Pipe "Break In"
- Thread starter ADKPiper
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I’ve never had a pipe crack, but a high dollar Freehand pick axe I bought from a retired man who’d taken up pipe carving burned a hole all the way through during break in.
He promised to carve another, but was diagnosed with cancer, and I told him my problems were a fraction of mine.
I believe he got an improperly cured lot of briar. It wasn’t his fault. The pipe is now an excellent decorator and conversation piece.
I smoke slowly anyway, and probably slower on a brand new pipe because there might be a lot going on that’s not good.
Kaywoodie, Lee, and Marxman pipes were Packard grade when new, expensive luxury items. They are going to have well cured briar, and they’ve all aged over 70 years. The most drama I’ll get from a top grade American factory pipe is a whiff of burning briar, and just a little extra heat during break in, a bit of sweat and maybe a pop or two.
But newer pipes sometimes not only taste of burning briar, they’ll get too hot to hold, they’ll sweat, and sometimes you’ll hear the snap, crackle and pop of frying briar.
But regardless the initial price or age or quality of a briar pipe, don’t judge it for a package or two of tobacco.
They get better, after the new is smoked out.
He promised to carve another, but was diagnosed with cancer, and I told him my problems were a fraction of mine.
I believe he got an improperly cured lot of briar. It wasn’t his fault. The pipe is now an excellent decorator and conversation piece.
I smoke slowly anyway, and probably slower on a brand new pipe because there might be a lot going on that’s not good.
Kaywoodie, Lee, and Marxman pipes were Packard grade when new, expensive luxury items. They are going to have well cured briar, and they’ve all aged over 70 years. The most drama I’ll get from a top grade American factory pipe is a whiff of burning briar, and just a little extra heat during break in, a bit of sweat and maybe a pop or two.
But newer pipes sometimes not only taste of burning briar, they’ll get too hot to hold, they’ll sweat, and sometimes you’ll hear the snap, crackle and pop of frying briar.
But regardless the initial price or age or quality of a briar pipe, don’t judge it for a package or two of tobacco.
They get better, after the new is smoked out.
With briar, I would be more concerned with burn out than crack.
I mentioned it in my reply...
A Radice Clear Bent Dublin with Baldo Baldi briar aged over 20 years...
Sounds like a fair maker to me. This is something that can happen, it is just the way it is.
I'd say there is a reason that briar (with it's insanely good heat resistance) became so popular.
If there was a good substitute for the burl roots of certain heather shrubs that grow around the rim of the Mediterranean the American and British pipe industries would have found it during World War Two. There’s just not, any good substitutes.
And of the genuine product, I understand about 85% is wasted in the manufacturing of briar pipes. Of the part not burned up as waste only maybe one per cent is something perfectly grained like a Pre War Kaywoodie Flame Grain.
My Marxman pipes are extremely light.
At the same time they are nearly fireproof. Cake doesn’t stick to the bowl walls, there’s no char, and the cake peels off like carbon from a stainless steel skillet.
And good briar is an incredible insulator. The burning ember of tobacco in the bowl gets red hot, almost a thousand degrees, and the pipe stays almost room temperature to hold about a quarter inch from a glowing ember.
Good briar doesn’t crack, and if rotated won’t get soggy, and resists souring.
Every Pre 54 Marxman I own is older than me, and if well kept will last for centuries, and still be good.
The only saving grace about briar is that the heath shrub is worthless except for pipe making and as an ornamental.
Our pipes are made from European scrub brush root burls .
The vast majority of my pipes are pre 54 Marxman too. Light and like asbestos as you say!If there was a good substitute for the burl roots of certain heather shrubs that grow around the rim of the Mediterranean the American and British pipe industries would have found it during World War Two. There’s just not, any good substitutes.
And of the genuine product, I understand about 85% is wasted in the manufacturing of briar pipes. Of the part not burned up as waste only maybe one per cent is something perfectly grained like a Pre War Kaywoodie Flame Grain.
My Marxman pipes are extremely light.
At the same time they are nearly fireproof. Cake doesn’t stick to the bowl walls, there’s no char, and the cake peels off like carbon from a stainless steel skillet.
And good briar is an incredible insulator. The burning ember of tobacco in the bowl gets red hot, almost a thousand degrees, and the pipe stays almost room temperature to hold about a quarter inch from a glowing ember.
Good briar doesn’t crack, and if rotated won’t get soggy, and resists souring.
Every Pre 54 Marxman I own is older than me, and if well kept will last for centuries, and still be good.
The only saving grace about briar is that the heath shrub is worthless except for pipe making and as an ornamental.
Our pipes are made from European scrub brush root burls .
I recently got a Jumbo B with a big bowl and the walls are thin but still cool in the hand! I'm happy they haven't found another use for the briar lol
<< Snipped bits out >
What is your source for the 1,000º figure?
400º is oft quoted, also without source.
Here's an old article with some measurements of tobacco combustion temperature: Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20140801111342/http://www.apassionforpipes.com/storage/OnBurningTemperaturesofTobacco.pdf
But the temperature of the ember isn't really relevant to what the briar experiences because it's surrounded by the distillation and condensation zones, which are far cooler.
Yeah, 1955 as near as I can make out. Chart hard to read.
Still not clear on the average temp of the ember in a normal pipe in normal circumstances. It's just damn hot!
Thanks for the reference.
Still not clear on the average temp of the ember in a normal pipe in normal circumstances. It's just damn hot!
Thanks for the reference.
A lot of Artisans could carve beautiful Pipes, but when smoked, they didn't know how to cure briar, even some big producers lost the art of it, or lost the suppliers of good briar, I love all my pipes but some I would never smoke again. Breaking in a new pipe, load it up gently with flake and smoke gently, sipping, do that about 3 or 4 times and it should smoke great, if not, there could be a problem, burning wood, hot patch, seen it all in over 50 years of pipe smoking, I have thrown many a pipe in the bin over the years, if it doesn't smoke right, don't waste your tobacco.