Pipes Never Smoked Down to the Bottom

[Briar Lee]

I can only take that as you pulling my leg but just in case ….
View attachment 153959
now, big is subjective, as is ugly, so I guess TO ME it’s big and ugly but only in the context of “perfect briar”. I was looking for something of top quality with no fills and this is the first one I saw and wasn’t expecting to see this.

Every 7 pointed star Lee is now close to three quarters of a century old.

What few fills I’ve seen on high condition Two Stars were small, and more importantly expertly filled so that the fill matches the color of the pipe.

My vote is that somebody repaired a gouge or a fill was otherwise needed after that Lee left the factory. The fill material is not color matched. But nobody is ever going to know for certain.

That could have been a Friday afternoon or Monday morning pipe.

Lees aren’t custom pipes. It was a factory, after all.

And like every briar pipe ever made, it needs broken in to the bottom, and age won’t be kind to it, in the long run.

 

[Briar Lee]

I have a few cheap pipes that are drilled a bit high. These are the only ones I can't smoke all the way to the bottom (not counting cobs, but they kind of fall into this same category)

Here’s a typical Lee I own, one of maybe a hundred, all smoked down to the bottom of the bowl.

That and all my other Lee pipes were born the same as any other smokable briar pipe ever made, in that the drill hole is somewhat, more or less, way down there in the chamber.

Even if it’s over by a smidgen the bowl bottom, the air hole will keep the tobacco burning until the last scrap, if you try intentionally coating the entire bowl with an oily residue, not a true cake like old timers tried to keep the “thickness of a dime”, but more like a well seasoned cast iron skillet.

Ever heard somebody claim not to fully season, a cast iron skillet?.

 

[Papamique]

There were many small images I didn't see it.

It's not impossible that the fill is post initial purchase.

Yup. Nothings impossible and that is a possibility but given what I have to go on I have to assume it was original. Nothing wrong with that. Edwards pipes were also excellent oil cured American pipes. They have wonderful workmanship and smoke as good as any other but had fills. Doesn’t make them any less except in appearance, to some. I was just under the assumption that lee briar pipes were of a quality where a fill didn’t leave the factory. After a quick look and now finding a couple examples of fills and such i assumed wrong. Maybe these are two isolated examples and were not original to the pipe….or not.

Edit: just found a third example. Sorry not convinced but still would say they are probably very good smokers made expertly.

 

[crashthegrey]

Every 7 pointed star Lee is now close to three quarters of a century old.

What few fills I’ve seen on high condition Two Stars were small, and more importantly expertly filled so that the fill matches the color of the pipe.

My vote is that somebody repaired a gouge or a fill was otherwise needed after that Lee left the factory. The fill material is not color matched. But nobody is ever going to know for certain.

That could have been a Friday afternoon or Monday morning pipe.

Lees aren’t custom pipes. It was a factory, after all.

And like every briar pipe ever made, it needs broken in to the bottom, and age won’t be kind to it, in the long run.

I disagree. That fill was likely done in the factory. It is not color matched because as the pipe darkens, the fill does not. The more you smoke a pipe the more obvious fills will be. What color is seen on a fill is oil from the hand, the first time you buff it that surface color comes off and the fill becomes obvious. Every factory pipe has some fills, and if they seem small enough to the guy making it, they will put a higher grade, or sometimes forget which ones got filled and grade them higher by what they see, as those types of fills are hard to see on a freshly finished pipe. I've seen every factory eek out too nice of a grading on a pipe with some fills that were not so visible when made.

 

[Briar Lee]

This large natural 7 point Three Star Lee is atypical in at least three ways. Medium pipes were in style in the late forties and this one is large, not large by our standards, but by those of the era. It’s also not been stained, any more than the oil curing process stained it. Stain covers up imperfections, and most Lee customers seemed to prefer the tan color, not dark or natural. And, this large billiard has a beveled rim. Most rims are flat. Maybe there was an imperfection on the rim and the worker beveled it, maybe it was cataloged that way.

I have about a dozen other Lee large billiards plus one in the mail.

That same piece of briar and same rod of vulcanite could have just as easily been of front of any pipe factory worker on the earth with an order to make so many large billiards that day.

Lee’s sub brand was Briarlee. Also, although sources claim they were sold by another company, a Pipe Maker is a complete duplicate of common Lee shapes, and have Lee stingers, but use a cheaper Kaywoodie style fitment. Most Briarlees are push stems I’ve seen.

The lowest grade of Star Grade Lee cost five dollars. If it wasn’t a five dollar pipe ($75 in our money) it didn’t earn any gold stars.

There is naturally a survivorship bias of five dollar pipes over $2.50 pipes.

But there are many times more Three Star Lees sold today used than Two Stars, and Briarlees are scarce. I’d guess you’ll find over five Pipe Makers for sale for every Briarlee.

Human nature hasn’t changed since 1946.

Lee’s customers were not ordering seconds of anything.

