Hypothetical Theoretical Question

[zekest]

In an episode of The Simpsons, Homer Simpson asks Reverend Lovejoy: "Could GOD microwave a burrito so hot that even HE could not eat it?"
Continuing with that thought:
Is it possible to smoke a pipe so hot that you are actually smoking the brier and not the tobacco?

 

[4dotsasieni]

Good point about not feeling compelled to smoke a pipe all the way to the bottom of the bowl. That is indeed when it is hardest to control the burn rate and temperature, and I have several pipes with little burn "pits" at the bottom where I just smoked too long and too enthusiastically, wanting to get that very last bit of flavor and not wanting to leave a gooey dottle.
Maybe a bit of dottle isn't just a bad thing, at least after the initial break-in of the pipe.
By the way, I fill in those little burn spots first with some very thick honey, and then mix in some tobacco ash -- seems to work.

 

[smokeystover]

Years ago, I sacrificed my tongue to science one night, and tried to intentionally burn out a cheap basket pipe on the first smoke by puffing as hard and fast as I could stand to. The taste and smell of burning wood was obvious, and the outside of the bowl got too hot to touch for even a second or two. To my surprise, when I dumped the ash and probed with a paper clip, I only found two burned out divots about 1/16" deep and 1/4" in diameter on the inside of the bowl.

 

[mso489]

I think the experience of burning through a pipe is more likely with a cheap pipe described, or perhaps

with a really worn pipe. I've never burnt through a pipe, but my dad, who chain smoked pipes (he said

he looked forward to getting up in the morning so he could light his first bowl of tobacco) would smoke

one pipe continuously for months, and I know he cracked and burnt out many bowls. He got a lot of

mileage out of them; this didn't happen quickly. But finally his smoking went beyond the material

tolerances and the bowl would surrender. He never rotated pipes. The only extras he had were burnt

out pipes that might be in better shape than the one he'd just burnt up, until he could get to the

pipe shop or big city news stand to buy another. He had some fair pipes, but he was the opposite

of a pipe snob ... Scottish blood you know.

 

[cigrmaster]

One thing I have learned over the years is that the hotter you smoke your pipe, the less flavor you will get. Smoking slow and cool gives you much more flavor.

 

[kashmir]

Ditto what Harris said. If you're burning out your pipes, you're smoking way too hot. And missing 90% of what smokin a pipe is about. The cooler the smoulder the more flavorful the smoke. Simple as that.