I searched on site could not find info on new pipes and how long to break in or is that even real?
Pipe Break in Period?
- Thread starter bpinkstaff
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Everyone has their own beliefs and rituals. I don’t treat mine any differently, new or old.
Breaking in is what your pipes do the first couple times you smoke them.
I like em after 20-30 bowls. That's what I usually consider "Broken in". Or untill the whole chamber has a nice layer of cake.
Until you no longer taste burning wood or smell hot beeswax.
Depends on the pipe, the tobacco you smoke and you, the way you smoke. There is no hard and fast rule or quantity of bowls. I'd say between 15 to 40 would cover over 90% of the cases.
Smoke the hell out of that thing. +1 to @proteus
I like a thin layer of cake so It doesn’t take too long.
I like a thin layer of cake so It doesn’t take too long.
A pipe is broken in when it smokes the way you want it. Anywhere from a few bowls to several dozen.
Well I like cake so thats good! LOL
Some pipes—no idea what percentage—require no break-in. They smoke perfectly from the first bowl. I miss the taste that raw high-quality briar imparts to the first few smokes before the pipe is "broken-in."
That would occur only if one likes the taste of the briar on the first few smokes. Few do.
So, where and what are the pipes that smoke perfectly from the first bowl?
My “definition” for when a pipe is “broken in” is when I don’t taste heated or burnt wood in my smoke.
Since I don’t buy crap pipes, and know how to smoke one, that “break in” period is often short to almost non existent.
But generally, once you build up a nice hard thin carbon insulator, not thick, soft, flaky cake, you’re done.
Since I don’t buy crap pipes, and know how to smoke one, that “break in” period is often short to almost non existent.
But generally, once you build up a nice hard thin carbon insulator, not thick, soft, flaky cake, you’re done.
Depends on the pipe and your preference as others have all said but if it's a new unsmoked Meerschaum pipe to me there is a def break in period and that's sometime after 5 bowls, until you no longer get the disgusting sour milk taste.
Who comes to mind is Scottie Piersel. They smoked well from the get go.
Without clarification on so called ‘Pipes’, it is going to depend on materials.
Briar
Clay
Meerschaum
Corn
Between briar, there are also coated and uncoated chambers to take into consideration.
When it comes to an Uncoated Briar chamber, there aren’t rituals and so called beliefs, if you care about maintaining the quality.
Granted, briar can take abuse and be babied too, and still have different outcomes good or bad.
No two blocks of briar are always going to be the same, some are great from the beginning and others take time, and some, no matter what you do turn out great, or bad.
But I do know, coming from professional carvers, on nice pipes, especially expensive pipes someone seriously cares about, for uncoated chambers, you smoke them slow, you don’t get them hot to the touch, and you go easy on them, until your form around a 1millimeter layer of carbon build up through out the chamber. And how long this takes, really depends on the briar, some build fast, some slow.
Smoking uncoated chambers on new pipes to hot can cause small cracks inside the chamber. I have also experienced, that with some briar, if you smoke it really hot new, it can effect it negatively, but I’ve also experienced if you push a new pipe to hard, with time and care, it’s possible to reverse the outcome.
Resting briar too is also something that can really depend on the individual pipe. Some can go wonderfully bowl after bowl, hardly ever cleaned or rested and turn out great. While others need some rest and more care and attention.
A lot is also going to depend on the briar, how well it’s been aged, cured, processed.
I personally have one pipe, almost 2 years later, it’s just now starting to form the carbon nicely and the pipe has taken this long to turn into to a nice pipe. It was a nice smoker from the beginning, but it’s getting even better.
There are no hard fast rules with briar, it’s simply trial and error between each pipe you must explore.
In the end, it just gets down to whether or not someone cares about their pipes, because sometimes no matter how much care or lack of, briar can go either way.
I think the easiest way to look at this, is do you want to test your luck, or do the best you can, that professionals do recommend?
P.S. I personally give all my pipes, especially the expensive ones, the best care and attention, I am not going to test my luck LOL!
Briar
Clay
Meerschaum
Corn
Between briar, there are also coated and uncoated chambers to take into consideration.
When it comes to an Uncoated Briar chamber, there aren’t rituals and so called beliefs, if you care about maintaining the quality.
Granted, briar can take abuse and be babied too, and still have different outcomes good or bad.
No two blocks of briar are always going to be the same, some are great from the beginning and others take time, and some, no matter what you do turn out great, or bad.
But I do know, coming from professional carvers, on nice pipes, especially expensive pipes someone seriously cares about, for uncoated chambers, you smoke them slow, you don’t get them hot to the touch, and you go easy on them, until your form around a 1millimeter layer of carbon build up through out the chamber. And how long this takes, really depends on the briar, some build fast, some slow.
Smoking uncoated chambers on new pipes to hot can cause small cracks inside the chamber. I have also experienced, that with some briar, if you smoke it really hot new, it can effect it negatively, but I’ve also experienced if you push a new pipe to hard, with time and care, it’s possible to reverse the outcome.
Resting briar too is also something that can really depend on the individual pipe. Some can go wonderfully bowl after bowl, hardly ever cleaned or rested and turn out great. While others need some rest and more care and attention.
A lot is also going to depend on the briar, how well it’s been aged, cured, processed.
I personally have one pipe, almost 2 years later, it’s just now starting to form the carbon nicely and the pipe has taken this long to turn into to a nice pipe. It was a nice smoker from the beginning, but it’s getting even better.
There are no hard fast rules with briar, it’s simply trial and error between each pipe you must explore.
In the end, it just gets down to whether or not someone cares about their pipes, because sometimes no matter how much care or lack of, briar can go either way.
I think the easiest way to look at this, is do you want to test your luck, or do the best you can, that professionals do recommend?
P.S. I personally give all my pipes, especially the expensive ones, the best care and attention, I am not going to test my luck LOL!
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