Peterson Coatings?

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rodo

Starting to Get Obsessed
May 1, 2014
157
259
Central Arkansas
Anyone else have any issues with the coatings inside of a new Peterson? Got a lovely silver spigot, sweet pipe, and noticed the inside was black, like...black. Not that kind of charred look of many pipes, the kind the are the prep so one doesn't need to break in the pipe so much. I've smoked three sessions with the Peterson and...not great sessions (but might have been my tobacco); what I did notice was that cleaning out the pipe was different and weird: everything stuck to the sides. I even had to go, gently, with my reamer. Seems amiss, like they tried some new sort of pre-breaking in material or process and, to my mind, it does not work. Would like to hear if anyone else has had this experience with Peterson.
 

rodo

Starting to Get Obsessed
May 1, 2014
157
259
Central Arkansas
That's the thing: the coating is, in this case, thicker. Don't believe it would just wipe off. Going to try a bit of salt/booze to see if that breaks it down.
 
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OzPiper

Lifer
Nov 30, 2020
5,872
31,326
71
Sydney, Australia
I have 5 new Petes (3 "Sherlock Holmes" and 2 "Short series") bought in the last 18 months.

Yes I dislike the coarse bowl coating which makes tobacco stick like crazy, no doubt designed to build up cake rapidly.
It doesn't seem to impart an off odour to the smokes (I smoke English/Balkan blends) in these. And the coating comes off easily

Unlike the coating in a brand new Tom Eltang - smells like you've smoked a dead fish in it. ?.
Really, Mr Eltang ? Should know better as a publicly avowed pipe smoker !
 

FurCoat

Lifer
Sep 21, 2020
8,986
81,153
North Carolina
That's the thing: the coating is, in this case, thicker. Don't believe it would just wipe off. Going to try a bit of salt/booze to see if that breaks it down.
Booze won't work, been there, done that. I know of this tar like garbage you speak of and I think you will find 200 grit sandpaper to be your friend. I HATE Peterson coatings. Once removed, they are great smokers.
 

OzPiper

Lifer
Nov 30, 2020
5,872
31,326
71
Sydney, Australia
I had a new Pete Irish Harp 80s which I'd smoked 2-3 times which I sold to a mate who was looking for a Pete Bulldog.

I did a deep clean before passing it on. Stuffed the chamber with cotton balls and filled with high proof clear apricot brandy and let soak for a day.
The coating wiped off with a couple of scrunched paper towels.
 
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rodo

Starting to Get Obsessed
May 1, 2014
157
259
Central Arkansas
Interesting and helpful responses. Pipe is soaking now. I'll post what I discover tomorrow. At this point it appears that the black stuff will require sand paper, but we'll see.
 

Jef

Starting to Get Obsessed
Oct 10, 2019
280
501
67
North Carolina
I don't get it. When I first started on this site, one of the hottest topics was building cake. All kinds of suggestions were given from coating the bowls of new pipes with cigar ash to honey, (don't tell me that isn't goopy or sticky). I think some companies read this site for suggestions on what consumers want. Shortly after Peterson came out with the new coating. I have had 2 Petersons with the new coating and find that it worked well for me. Two half bowls and then a full one in each of them and the cake was starting. Another 4 or 5 bowls and I had a good start of evenly built cake. To me that is the start to breaking in a new pipe. As most know, no new pipe smokes or tastes as good as a pipe that has been broken in. I think Petersons coating works better than any other of brands of new pipes that I have tried.

Jef
 

PipeIT

Lifer
Nov 14, 2020
4,483
27,049
Hawaii
Anyone else have any issues with the coatings inside of a new Peterson? Got a lovely silver spigot, sweet pipe, and noticed the inside was black, like...black. Not that kind of charred look of many pipes, the kind the are the prep so one doesn't need to break in the pipe so much. I've smoked three sessions with the Peterson and...not great sessions (but might have been my tobacco); what I did notice was that cleaning out the pipe was different and weird: everything stuck to the sides. I even had to go, gently, with my reamer. Seems amiss, like they tried some new sort of pre-breaking in material or process and, to my mind, it does not work. Would like to hear if anyone else has had this experience with Peterson.

https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/threads/peterson’s-explains-the-black-bowl-coating.80530/

https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/threads/peterson’s-chamber-coating-what-a-mess.87578/
 

rodo

Starting to Get Obsessed
May 1, 2014
157
259
Central Arkansas
Wow, PipeLT, glad to know that I'm not the only one with this issue. Thanks for posting.

I am happy to report that after a night of salt/rum it softened the goo and I was able to hit it with a paper towel and it cleaned up. Ready to try another smoke after it dries. I guess we should think well of Petersons in that they are trying to come up with something new to make smoking better, and some on the forum seem to not mind. I think it affected my smoking experience (and certainly the cleaning experience, as others have noted).

Back to the formula, Petersons!
 

Beers 'N Briars

Starting to Get Obsessed
Feb 5, 2021
105
489
Yakima, Washington
I’ve got a Peterson that came with it and I recently got two Bones that one had it and one didn’t. All three smoke well and both Bones are breaking in well and taste fine. No noticeable difference to me and I’m smoking the same tobacco in both to break them in. ??‍♂️
 

Streeper541

Lifer
Jun 16, 2021
3,064
19,372
43
Spencer, OH
I've bought several brand new Pete's over the past few months and have had no issues with the current bowl coating.

It was a little thick on a couple pipes, but the more recent ones have had a significantly less amount of coating. I wiped out some of the "older" ones with hot water and a paper towl prior to smoking, but with the "newer" ones I just go straight to town.

Personally, I don't see what all the fuss is about.
 

Alex.Jr

Starting to Get Obsessed
Aug 30, 2020
286
795
That's the thing: the coating is, in this case, thicker. Don't believe it would just wipe off. Going to try a bit of salt/booze to see if that breaks it down.
I had one of these. Only came out with an alcohol based liquid. And a lot of rubbing. A lot.
 
That's the thing: the coating is, in this case, thicker. Don't believe it would just wipe off. Going to try a bit of salt/booze to see if that breaks it down.
The binder for their bowl coatings is gum Arabic, which is the exact same binder used in watercolor paints. Just wipe it out with a wet paper towel. It will come out easily. Does matter if it looks thick.
 
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bullet08

Lifer
Nov 26, 2018
8,958
37,990
RTP, NC. USA
Some Peterson coating leaves very loose cake after first smoke. I usually ignore them. After awhile, I just ream them. Don't really get bad smoke. But they could be very unappealing. Some just come off and leave bare wood. It seems like they changed their coating often. But they don't seem to bother me.
 
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