Can You Spot The Burn-through?

[MilesDavis]

I'm sure you can! A Barontini Cortina #220. Here's what it looked like after scrubbing with a wire brush. That spot isn't going away!



So, just for the exercise, I refinished it in mahogany and polished it up. BTW, the burn through on the inside of the stummel is as large as a back molar. No fixing it with pipe mud, I'm afraid.

 

[Rockyrepose]

Very pretty doomed piece of briar

 

[didimauw]

I restored a couple of junk pipes just for practice. A few had holes all the way through that I filled. Two we're dunhills. I don't smoke them, I just look at em.

 

[jpmcwjr]

How about a photo of the chamber showing the burned spot, please!

 

[MilesDavis]

Note how the damage extends under the rim.

 

[Chaukisch]

I have no idea about pipe damage but that chamber objectively looks bad. But from the outside it looks quite nice. On that one photo and with those scrapes around it, it looks like the pupil/iris of a gentle eye. So eye agree with this nice philosophy for out of order pipes:

I don't smoke them, I just look at em.

 

[TheIronMonkey]

You might be able to make the pipe smokable patching with fireplace mortar or water glass (sodium silicate).

 

[MilesDavis]

Maybe...but I would also have to address the burn on the outside of the stummel. Stain it black? With a basement full of pipes, I don't know if this one is worth the trouble. It's a shame, though.

 

[TheIronMonkey]

Making it useful would be a worthy cause.

 

[verporchting]

That pipe must have been smoked at outrageous temperatures to do that!

Alert the local hospitals to be on the lookout for a dude with a blackened and crispy tongue seeking medical help

 

[woodrow]

Sorry. But looks like the jpegs are unavailable. It’s too bad. Really wanted to see what a burn out looks like. Never had one.

 

[jpmcwjr]

They were available, but now are not,

MilesD- Can you please repost the jpegs. Know what happened?

 

[anotherbob]

That pipe must have been smoked at outrageous temperatures to do that!

Alert the local hospitals to be on the lookout for a dude with a blackened and crispy tongue seeking medical help

I don't know. The one burn out I experienced wasn't smoked super hot. It was also a pipe that cost 20 something dollars and I didn't have high expectations for. But the way it burnt reminded me of the difference between trying to light a log on fire and trying to light some kindling on fire. It not only burnt easily but quickly. Not saying you're wrong, just saying you're not guaranteed certifiably right, just 90 percent.

 

[verporchting]

I’ll take 90%, lol.

 

[TheIronMonkey]

They were available, but now are not,

MilesD- Can you please repost the jpegs. Know what happened?

If you're referring to the broken image links, there was a period the other night when the forum went down—images posted just before that during a small window disappeared. When the site came up, it was probably from a back up made prior to the posts with the images that went missing.

 

[Briar Lee]

Here is a Pipe Maker that will burn through, on one of the dark spots.


I have an early thirties Kaywoodie suffering from the same condition, so it might be another ninety years before it burns through.

What’s happened is the briar, has charred all the way through. A cake might keep the charred portions intact, but the people that select briar know what briar is good, and what is not.

How they know, is likely beyond explanation, they just use the best briar in better pipes and the cheaper in pipes like Pipe Maker.

 

[craig61a]

Here is a Pipe Maker that will burn through, on one of the dark spots.

View attachment 167379View attachment 167380View attachment 167381
I have an early thirties Kaywoodie suffering from the same condition, so it might be another ninety years before it burns through.

What’s happened is the briar, has charred all the way through. A cake might keep the charred portions intact, but the people that select briar know what briar is good, and what is not.

How they know, is likely beyond explanation, they just use the best briar in better pipes and the cheaper in pipes like Pipe Maker.

So how is the charred substrate to remain intact under the cake…? Some sort of mystical ionic bonding? I’ll await your answer. This ought to be a doozie.

 

[Briar Lee]

So how is the charred substrate to remain intact under the cake…? Some sort of mystical ionic bonding? I’ll await your answer. This ought to be a doozie.

This pipe has started to cake.

But see those dark black spots that used to be brown briar?

Whatever capillary system that briar had is roasted and toasted there, all the way through.

But the briar sort of merges with the cake to create a heat sink.

This isn’t common. The old Kaywoodie I own that has two black spots are on the V bottom of a Bulldog.

I had an expensive hand made freehand with a black spot that burned all the way through. The carver was in Arizona, and I contacted him, but he had cancer.

I own too many pipes to add to his troubles, so I kept it to show what defective briar is.

Burnout is why the old timers kept a cake the thickness of a dime. Get out in the wind and a pipe can burnout easily.

 

[MilesDavis]

Sorry. But looks like the jpegs are unavailable. It’s too bad. Really wanted to see what a burn out looks like. Never had one.

Reposting the images. Before:


After:



A look inside:



This last image reminds me of something I might have pulled out of the fireplace.

 

[Briar Lee]

Most hardwoods ignite at about 500 degrees Fahrenheit and a burning pipe tobacco ember is near a thousand degrees Fahrenheit.

I looked up what is too hot to hold:

ASTM C1055 (Standard Guide for Heated System Surface Conditions that Produce Contact Burn Injuries) recommends that pipe surface temperatures remain at or below 140°F. The reason for this is that the average person can touch a 140°Fsurface for up to five seconds without sustaining irreversible burn damage.
—-

I’m smoking a very fresh, almost new Lee Three Star Rhodesian (or slotted ring Pear) and the outside of the pipe is warm but not hot to my touch.

Briar is miraculous.

And we take it for granted, I think.