Raw briar pipe...how do I break it in?

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Nov 10, 2018
26
1
Ok been a pipe smoker for well coming on over two decades but in all this time I never owned a Raw un-carbonized pipe.

So as a result of a amazing little ebay moment I managed to pick myself up a Peterson "Erica" band spanking new and unsmoked for less than ten dollars (it was incorrectly listed). And yes not playing lottery this month!
2rbzd3b.jpg

So what I need to know is how to break it in. Heard and seen lots of advice online but would like some from here!

Thanks again for any help and please excuse the slow reply's!

 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,249
108,349
"Peterson Erica"
Erica arborea, that's clever. :)
Yep, pack that thing and smoke away!

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
I've had (still have) a succession of unfinished pipes that came with no carbon coating in the bowl, plus a number of pipes with various finishes that came with no carbon in the bowl, and I have never given them any special treatment, just pack and smoke. Some of the old burley blends may be good for this because they burn fairly cool and evenly, but I've also used some English blends and others. I'm one who does not build cake. I scoop out the ash, wipe out the bowl with a paper towel/napkin, use a pipe cleaner, and buff off the entire pipe/stem. No big deal. In the old days, I'd start with partial bowls. Do whatever ritual you enjoy, but I think packing and smoking works just fine. Some of my pipes are around forty years old, and thirty, and twenty, and all are still going just fine.

 
Nov 10, 2018
26
1
Thanks all for the advice and am going to stoke this one up now!

I have been looking forward to this since I got it.

Thanks again for the input and the lack of witch doctory!

 

cortezattic

Lifer
Nov 19, 2009
15,147
7,637
Chicago, IL
To me, "breaking it in" is all about getting a pipe to deliver great smokes; that is, losing that raw, woody taste. Some people call it bringing the pipe "into season".
I think a new pipe should be allowed exposure to smoke, oils and tars, etc., for a long time before deep cleaning (as with alcohol). Like mso489, I scour the bowl with a wad of crushed paper after each smoke; and I won't do much more than swab the shank with a dry pipe cleaner until the taste gets really funky. Of course, the stem can/should be kept clean.

 

aldecaker

Lifer
Feb 13, 2015
4,407
42
IMHO, you break in a pipe the same way you break in a pair of shoes. To break in shoes, you wear them. To break in a pipe, you smoke it. "Breaking in" isn't so much a thing you do; it's a thing the pipe does.

 

alan73

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 26, 2017
666
653
Wisconsin
After breaking in over 20 pipes the last year, the only thing I would add to the above, which may or may not accelerate the whole break in process is to rub ash into the raw wood before smoking, then rub the ash in after smoking for the first 5-10 bowls. To me, it accelerated the carbon formation and the break in process.

 

zack24

Lifer
May 11, 2013
1,726
2
To me, those first few bowls in raw briar are like caviar....and my advice is the same- pack it and smoke it...

 

aldecaker

Lifer
Feb 13, 2015
4,407
42
Crash, thick-walled pipes and plenty of sandpaper should do the trick. Brings a whole new meaning to "deep-cleaning" a pipe!

 

saltedplug

Lifer
Aug 20, 2013
5,194
5,097
IMNHO, pipe smoking is full of myths with logic that suffers from a paucity of fact. Does it make sense to say that the cake protects the briar from burnout? Yes, but cake or bowl coating have not been demonstrated to do so. The lesser logic of unproved, unmeasured, unstudied myth drives this discussion to almost no purpose. Most say to simply smoke the pipe and in effect denying the notion of the need to break-in. Some advocate the need for some care, such as avoiding smoking in the wind.
No evidence for bowl coating and almost none for break-in. Myth supported by logic without fact.

 

alan73

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 26, 2017
666
653
Wisconsin
crash: I have the opposite problem, I always reach for the well broken in pipes. Maybe you can break in pipes as a service, as I know I am not the only one who doesn’t like the break in phase.
I do love the virgin smoke of a pipe, something sentimental about it.
Break in to me is about taste not the fear of burnout. I have a Novak pipe that I’m breaking in, the flavor the pipe gives off is kind of overpowering the tobacco, after 20 or so bowls

 

nitemair13

Starting to Get Obsessed
May 24, 2018
267
1
North Carolina
I have an unfinished Sav similar in shape. I love the unfinished pipes because they color and become unique as you use them. As for breaking it in, just smoke the thing like everyone else said. It's a pipe, it was built for that.

 
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