Pipe Burnout / New Pipe Smoker

[rockman85]

Hello all, I am concerned I may be ruining my new Savinelli pipe, I have smoked around 3-4 bowls. The first few times I went pretty slow, but I admittedly went a little too fast the last time. Does it look like I have the start of a burn-out, and if so is there anything I can do to stop it?
Image of Pipe

 

[saltedplug]

I would say that that is no more a variation of the cake than incipient burnout and that you needn't worry. Go slow until you see a thin cake, maybe half the thickness of a dime. Enjoy

 

[davet]

 

[rockman85]

Thanks saltedplug for the reply and thanks davet for upload my image here, couldn't figure out how to do it.

 

[spartan99]

Looks fine. "A little too fast" once in a while is nothing to worry about. You're more likely to burn your tongue or ruin the flavor of the tobacco than you are to damage the briar.
I seem to remember one of the guys from SPC grabbing a pipe from their "pipe science" bin with the goal of burning it out. This was before they had the blog, but their twice weekly e-mails still had a little story in them. Anyways, the point is that it took more work than the writer was expecting, and he was trying to burn it out.
That said, a guy in my pipe club only smokes beat up estates that he can get for less than $10 on eBay precisely because he's so hard on pipes and has burnt several out. He smokes all day and confesses to being a demon puffer.

 

[didimauw]

Spartan99, I tried searching for the spcs experiment, but couldn't find anything. Do you know how I could find it? I live for stories like that!

 

[jndyer]

I live for stories like that!

Didi, from what I have gathered reading your posts, this is the most expected reply I have ever read here.

 

[didimauw]

Hahaha you know me too well! I sometimes save pictures of pipe destruction that people post here...is that weird?

 

[nevadablue]

this was a new pipe, only smoked on Sunday

This one was repaired with JB Weld and lives again

 

[alan73]

Nevada , congrats on this ^ being your 1000th post and you salvaging that pipe.

 

[nevadablue]

Alan, I was teasing didimauw. I just found those pics on the net. Sorry for the confusion. That last one would take more than JB Weld I think. 8O

 

[jpmcwjr]

Wanton destruction of pipes! Man, someone had to work hard with a lighter or use a blow torch to achieve that mess.

 

[metalheadycigarguy]

You would have to really smoke fast and hard to burn out a pipe after just 3-4 bowls. If your tobacco is hot and your tongue is burning then there's a good chance you're smoking fast and hot, but your mouth will fail before your pipe will. Unless you did that every time you smoked then that would be a different situation, but it would still take more than a handful of bowls to ruin the pipe.
To many times a new pipe smoker worries about way more things than they should. Reading up on the hobby, and/or getting information from a tobacconist etc. is good, but sometimes it causes the new pipe smoker to worry about certain things instead of just enjoying the pipe and tobacco. As they say, ignorance is bliss and sometimes, and sometimes it can be.

 

[didimauw]

Ok so I got desperate, and emailed spc to see if they could Help me find the articles about the guy trying to burn out his pipe. Lol we shall see.

 

[spartan99]

Spartan99, I tried searching for the spcs experiment, but couldn't find anything. Do you know how I could find it? I live for stories like that!

I searched their blog and my e-mail account before my original post, but couldn't find anything. I only saved a handful of the old e-mails. We'll see if they reply to your e-mail. I could be misremembering the source.

 

[wyfbane]

There was a guy at a slow smoke competition who burned out his pipe a couple years back. Can't remember where was. Nationals in Chicago or Worlds over in Europe. I think Europe. He was still puffing over the 2 hour mark as I recall and the pipe gave out.
I could have the details wrong, though.

 

[fmgee]

I had one pipe start to burn out after only two very slow smokes earlier this year. You could scrape away the bowl with a used match. I sent it back and got a replacement pipe which has been superb.

 

[hawky454]

I remember when I first started smoking, I was always so worried about having a burnout and I was very concerned about the cake or lack there of. I gave up that fear over the years and I’ve never had a burnout and I’ve given some of my pipes hell. Briar is very resistant to flame and you really gotta smoke a pipe HARD to get it to burnout and even then you’d still probably have a hard time with it even if you’re trying. I think it would be kind of fun to try, instead of a thread where we compete in restoring a pipe we should have one where we compete to destroy one, it really is much harder to do than ya think. Usually burnouts are due to imperfections in the wood and if that’s the problem a full refund should be granted.
Nevadablue would most definitely win the burnout contest! Hot damn, man!

 

[tschiraldi]

I think it would be kind of fun to try, instead of a thread where we compete in restoring a pipe we should have one where we compete to destroy one,

That sounds like a painful ordeal! I'm in!

 

[unkleyoda]

Usually burnouts are due to imperfections in the wood and if that’s the problem a full refund should be granted.

I've always been lead to believe just this, unless your pipe is too hot to touch comfortably, they burnout due to imperfections. There's nothing that can be done about that.