Is this Sav done?

[Cornell D. Cavendish]

I scored this Savinelli 111KS for $16 on ebay, after reaming an extremely thick lava cake out it is quite a big chamber, before I could barely get an index finger in it. Anyways down to the bare wood I notice there’s these splitting pits but they’re all around the entire chamber not just too much heat around the draft hole. I wonder if there was such a giant cake in order to avoid more heat on the walls




Should this pipe just be a collectors item or shall I try to smoke it?

 

[ADKPiper]

I'd smoke it.
For $16 what do you have to lose?

 

[AroEnglish]

I'd smoke it.
For $16 what do you have to lose?

Same.

 

[Chasing Embers]

That's why I never ream all the way back to the wood.

 

[greysmoke]

It's not good, but not necessarily irretrievable. In fact, I had a very similar event with a Knute freehand that I picked up from a pipe shop. I dug up the email I received, 11 years ago, from the gentleman who was doing the work:

"Your pipes are basically done with the exception of the freehand. After cleaning the bowl of the pipe I noticed 2 medium size cracks on the inside of the bowl. There is no question that in time they would burn through rendering the pipe unsmokable. With your permission, I will repair them and treat the inside of the bowl with a protective coating that should protect against burnout."

And later:

"Although the pictures suck, if you look closely you will se a total of 5 cracks inside the bowl. It will take me an extra day or 2 to treat them as I want to do, as the process requires they dry overnight. I hope we can save it."

He sent the following photos.

Hope this is helpful.

 

[RustiePyles CPG]

FWIW, I rarely ream an estate back to briar. If the cake looks manageable and isn't ghosted with something awful I'll ream it back to where I want it and do a salt/alcohol soak and smoke it.

 

[kcghost]

Just gently build the cake up to a proper level and see what happens.

 

[mso489]

Maybe pipe mud (mix of ashes and water as a sort of plaster) would get new cake started and prevent the beginnings of burnout.

Some minority of members prevent this, beginning with new pipes, by scooping out the ash after each smoke, then wiping out the chamber with an abrasive paper towel. This maintains a thin carbon layer that protects the chamber, but cake never forms, so the chamber remains its original size and reaming is never necessary.

This has worked well on the first pipe I ever bought forty some years ago that I still smoke, and every pipe since, whether I'm starting them new or smoking an estate. Many love building cake, but this way works for me and quite a few others.

 

[Briar Tuck]

You definitely would have been better off leaving a layer of cake in there. There's really no good reason to ream a chamber back down to the briar in my opinion, although I know some restorers like to do that. That said, you can always smoke it and hope for the best.

 

[georged]

FWIW, I rarely ream an estate back to briar. If the cake looks manageable and isn't ghosted with something awful I'll ream it back to where I want it and do a salt/alcohol soak and smoke it.

This is The Way ^^^^

 

[Cornell D. Cavendish]

Alright thanks all, duly noted. I’ll be careful with reaming; I worked my way up to the larger reamer after I realized I was never going to sand it all down. I think It probably had a more tapered bore before which is why it’s extra raw in the bottom now. Looking into the pipe-mud mixture.

 

[doctorbob]

This is The Way ^^^^

Man, I learned that lesson the hard way

 

[Sir Yak]

I'd smoke it.
For $16 what do you have to lose?

That’s exactly what I though