Lee didn’t cater, to the five and dimers.

 

[TheIronMonkey]

I just won this auction for a nearly perfect 7 pointed star era Large Billiard for $41. I lost the other auction the seller had for it’s twin, new and unsmoked, that sold for $64.

View attachment 153696View attachment 153697This is what I bought, one of maybe a half dozen I own just like it.

View attachment 153698

A brand new Grabow made Royalton, now sells for about $45 and is worth every penny.

View attachment 153701If you want the best post war factory pipe on earth, then money shouldn’t stop you.

I won the unsmoked one.

 

[telescopes]

I won the unsmoked one.

Yes, you did. I unfortunately was distracted by my wife at the moment the auction was ending. I did pick up tow other pipes as seen above and they will be cleaned and refreshed by Briarville before being sent to my brother as a gift.

 

[CoffeeAndBourbon]

But does it smoke ALL THE WAY TO THE BOTTOM of the pipe??

 

[jpmcwjr]

But does it smoke ALL THE WAY TO THE BOTTOM of the pipe??

Pipes don't smoke to the bottom; people do!

There seems to be an issue with that, though, where some feel that if the draft hole is x millimeters above the heel, it will not smoke to the bottom. Not my experience, but diff folks, diff strokes.

 

[coming to_falling too]

Pipes don't smoke to the bottom; people do!

There seems to be an issue with that, though, where some feel that if the draft hole is x millimeters above the heel, it will not smoke to the bottom. Not my experience, but diff folks, diff strokes.

I've also read people say they have trouble smoking a corncob to the bottom. Not my experience, either.

 

[OldWill]

I have never had trouble smoking any pipe, including cobs, all the way to the bottom.

 

[Briar Lee]

Although scientists have good reason for using the metric system, Ozark Americans like myself are firmly rooted in God’s Own Imperial Measurements.

America fought and won two world wars so we’d not have to use the metric system, but I digress.

I was curious as to the temperature of the burning cherry in a pipe, and official do gooders have calculated the average temperature of a burning pipe at 500 degrees Celsius, which is about 950 degrees Fahrenheit.

——

Summary​

The temperatures produced when tobacco was burned in pipe, cigarette, and cigar smoking have been measured by a calibrated thermocouple.
Temperature of the combustion zone in a pipe was about 500° C. (variability, 380°–620° C.). The maximal temperature was thus relatively low, but the heat spread over an extensive area outside the actual glow. Because of this, strong dry distillation took place, and the corresponding fractions from the evaporating substances escaped into the smoke without being pyrolyzed. With a cigarette, the situation was found to be quite different. The temperature was high, averaging 650° C. (variability, 470°–812° C.), but over a very limited area. The amount of dry distillation was slight, and the low and middle fractions were burned more completely. No essential differences could be noted among the different brands of cigarette studied.
——

Most hillbillies know that the average flash point of wood is about five or six hundred degrees Fahrenheit, so briar (and corn cobs) must have a higher flash point, to stand the abuse of repeated firings of nearly a thousand degrees Fahrenheit while smoking a pipe.

When you can taste and smell burning briar in a new pipe, you’re on the razor’s edge of burning up your pipe.

After you’ve done your part to break in your pipe fully, by smoking it all the way down until all burning briar taste is gone, and there’s a black, resinous deposit completely coating all of the chamber, you’ve somehow increased the insulation value of the pipe and you’ve raised the flash point to well over a thousand degrees Fahrenheit.

If you proceed further and start building up a true cake of carbon in your pipe, then that cake adds to the insulation value and it serves as a heat sink,

It’s my theory based on experience, that until all the chamber, even to the bottom, gets a coat of resin or forms a cake, that the best flavor of the top part of the bowl won’t develop.

The exact, same phenomena makes food fried in a completely seasoned cast iron skillet taste better than one that’s not fully seasoned.

But a man should spend all his life, considering he might be wrong in his beliefs.

If I’m right, then why are used pipes smoked entirely down to the bottom so scarce?

9 out of 10 pipe smokers might be wrong, but I calls em’ as I sees em’.

 

[telescopes]

Although scientists have good reason for using the metric system, Ozark Americans like myself are firmly rooted in God’s Own Imperial Measurements.

America fought and won two world wars so we’d not have to use the metric system, but I digress.

I was curious as to the temperature of the burning cherry in a pipe, and official do gooders have calculated the average temperature of a burning pipe at 500 degrees Celsius, which is about 950 degrees Fahrenheit.

