Just bought my first morta pipe. is there ay difference i how you break it i or treat it thanks jim
Morta Pipes
- Thread starter coldfront
- Start date
SmokingPipes.com Updates
Watch for Updates Twice a Week
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
Site Sponsors
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
As a general rule you will probably find that morta gets hotter (not smokes hotter) than most briars. Therefore, you might want to try smoking more slowly. It has been often said that Morta pipes favor English and Balkan blends and do not heighten the flavor of aromatics. I have found that Morta, like some Meerschaum, requires a period of getting used to as there is sometimes a funky flavor at first. Youe experience may differ. You should avoid letting cake build up too much in a Morta pipe. Good luck.
No difference. Load it up, smoke it at a reasonably slow pace. Make sure tobacco is dry and don't pack too tightly. I make a bit of extra effort to smoke the bowl to the bottom with early bowls to build some cake there. Do not do that though by applying too many lights near the bottom as the additional heat could harm the bowl.
either way it's pretty a neat material to have something made out of.
Thanks guys appreciate the help. jim
I have a few mortas and have never noticed any funkiness during the break-in periods. But the I only smoke English/Balkan blends in my mortas, and it would take a lot of funkiness to make its presence felt with Latakia !
Recently purchased my first morta and it smokes well but I feel it would smoke better with a cake buildup. Most people advise against this but anyone here build up cake on morta?
I noticed that one of my mortas was developing a couple of "burn spots" in the bowl. It may be a coincidence, but this is the lightest coloured and lightest/least dense of my mortas. My suspicion is that this pipe was made of much younger material than the others.
I coated the inside of the bowl with a thin layer of pipe mud, and carefully built up a thin cake. It has been smoking fine since.
I have not bothered with cake buildup in the other mortas. After a smoke, I use a folded cleaner or two to wipe out the bowl and assiduously scrape off any tobacco fragments that might be stuck on.
I coated the inside of the bowl with a thin layer of pipe mud, and carefully built up a thin cake. It has been smoking fine since.
I have not bothered with cake buildup in the other mortas. After a smoke, I use a folded cleaner or two to wipe out the bowl and assiduously scrape off any tobacco fragments that might be stuck on.
I keep looking at morta pipes...love the looks of a good sandblast on this material. Interesting comments on break in and smoking experience. Think I still want one eventually...
No time like the present
.
.
I have 3 and love them immensely. Never followed any particular break-in protocol, and though I've read that a person should clean the ash from the bowl with a q-tip every time so as to not let cake develop, I have assiduously ignored this advice.
Had a Rick Black morta poker (sold a few years back). It was a nice little pipe just the wrong shape for me.
I have several, and I like them.
As far as breaking in and smoking, do as you would with a briar.
I let a thin cake develop, just as with a briar. Morta is mineralized Oak. Comparisons to Meerschaum are ridiculous and misguided. Meerschaum is a mineral and hence won't burn (not pipe temperatures, anyway) whereas Morta, which is wood, will. Now, on the other hand, fossilized wood, which is more of a mineral, due to the processes (extreme heat and pressure) and time spent in the ground (millions of years), is much less likely to burn, probably even if you took a cutting torch to it...
Morta, Oak, which is a hardwood is more susceptible to charring than briar, in my opinion, so having a cake there to provide some insulation is beneficial. I base this on my own limited personal experience, not years of methodological double blind testing, so take it for what it's worth.
FWIW, here's an article that describes burning bog oak (Morta)Bog Oak
I think I have enough disclaimers in here so as not to get flamed further down the thread...
As far as breaking in and smoking, do as you would with a briar.
I let a thin cake develop, just as with a briar. Morta is mineralized Oak. Comparisons to Meerschaum are ridiculous and misguided. Meerschaum is a mineral and hence won't burn (not pipe temperatures, anyway) whereas Morta, which is wood, will. Now, on the other hand, fossilized wood, which is more of a mineral, due to the processes (extreme heat and pressure) and time spent in the ground (millions of years), is much less likely to burn, probably even if you took a cutting torch to it...
Morta, Oak, which is a hardwood is more susceptible to charring than briar, in my opinion, so having a cake there to provide some insulation is beneficial. I base this on my own limited personal experience, not years of methodological double blind testing, so take it for what it's worth.
FWIW, here's an article that describes burning bog oak (Morta)Bog Oak
I think I have enough disclaimers in here so as not to get flamed further down the thread...
Last edited:
I like morta. It’s a more fragile wood than briar, so you have to take a little more care with drilling out mortises, and I wouldn’t want any thin walls on the pipe anywhere. It is more susceptible to splitting in my experience. If the thickness is sufficient it’s durable enough though. Supposedly it doesn’t ghost easily. I’ve only smoked Latakia blends in my one morta, so I cannot attest to that.
I use it in knife handles often.
I use it in knife handles often.
I have two mortas, a calabash by Mimmo Provenzano (with multiple cups) and a tomato squash by Il Duca (Massimiliano Rimensi). I love them and they smoke very well. While most of Mortas are smoked with English/Balkans mixtures, as mine have small bowls I use them with strong Virginia flakes or ropes and as said they smoke very well. Similarly to meers they are more neutral than briars rendering better the true tobacco taste and less prone to ghosting. They get hotter than briars (not the calabash really) but the smoke is fresh (particularly the calabash) and also they cool down faster than briar.
I have always wanted one, and now I feel like I better get two of them, one to build cake in, another not to. ?
Now let's see if I can stir some shit... Post-smoke cleaning. Flush or no flush?
Now let's see if I can stir some shit... Post-smoke cleaning. Flush or no flush?
I like morta pipes and found the break-in to be similar to briar.
This thread is severely lacking photos. Let's see those morta pipes!
