Pipe Bowl Coatings - What's The Deal?

[freakiefrog]

When I buy a pipe I buy the complete pipe. I review carvers like chefs (good chefs not the Applebees Line cook)when my food comes to the table I expect it to be the way the chef intended me to experience it, no need to as for no pecans or extra ranch dressing. Same for pipes, everything from the finish to the stem material is there because that's the experience the carver wanted to offer. Bowl coatings are the same way for me they darken the bowl and might draw the eye to the grain and not the inside of the bowl. All in all I don't really care one way or the other I buy a pipe based on what the complete pipe looks like..

 

[aldecaker]

I've never met a bowl coating I liked, and have taken to removing them with alcohol or sandpaper before the first smoke. It's bad enough breaking in a new briar, let alone one with foul-tasting crud smeared inside it. I imagine, on a commission, you could request a bare bowl if you prefer.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

It doesn't ruin my day to get a pipe with a coating, but there is 10% of me that prefers to to make every bit of the pipe mine, and there is something about looking into the chamber of a well seasoned pipe and knowing that I did all of that. If I have a choice, I will ask for a non-coated bowl. If not, I don't lose any sleep.

 

[lohengrin]

Some people care about external coating (seblings, vernish, wax) because scared if dangerous for health. I have more thoughts about inner coating because, anyway, the smoke we breathe flows from there. Not knowing which way are made coatings, I prefer none.

Sanding the bowl's hole after drilling is not a great work, so this is not a reason for manufacturers to prefer coating.

Personally when I drill my pipes I prefer not sanding the bowl's hole because I think (but I'm not a technician) that the more you sand and polish the wood the less it breathes.

 

[jpmcwjr]

@ Dave- No, hadn't thought Seinfeld, but that's one perfect take! (Now I'm hearing that nasal whine just fine)

 

[buroak]

With regard to sodium silicate-based bowl coatings, I think it is telling that pipe makers and pipe repairers/restorers seem to take opposing views. One pipe repairman and one pipe restorer-reseller have told me that sodium silicate coatings impede briar's ability to dissipate heat and absorb moisture, precisely the qualities argued to make briar such a great material for pipe bowls. Such coatings are sometimes necessary to prevent further harm to a heat-damaged bowl, but they are at best necessary evils.
If what I have been told is correct, then those smoking new pipes with sodium silicate-based bowl coatings may be smoking a bowl coating as much as briar. In that case maybe they should have just bought one of those cheap Chinese pipes with a metal cup inside the bowl (OK, that's hyperbole).
I would love to hear more input from knowledgeable pipe repairers/restorers as well as anyone with specialized knowledge about the properties of sodium silicate.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Like pipe repairers/restorers know more than someone who smokes these pipes? Just because a guy reems a pipe or replaces stems doesn't automatically make them more knowledgeable on pipes than someone who smokes them. Not to piss on these guys either. I'm sure they are knowledgeable folks, and probably know more about stems and reeming.
But, if a pipemaker consistently makes a pipe with a bowl that doesn't dissipate heat well, wouldn't they get a reputation for being hot burners? I could maybe see an artisan pipemaker slipping through the cracks with only selling 20 pipes a year, but if a pipe manufacturer was to consistently sell pipes that don't dissipate heat well, then we would be hearing about it.

 

[buroak]

Like pipe repairers/restorers know more than someone who smokes these pipes? Just because a guy reems a pipe or replaces stems doesn't automatically make them more knowledgeable on pipes than someone who smokes them. Not to piss on these guys either. I'm sure they are knowledgeable folks, and probably know more about stems and reeming.

This seems akin to saying that a mechanic is not likely to know more about the functioning of a car than the car's driver. I am not sure I follow that logic. Sure, some pipe smokers are the logical equivalent to drivers who also do a lot of their own maintenance, but many (maybe most) are not.

But, if a pipemaker consistently makes a pipe with a bowl that doesn't dissipate heat well, wouldn't they get a reputation for being hot burners? I could maybe see an artisan pipemaker slipping through the cracks with only selling 20 pipes a year, but if a pipe manufacturer was to consistently sell pipes that don't dissipate heat well, then we would be hearing about it.

