Insulating qualities of bowl material

[Bub]

How important do you think is the insulating quality of bowl material for maintaining a smoldering cherry?

Here are some materials in what I believe is the order of their insulating quality.

metal, clay/ceramic, wood/briar, cob, block meerschaum

I have a couple pipes with metal bowls, but I’ve never tried to smoke them. I have a ceramic pipe that for me is very touchy. My briars smoke fine, but my cobs seem to be easier to keep lit. And, I have a block meerschaum that seems pretty much like the briars in this respect.

If insulation matters, I suspect a thicker bowl wall helps too.

Back in the 60’s or 70’s there was a pipe advertised with a bowl made from missile nose cone ceramic, which was supposed to be a great insulating material. They came in bright colors. I’ve always wondered how they smoked.

 

[PLANofMAN]

...Back in the 60’s or 70’s there was a pipe advertised with a bowl made from missile nose cone ceramic, which was supposed to be a great insulating material. They came in bright colors. I’ve always wondered how they smoked.

"The Pipe" was made with a pyrolitic graphite bowl. From what I've read, most pipe smokers don't like the way they smoke. They are insulating, very much so. They are also completely non-absorbant, so there's nothing to help wick away bitter juices as they form.

Insulation only matters for the longevity of the pipe's lifespan. How absorbent the pipe material is a far better metric to judge a pipe by. From everything I've read, the older the briar, and the longer it 'cures,' the better it's insulative properties, the better it absorbs tars and oils, and the lighter it is.

Carbon cake itself is highly insulative as well, and I have some small thin walled briar pipes that smoke hotter than my clay pipe.

This is all just a roundabout way of saying that maintaining a "smoldering cherry" has more to do with how well you pack the tobacco, your draw strength and cadence, and your insulative ash layer over the cherry. Tamping also plays a role.

What the pipe is made of is not a factor in any of that.

 

[Bub]

I had to look up pyrolytic graphite. It said it has high heat conductance in the surface plane, but extremely low conductance through its thickness. Weird stuff.

 

[OzPiper]

There are also pipes made from asbestos.

A Thermal Conductivity or Heat Transfer Coefficient Chart. Wood is listed, but not the species

 

[PLANofMAN]

I had to look up pyrolytic graphite. It said it has high heat conductance in the surface plane, but extremely low conductance through its thickness. Weird stuff.

I believe it's 'normal' use is for metal casting molds.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I'd wear gloves if you're going to smoke a metal pipe. I would think metal would be a horrible insulator, it readily conducts heat. Keeping your pipe lit has more to do with the moisture of the tobacco, how well you pack and tamp the tobacco, how well you light the pipe and your smoking experience. If you're having trouble keeping your pipe lit, I think you're looking in the wrong direction.

 

[warren]

How important do you think is the insulating quality of bowl material for maintaining a smoldering cherry?

Not near as important as the smoker's handling of the tobacco and smoking technique. Briar, meer and cobs have all proven their worth as smoking pipes. Why not just learn to load a proper blend and smoke? No need to over-think a relatively simple process, load, light and go. Hard to improve on good techniques, proven over many, many years. But, many like to complicate what is a quickly learned vice.

 

[bullet08]

Air flow (design of the pipe), and the smoker's technique is more important than the insulation of the bowl material. You don't want something that will hold too much heat. Briar, meer, and cob do well.

 

[Wapask]

I'd wear gloves if you're going to smoke a metal pipe. I would think metal would be a horrible insulator, it readily conducts heat. Keeping your pipe lit has more to do with the moisture of the tobacco, how well you pack and tamp the tobacco, how well you light the pipe and your smoking experience. If you're having trouble keeping your pipe lit, I think you're looking in the wrong direction.

With exceptions to the above rules being 80% of the SG tobaccos

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

How important do you think is the insulating quality of bowl material for maintaining a smoldering cherry?

Here are some materials in what I believe is the order of their insulating quality.

metal, clay/ceramic, wood/briar, cob, block meerschaum

I have a couple pipes with metal bowls, but I’ve never tried to smoke them. I have a ceramic pipe that for me is very touchy. My briars smoke fine, but my cobs seem to be easier to keep lit. And, I have a block meerschaum that seems pretty much like the briars in this respect.

If insulation matters, I suspect a thicker bowl wall helps too.

Back in the 60’s or 70’s there was a pipe advertised with a bowl made from missile nose cone ceramic, which was supposed to be a great insulating material. They came in bright colors. I’ve always wondered how they smoked.

This may be related - if you live where it's cold (it's around zero here right now), go outside and stick your tongue to a dry tree trunk and you should just say "yuck" (or "yum" if that's how you roll). Now find the pump handle in the back yard and do the same - after the fire department leaves you should have your answer.

If the briars and cobs smoke fine I'm not sure there is a problem that needs solving with some different pipe material, which won't help keep your pipe lighted.

As stated above, technique and experience - been there and it's not always one answer, but you learn to set yourself up for success but also understand why you are "failing", if you are, at a particular time.

 

[Hillcrest]

I'm not sure I understand the issue you present. Pipe tobacco doesn't have the chemicals to force continued burning like cigarrettes which will burn down even if not smoked. I've noticed the issue has more to do with airflow and packing. Pack to tight and the pipe goes out more often. Pack to loose and more of the tobacco catches fire and you have a larger ember. I would imagine cobs are more porous hence more airflow. I would try packing differently and find what works for you, then repeat. I know my Pete Pub pipe will remain lit a little longer than a bent billiard but the chamber is wider hence more airflow across when I set it down but we're only talking a few minutes not longer before it goes out. Hope that helps in some way.

 

[Jacob74]

How important do you think is the insulating quality of bowl material for maintaining a smoldering cherry?

Not very.
Fuel, oxygen, and heat are the elements of the fire triangle, followed by the chemical chain reaction that is necessary for a fire to keep going. I think the material that cradles that fire might make it somewhat more or less difficult for the chain reaction to occur, but the more profound effects would be in how that material shape affects the oxygen flow (as we are providing the ignition heat with our lighters, matches etc. and the fuel is our tobacco). Pipe geometry seems very similar to how a fireplace has a very specific size ratio between the firebox and flue.
Like a fireplace, a good pipe has an efficient combustion chamber, but unlike a fireplace, the goal of the pipe is not to provide directionalized radiant heat.

 

[MisterBadger]

Basically, when loading and smoking a pipe you are building and lighting a fire. Regardless of what surrounds your fire - stones, bricks, turves, the steel walls of a ghillie kettle - or briar, cob, clay, meer, morta, metal or porcelain or Brilon in the case of pipes - what prevents the fire going out, is a regular airflow - ventilation between the bits of fuel and the draught through the fire itself. Unless, of course, you're using wet wood - or as Wapask says, 80% of those GS tobaccos