——

Summary​

The temperatures produced when tobacco was burned in pipe, cigarette, and cigar smoking have been measured by a calibrated thermocouple.
Temperature of the combustion zone in a pipe was about 500° C. (variability, 380°–620° C.). The maximal temperature was thus relatively low, but the heat spread over an extensive area outside the actual glow. Because of this, strong dry distillation took place, and the corresponding fractions from the evaporating substances escaped into the smoke without being pyrolyzed. With a cigarette, the situation was found to be quite different. The temperature was high, averaging 650° C. (variability, 470°–812° C.), but over a very limited area. The amount of dry distillation was slight, and the low and middle fractions were burned more completely. No essential differences could be noted among the different brands of cigarette studied.
——

Most hillbillies know that the average flash point of wood is about five or six hundred degrees Fahrenheit, so briar (and corn cobs) must have a higher flash point, to stand the abuse of repeated firings of nearly a thousand degrees Fahrenheit while smoking a pipe.

When you can taste and smell burning briar in a new pipe, you’re on the razor’s edge of burning up your pipe.

After you’ve done your part to break in your pipe fully, by smoking it all the way down until all burning briar taste is gone, and there’s a black, resinous deposit completely coating all of the chamber, you’ve somehow increased the insulation value of the pipe and you’ve raised the flash point to well over a thousand degrees Fahrenheit.

If you proceed further and start building up a true cake of carbon in your pipe, then that cake adds to the insulation value and it serves as a heat sink,

It’s my theory based on experience, that until all the chamber, even to the bottom, gets a coat of resin or forms a cake, that the best flavor of the top part of the bowl won’t develop.

The exact, same phenomena makes food fried in a completely seasoned cast iron skillet taste better than one that’s not fully seasoned.

But a man should spend all his life, considering he might be wrong in his beliefs.

If I’m right, then why are used pipes smoked entirely down to the bottom so scarce?

9 out of 10 pipe smokers might be wrong, but I calls em’ as I sees em’.

I too am a firm believer of caking the bowl of a new pipe. I use the thirds method exposed by my dad and John Dengler. For those who do differently, do as you please.

 

[didimauw]

People are taught to believe a dry tobacco is bad, and flavorless. So they add apple pieces to their pouches, and can only smoke 3/4 of the way down untill it turns into a puddle.
But I'm not going to tell them they are wrong.
But I found the secret to a happy life.

 

[coming to_falling too]

People are taught to believe a dry tobacco is bad, and flavorless. So they add apple pieces to their pouches, and can only smoke 3/4 of the way down untill it turns into a puddle.
But I'm not going to tell them they are wrong.
But I found the secret to a happy life.

Dry tobacco is the truth, the way. Though I will admit, some tobacco I don't mind smoking straight from the pouch/can.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

I've been experimenting with a "Gravity Fill" recently and I think my usual habits of packing more densely might be part of why I've never "Smoked to the bottom" until recently.
With a high density packing your smoke lasts so long (40 minutes or more) that the dottle inevitably becomes excessively wet.
Just pack enough to last 20 minutes and it burns much better, that being the case I'd argue a gravity fill is really only a half pack, my first tamping after lighting compresses the tobacco nearly halfway down.

 

[woodrow]

Just a note back to the original poster. If one smokes all the way to the bottom and forms a decent protecting cake, what I do is ream 2/3 of the bowl only, making sure there is still some of the bottom cake remaining.

 

[hugodrax]

Alfred Dunhill was among the first to advertise he oil cured his pipes. But Dunhill stopped oil curing years ago, because (it was said) it was only evident for the first dozen or so smokes.

When Lee began making what was then the highest priced production pipe on earth in 1946 he oil cured his pipes just like Dunhill did at the time.

As I understand the process, all raw briar has to first be boiled in water or soaked in a pond, then it must be dried, and ideally then aged. The great disadvantage of oil curing is the maker must boil the briar in his own recipe of sweet oil, then has to dry it again.

But the advantage is the first bowl will have a briar taste, it will still get hot, but it’s going to taste as good as the oil used tk cure the briar, but only for 15-30 smokes.

The strange thing is, to my knowledge Lee never advertised he oil cured his pipes.

Lee also didn’t advertise that an invisible (to view from outside) Lee screw in fitment with removable stinger was certainly the best way ever devised to manufacture factory pipes.

And while an early 7 or 5 pointed star Lee has gorgeously inlaid real gold stars, like a piece of jewelry, he didn’t advertise that either.

It was Reach for the Stars, Symbol of the World’s Finest Pipe.

Pick a shape, send $5, $10, $15, or $25, and Lee sent you a pipe.

A brand new Dunhill was $15.

The audacity of it, is so post war American.

It's a story right out of Humansville! But down the road a little, yonder in Bullshitopolis.

 

[woodrow]

If you want to form a nice cake close to the bottom, don’t dump your pipe out as you work thru the bowl. Keep on tamping down until you smoke down to the dottle. I’ve found this layers the carbon nicely.
I’ve also found the tried and true method does work. Half a bowl smoked slowly. I usually smoke a non aromatic burley for the first few smokes, then move along to a vaper, but really the blend doesn’t matter as long as it’s not a Latakia bomb, or Lakeland blend.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I initiate new pipes with a Latakia mixture, but not "a bomb". Works just fine unless you cannot abide Latakia.

I also flush the chamber and airway with hot water to remove any factory crud.