I am not sure how much we would hear about it. Coated bowls surely still dissipate heat, but maybe not as well as they could. Unless you have two perfectly identical pipes with the sole difference being the absence of coating in one and and the presence of coating in the other - something that is impossible - how do you really compare?
There is another issue as well. Someone who spends $1,000 or more on an artisan pipe with a coated bowl may be bashful about complaining that it smokes hotter and/or wetter than they think it should. After all, how can such an expensive pipe from a sought-after carver be at fault. Or, if they do feel the pipe is at fault, admitting they bought a $1,000 dud is too humiliating to carry out. For example, wine collectors who discover they have purchased a very expensive counterfeit bottle are often too embarrassed to come forward. An example closer to our discussion comes from John Loring's story of counterfeit Dunhills.

 

[drwatson]

I personally have not have good or bad experience with them. They just are! No way a deal breaker either.

 

[ssjones]

Chris Askwith uses a carbon bowl coating. Next time I talk to him I will get more info. It didn't seem to affect the first smokes at all.

Yep, What Chris uses doesn't impart any flavor at all (same for Chris Asteriou). I'm definitely a fan of coatings by these two makers.

 

[zack24]

I use an extremely thin bowl coating that is typical of what most pipemakers use. The first time I tried it, it was thick and you could definitely taste it in the first couple of bowls. I've thinned it down to the point where I have to put on 3 coats to hide the grain inside the bowl...I'm not detecting any taste at all...
If I'm making a custom pipe, I give folks the choice of coating or no coating.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

A car and a pipe are a little different. But, I'll run with it. A driver could tell you more about performance of a car better than a mechanic. I would take a NASCAR drivers word on performance any day over the mechanic, who would know more about what makes the individual parts work. Eh, like I said, poor analogy.
But, anyways, if we are talking undetectable increases in heat that a pipe smoker wouldn't detect, then phhhht, who would care one way or another?
Luckily, the few bowl coatings that I've had experience with didn't seem to make much of a difference once the pipe was broken in. Of course, when having a pipe made, as always request a bare bowl, so...

 

[georged]

I've clicked out of ebay listings of estate pipes that aroused my interest on encountering a seller's notice that he's coated the chamber as part of the refurbing procedure "for protection."
Against discovering charcoal where briar ought to be ?

While the presence of a freshly applied coating in an estate pipe doesn't necessarily mean it's hiding something, it's certainly possible. Especially given how often otherwise pristine old specimens have heat damage.
I wouldn't go there, myself.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Hmmm. Caveat emptor, fer shure!
RE: dissipating heat- I'd think a coating such as I've seen would have no appreciable effect on heat transfer to the briar.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Ammending what I said above, I don't want to look like I think that you are totally wrong, buroak. I was just stating my difference of opinion. I probably came across as... whatever the polite word for jerkhead is. ::

 

[georged]

PS --- you guys are conflating the variables when making your arguments. All coatings are not equal, and the potential meaning of their usage on new vs. estate pipes is also different.

 

[buroak]

My question is specifically about sodium silicate-based bowl coatings. Sodium silicate clearly has its place in repairs, but I wonder about its application in brand new bowls.

 

[jefff]

Personally I prefer an uncoated bowl. The few heavily coated bowls I have bought I have sanded down a bit. Other wise I find the coating becomes a non factor after 10-15 bowls smoked.
I have burned out one pipe in roughly 30 years.. It was a cheap basket pipe and I was relatively new to pipe smoking. I am sure I smoked it hot and I am equally sure it was a bad piece of wood.
I still don't see how a thin coating of anything would have stopped it from happening.

.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I might be confused... People put coatings on estate pipes? does this happen in the eBay market?

Do coated bowls have a higher rate of burnout than non-coated bowls?

Yeh, I guess this would be totally out of my comprehension range.

 

[stvalentine]

People put coatings on estate pipes?

I do that. As I wrote it is not mainly for real protection because the coat is very thin. I donßt believe that a coating of under 1 millimeter thickness will protect the wood against to fast smoking or smoking in the wind although sodium silicate based coatings are used to protect wood from fire in construction. I don´t do it to cover "problem zones" as well as this would fall back on me in the end.
When an estate pipe is fully refurbished and looks literally new from the outside it should look new from the inside as well. At least this is what I feel.