Care and Breaking In for Morta Pipe?

[yaroslaw]

Hi guys!

I'm returning to smoking pipes after 5-7 year break, I've had only estate pipes from ebay previously.

Now I found this forum and saw guys making their own pipes, so I gave it a shot, cut-off piece of Morta (Bog oak) and made myself a nice billiard (can't post a picture - not enough posts yet)
I choose morta not because I'm fancy but because I work with Morta and have plenty to experiment with (and very little funds to buy new pipes or briar blocks)

Quick search on youtube gives very little info on Morta pipes, so I have two questions:

1) How should I break in a Morta pipe? Is there any difference between briar and morta in that regard?

I chose not the best morta piece structure-vise (my bad), didn't want to ruin a nice piece on the first try - really did not expect to get a nice pipe without any prior experience on pipe making. It has some weak layers of wood that would love to have some reinforcement (usually I would do CA but definitely not in a bowl). My hope is it gets caked and packed with tars, but could I do something to reinforce it a little without sacrificing that dry cool smoking it gives me now?

I plan to smoke English/Balkan blends from it, I would try honey but a lot of folks talk against honey especially with Latakia blends.

2) How should I finish the exterior of the pipe?
Usually working with morta I give it a good soak of walnut oil, which is slow but setting oil. It gives wood deep black (my morta is over 2000 years) color and retains matte look.
I really love that look of morta, and buffing with carnauba doesn't give that same look and feel to me.
I removed the shine with steel wool, but it's better but still looks very light compared to what it looks after even one coat of oil.

My understanding is that oil can gum up pores in the wood (good for protecting from moisture) which may or may not affect how dry and cool pipe smokes.
But I've seen videos of guys using linseed oil before carnauba on briars, and linseed oil gums up much worse then walnut oil.

Am I too cautious? What's your thought on that?

Thanks!

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I haven't done anything different with mine. Perhaps smoke slightly slower as the Morta tends to heat up a bit more. Good luck.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

(can't post a picture - not enough posts yet)

Is this a thing with the new forum format? I had no idea that you had to have a post count to post pictures.

How should I finish the exterior of the pipe?

Walnut oil might be toxic when heated up and fumes are taken in. I'm not sure. Hopefully someone can better answer your questions. We have some very respectable pipemakers as members on here, but I am not sure of the extent of their knowledge of morta. It is comparatively, a new material for pipes.

But, this sounds like an awesome project. Good luck, and hopefully by the time you get it done, you can post pictures. Get that post count up.

 

[BROBS]

walnut and other nut/vegetable oils will go rancid.

if you want a matte finish I would use Halcyon 2 wax.

 

[yaroslaw]

Is this a thing with the new forum format? I had no idea that you had to have a post count to post pictures.

It's rules, I can post pictures but not the pipe I made (got deleted by mods), I guess to combat spammers. I just work towards post numbers, it should be quick enough

Walnut oil might be toxic when heated up and fumes are taken in.

That should not be a problem, oil will not get inside the bowl, I'm thinking light coat on the outside only.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I can post pictures but not the pipe I made (got deleted by mods), I guess to combat spammers.

Ohhh, to sell it? That makes sense. I was thinking you meant just to post pictures in general. They do it to protect us from folks that, yeh, might take advantage of us. And, to be fair to the sponsors that pay quite a bit of money for the privilege of advertising.

 

[yaroslaw]

Ohhh, to sell it? That makes sense. I was thinking you meant just to post pictures in general. They do it to protect us from folks that, yeh, might take advantage of us. And, to be fair to the sponsors that pay quite a bit of money for the privilege of advertising.

I don't know, never did I implied that I wanted to sell it, quite contrary, I made myself a pipe cause I have only two pipes and it's too little for even a daily smoke. And frankly, I would not try to sell my first pipe, it's just strange, who would buy it? But rules are rules, I'm not here to argue about them, they are in place for a reason, I respect that. And few more days and I could post it hopefully

 

[yaroslaw]

walnut and other nut/vegetable oils will go rancid.

if you want a matte finish I would use Halcyon 2 wax.

I have no access to fancy chemistry here. I do have some pure carnauba and microcrystalline blend wax, but no fancy shmancy hallucion

As for walnut oil it's called "curing" in woodworkers world, I believe And it's one of the best food safe oil finishes, it protects wood without forming ugly coating and don't have any funky smell (contrary to linseed oil). I use it exclusively on my morta pens for years and they don't have any smell, believe me

But I would gladly use some other oil - my problem with carnauba not that it's shiny (I can use steel wool to kill the shine) but that it doesn't penetrate deep enough into wood to darken it and give it that pitch black look that I love.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Some carvers stain the naturally dark gray morta to give it the black appearance. Others sometimes leave it gray.

 

[didimauw]

Ohhh, to sell it? That makes sense. I was thinking you meant just to post pictures in general. They do it to protect us from folks that, yeh, might take advantage of us. And, to be fair to the sponsors that pay quite a bit of money for the privilege of advertising.

Come on cosmic, you used to be a mod......hahaha

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Come on cosmic, you used to be a mod......hahaha

But, he says he wasn’t selling it.
I’m confused... but anyway... not my problem, ha ha.

 

[didimauw]

But, he says he wasn’t selling it.
I’m confused... but anyway... not my problem, ha ha.

Yup that's correct. Not allowed to "show off" anything you made yourself (pipes, tampers, stands etc) without having 50 posts wether your selling it or showing it off.

 

[yaroslaw]

Yup that's correct. Not allowed to "show off" anything you made yourself (pipes, tampers, stands etc) without having 50 posts wether your selling it or showing it off.

It's making a bit harder to ask questions, but I do get it.

Let's try this way...
I cut off just a piece off picture, so it's definitely not a show off

Pipe, buffed with carnauba and then steel wool to remove shine

This is part of tamper, treated with a coat of oil. Tamper made from cut-off paralel to shank, but as you can see it's pitch black.


And no, no stain will ever touch my morta)

So still waiting for suggestions, can I use oil (and what kind) on the outside of the bowl.