Have I Damaged the Pipe Chamber?

[Jackohara]

Good morning from Europe !

I have started smoking pipes just recently to replace my smoking habit to a "smoking ritual". As a good I novice went around the internet read artical and watched youtube channel, about how to do this and how to do that, even asked my girlfriend's father ( who has been smoking pipes for decades now) for a "first traning puffing", an introducion and teaching to this great hobby.

So just after my 2-3 time of smoking a fully filled pipe, I noticed that, there might be error in the chamber/bowl. On its side the wall started to deform, forming approxametly 3 square millimeters (0.005 square inch) wide and ~2 millimeters deep (~0.07 inch) hole. Also have seen cracks not just in the hole and its area, but the botton of the chamber too.
Here are some pictures.

So this is the top view, the hole is on the right side.


These are the cracks in and around the hole.






And some other cracks in the bottom of the chamber. They are white because, as it was cleaned some ash were swept in it.


Did I damaged it? If so, how does it affects its life span? Should I do some repairing?

I am really looking forward to any advice

Daniel.

 

[TheIronMonkey]

To me, it looks like the cake inside the chamber is cracking. I'll be curious to see what others think.

 

[Strandsbeachlocal]

Was this previously an estate pipe? Looks like the pipe could use a light sandpaper reaming.

 

[Morrison Jeremiah]

Carefully scrape out that build up of carbon until you can just make out the wood, probably just needs a good clean that's all.

 

[Sgetz]

Carefully scrape out that build up of carbon until you can just make out the wood, probably just needs a good clean that's all.

This is good advice. Do this?

 

[craig61a]

If this was a pre smoked pipe, there might have been a buildup of carbon and that might be what you’re seeing.

If the bowl was new and pre carbonized or coated you might be seeing buildup from that. Some of the coating recipes build up pretty fast.

Carefully scrape/sand out the buildup. You don’t necessarily want to get it back to bare wood, just an even surface.

Sounds like you already have a resource in your girlfriends father, so I guess I would get his input…

 

[Grangerous]

Cake

 

[reloader]

I agree with the previous posts. Looks like cake to me. Gently remove some of the build up and see how it looks.

 

[alwayslit]

I'd concur with everyone's response. It is most likely cake buildup that has cracked.

 

[Simmerdown☕️]

I’d lightly ream the walls down to briar to see if there is an issue. Be careful when doing this. You can also use a wooden dowel wrapped in sandpaper lightly turning until you get where you need to be. I suspect what you’re looking at is excess cake build up. Have fun. ?️

 

[BROBS]

it’s cake on the sides … with none in the bottom.

 

[craig61a]

Yep. It's about 84.78% probability that it's cake.

 

[herrmann]

Yes to the above only I use sandpaper wrapped around my finger instead of a dowel. You get a better sense of where you are at in relation to carbon in the pipe.

 

[mingc]

It looks like cake that the previous user had built up before the few times you've used it. You might want to ream it down a bit. This is my favored reamer:

 

[bullet08]

It's a pie. Tired of cakes.

 

[anotherbob]

it's carbon and I agree with what everyone said except one little thing. Don't scrap it down to wood. Scrap it too close to wood. And guess what reaming (cleaning out excessive cake) is really easy with the right tools. And the only caveat is take your time go slow and don't force it. If you hit a hard piece of cake don't use muscles to get it use gentle persistence. But your pipe is fine and uneven cake at the bottom of the chamber is common. But if it's too uneven it can make a pipe heat up unevenly which can reveal hidden stresses or weak points by making a crack. Not something to count on but a good reason to even the cake out.

 

[craig61a]

Did I mention it might be cake…?

 

[craig61a]

I the old Cake-O-Lator 600 to remove cake…

 

[Jackohara]

Thank you for all the comment and advice!

The pipe was new, unused. I just bought it from a local tobacco shop. I cannot recall if it was coated or precarbonised, but I do remember that there wasn't any hole on the side of the chamber.

I asked my girlfriend’s father he gave me no explanation or instruction regarding to this problem, only told me, that I should just keep smoking and it is fine

Annyway I will do some clean up as all of you suggested, scraping the buildup and trying to balance the cake.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I just cannot fathom how that much cake could be present after 2-3 smokes!

But I agree- sandpaper the cake until it's smooth. Then post photos, please!