Please help!!! S.O.S.

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misterkrey

Lurker
Apr 25, 2013
13
0
I will definitely look into getting a cob pipe. I was thinking about one of those too but I wanted to get a churchwarden because you don't see them very often. I'm excited to get into something like this because I get to try all different tobaccos and pipe materials.

 

doctorthoss

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 6, 2011
618
10
I'm glad you're enjoying our hobby so much!

Based on what you've given us, I agree that you're likely smoking too hot (which usually means you're smoking too fast). Also, a briar pipe will be considerably tougher than the wood you have right now. Alternatively, a corn cob or meerschaum pipe would work. I don't think the pipe is necessarily ruined, but I would give it a rest and try not to smoke it on a regular basis in the future.

Also, what tobacco are you smoking? Some blends smoke far hotter than others. And how often do you smoke?

There are hundreds of online guides to pipe smoking, buying pipes, maintaining pipes, etc. Plus, this forum is a great resource for information of all kinds. I understand that you don't necessarily want to spend a lot of money, but if you plan on taking up pipe smoking it's essential that you have at least a small rotation of pipes. They don't all have to be expensive briars, as cobs are dirt cheap and have remarkable smoking properties (far better than the ash you are smoking).

 

lestrout

Lifer
Jan 28, 2010
1,779
337
Chester County, PA
that might be an olivewood pipe? That whitish area with the star cracks is definitely the wood burning. Are you scraping the cake too frequently, preventing it from building up? I don't pull out my reamer until a pipe has had a few dozen bowls through. What blends are you smoking? Pipe mud, along with the half bowl trick till a cake is built up on the lower bowl might do the trick.
hp

les

 

misterkrey

Lurker
Apr 25, 2013
13
0
I have been smoking a black cur cavendish and I smoked today for the first time in a couple weeks but when I first got it I smoked it everyday for about 2 and a half weeks

 

misterkrey

Lurker
Apr 25, 2013
13
0
How exactly do I cake it? I usually just use my pipe tool to get out the ash and excess tobacco. Is that the right method?

 

teufelhund

Lifer
Mar 5, 2013
1,497
3
St. Louis, MO
Cake is just the carbon that builds up inside the pipe you have to you a knife or reamer to really remove it; so if your just using the dull spoon on your pipe tool; you're not scraping much off. Generally after removing the tobacco I shake the leftover ash around the bowl of the pipe. That seems to help keep the cake forming evenly as it hardens. You'll want it to be about the thickness of a dime and ream it when it gets to be about as thick as a nickel.

 

pruss

Lifer
Feb 6, 2013
3,558
372
Mytown
I think Krey said that the pipe is made from Ash... which has a hardness similar to oak, but won't handle heat as well as briar.
Krey, you can probably find a nice briar basket pipe from your local B&M for a price similar to, or cheaper, than your MacQueen Churchwarden was.
Good luck!
-- Pat

 
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