in more trouble
------------

i think therefore i am - lighting it again and again - that is my plight

caring not whether if ever - i smoke a full bowl to the bottom - on one light

 

[chopz]

i would think if you smoke a pipe a couple hundred times it would be impossible not to get some cake in it. if you can do that i wanna see.

 

[edlogic]

@chops

i would think if you smoke a pipe a couple hundred times it would be impossible not to get some cake in it. if you can do that i wanna see.

yeah - it seems like the oil and tars would stick to anything and then if you get some ash on that after the smoke then the process should repeat and build
hmmm - maybe some materials allow all the oil and tar to be burned ? so nothing sticks ?

 

[annapolispipes]

Very glad to have read this posting. I have 11 pipes in my rotation and it seems like it's taking forever just to build anything. I will stop sweating this from this day forward. And I enjoy my pipes thoroughly without having all the cake.

 

[jaysin]

Ive got 30 bowls through one of the Brog pipes and nothing yet If I can hit 200 without cake I will post pics of it.

 

[bailey331]

I will stop sweating this from this day forward. And I enjoy my pipes thoroughly without having all the cake.

+1

 

[shaintiques]

Im building cake in one dedicated pipe to test the whole cake makes the smoke better theory. We will see.

 

[bentmike]

I figure by the time I'm an old man I might have to buy a reamer. Cake building is a slowww process here. My wife makes a mean German chocolate cake -that's the only cake I worry about.

 

[shawn]

No cake here. I have gotten some estate pipes off the bay that were chuck full of cake. I reemed them down to the wood and gave them the old salt treatment. That and the cake bentmike speaks to is all I see. Not his wife's cake rather my wife's cake.