Coating for Clay Pipe Bit?

[renfield]

Beeswax. Just rub a little on the stem. It lasts a surprisingly long time.

 

[The Clay King]

Tape seems the simplest to me, but I don't have any clay pipes that lasted two weeks.

@kcghost I've broken more than I can remember - they break easily. I found a broken clay pipe at the Fishpond pub in Matlock Bath during the Pirate Mutiny; not mine!

 

[The Clay King]

@camaguey: I suppose if you are smoking late at night you could eat the pipe as well - gouda flavored pipe sounds to me like an absolute winner! On a serious note I too have also seen clays with a shiny red wax finish on the mouthpiece almost like sealing wax.

@condorlover1 Yes some of mine have coated / painted mouthpieces.

 

[khiddy]

I used heat shrink tubing, but I’ve also seen folks applying nail polish to the end. Beeswax sounds interesting, I may try that with my next clay…

 

[makhorkasmoker]

Use hard red nail varnish. Measure one inch from the tip and then wrap some masking tape around the stem. Paint the mouthpiece with hard finish nail varnish or something a bit sparkly if you are that way inclined. Let it set hard over night. Remove the tape and voila you have a perfect non stick mouthpiece. This will save you from developing lip cancer which was common with 19th century clay pipe smokers due to the constant tearing of the lips skin from adhering to porous clay pipes. Victorian clays usually had glazed mouthpieces and all clays made by Pollocks of Manchester had glazed red or yellow or green tips. Some 19th century manufacturers varnished their pipes mouthpieces with an off red varnish. I came across a few originals when I renovated my 19th century cottage in the U.K back in the early 1990s that had slipped between the wall and the skirting boards that had this type of finish.

Have you tried cleaning any of these pipes with varnished mouthpieces, I mean in hot coals? Does it melt/burn off ?

 

[condorlover1]

I wouldn't stick them in hot coals if you have varnished the mouthpiece. The short 'Cutty' clay pipes you can probably use a thin Falcon pipe cleaner on, anything else is in my opinion is not cleanable and from my experience never lasted long enough in one piece to worry about cleaning. In the early 1980s I would go through a box of Pollock clays each month. In those days I was paying £10 for a box of mixed clays numbering about 100 pipes that arrived all packed in sawdust. In don't think anything survived long enough to be pitched into the fire coals for cleaning although I have done it but only with the pipes with glazed mouthpieces and if my memory serves me correctly it had the effect of removing the red or yellow glaze.

 

[makhorkasmoker]

I wouldn't stick them in hot coals if you have varnished the mouthpiece. The short 'Cutty' clay pipes you can probably use a thin Falcon pipe cleaner on, anything else is in my opinion is not cleanable and from my experience never lasted long enough in one piece to worry about cleaning. In the early 1980s I would go through a box of Pollock clays each month. In those days I was paying £10 for a box of mixed clays numbering about 100 pipes that arrived all packed in sawdust. In don't think anything survived long enough to be pitched into the fire coals for cleaning although I have done it but only with the pipes with glazed mouthpieces and if my memory serves me correctly it had the effect of removing the red or yellow glaze.

Thanks! I was wondering what would happen to those glazed mouthpieces too. Now I know

 

[The Clay King]

I wouldn't stick them in hot coals if you have varnished the mouthpiece. The short 'Cutty' clay pipes you can probably use a thin Falcon pipe cleaner on, anything else is in my opinion is not cleanable and from my experience never lasted long enough in one piece to worry about cleaning. In the early 1980s I would go through a box of Pollock clays each month. In those days I was paying £10 for a box of mixed clays numbering about 100 pipes that arrived all packed in sawdust. In don't think anything survived long enough to be pitched into the fire coals for cleaning although I have done it but only with the pipes with glazed mouthpieces and if my memory serves me correctly it had the effect of removing the red or yellow glaze.

@condorlover1 I need to get a few packets some of the thin Falcon pipe cleaners when I go to Buxton next week. Wow you got through a box of Pollock pipes a month - more than me!

 

[ThermionicScott]

That's one nice thing about using a wax coating -- it will burn off completely and innocuously during a fire-cleaning.

 

[khiddy]

I've never cleaned any of my clay pipes (I have 4 or so) more than giving them a swish out with a pipe cleaner after a bowl and running the occasional thin pipe cleaner or a dedicated piece of stiff wire down the stem to remove any stray dottle.

I suppose some day I'll make a fire in the firepit and toss in a clay to see how it goes, but I really don't see the need - the color it takes on through smoking is part of the clay's charm.

 

[makhorkasmoker]

I've never cleaned any of my clay pipes (I have 4 or so) more than giving them a swish out with a pipe cleaner after a bowl and running the occasional thin pipe cleaner or a dedicated piece of stiff wire down the stem to remove any stray dottle.

I suppose some day I'll make a fire in the firepit and toss in a clay to see how it goes, but I really don't see the need - the color it takes on through smoking is part of the clay's charm.

I like the colors too, but I’ve found that once a clay gets saturated with oils and tars, it loses a lot of its ability to absorb moisture—and that ability is for me one of the advantages of clay. So when mine gets dirty, into the coals it goes