That is very likely then. It is definitely not unheard of to do that. On a Grabow anyway.
Remove Varnish on New Pipes
- Thread starter Briar Lee
- Start date
J Alan says Briar doesn’t breathe, and I tend to believe this, given it’s an extreme hard word and extremely fire resistant.
Sitting on the deck, my son and his girlfriend passed by and just gushed over how good my pipe smelled.
I was down at the very bottom of the sixth bowl and all I could taste was Lee’s oil cured briar. The pipe was hot as a pistol, sweating on the bottom.
I reached for a handy chunk of beeswax and applied it all over the hot pipe, and buffed with a soft towel.
View attachment 155503View attachment 155504View attachment 155505View attachment 155506I have $25 invested in this pipe.
When I’m firmly planted in Plum Grove Cemetery my son ought to surely get that back, plus postage.
It’s much better today than when it was new, yesterday.
But not as good as it will be tomorrow.
I was down at the very bottom of the sixth bowl and all I could taste was Lee’s oil cured briar. The pipe was hot as a pistol, sweating on the bottom.
I reached for a handy chunk of beeswax and applied it all over the hot pipe, and buffed with a soft towel.
View attachment 155503View attachment 155504View attachment 155505View attachment 155506I have $25 invested in this pipe.
When I’m firmly planted in Plum Grove Cemetery my son ought to surely get that back, plus postage.
It’s much better today than when it was new, yesterday.
But not as good as it will be tomorrow.
Few if any of my pipes have varnish or shellac, but I have noticed that pipes that start out unfinished develop color over time without any oil, polish, or wax, and just regular buffing with a rag or jeweler's cloth. I do think that there is a definite quality in a pipe with less finish. I'm not sure it breathes, but they seem to insulate especially well and have a special smooth smoking quality. I always suspect that simpler is often better. Efforts at perfection often overdo and give a slightly less good result. No finish, no problem.
Looking closer, it might be a saddle steamed apple.I'd call that a saddle-stemmed apple
Sorry for being pedantic
My test for an apple vs billiards when it’s close is:
Apples can be sat down and not tip over (very much)
A billiard won’t stay upright.
It IS (not "might be") a saddle-stemmed apple
An apple has a rounded-shaped bowl whereas a billiard has a bowl that is cylindrical.
There are billiards that have slightly rounded sides that may be termed apple-billiards
The ability to "sit" does NOT make a pipe an apple.
"A billiard won't stay upright"
That's a complete fallacy.
There are billiards that ARE sitters. I have a few of them
Shape Charts are readily available if you are still confused
A billiard won’t sit unless it’s got a flat bottom.
This Pot rights itself on a table just like an Apple, even with a round bottom.
Speaking of different shapes, of examples of Lee pipes we can buy today, as far as I know most were custom orders, but Lee’s catalogs offer Three Star special deals where there were three pipes for $20, seven pipes for $40, and the like.
Did the worker look at the hunk of briar and say, that might make a nice apple or billiard or bulldog, or did he fill individual orders, or maybe he made so many of one style and so many of another.
But if every Lee smoked as good as this Pot, nobody would smoke another brand.
They are all good, just very few this good.
"Breathes" is not a very meaningful term in that wood doesn't have lungs. But briar, like all wood, is constantly exchanging moisture with the ambient air around it. In a dry climate, briar is more dry inside than in a wet climate. This is why cabinet doors are made with panels, it's why things in your house shift and stick at certain times of the year. It's why table tops are built with sliding hardware to acommodate the wood's seasonal movement. You can stabilize wood by vacuum pressing cyanoacrylate into it. But that's not done on tables, nor to pipes.
OIl cured briar would likely exchange less moisture, or rather, exchange it more slowly, than regular briar, but briar absorbs and releases moisture very slowly in any case. This is why a pipe is not 1/2 pound heavier after smoking.
I've posted this picture before: You can see the moisture "boiling" out of a block as you drill it. Happens with every pipe, every block. That moisture will be re-absorbed (from ambient humidity in the air) over time.
Just before drilling:
You can see a ring of "dark" just around the chamber as it is being cut. That's water coming out.
This same thing happens every time you smoke. You heat the pipe up, and ambient moisture in the wood tries to escape. If you have a thick vapor-proof finish, it might blister, and we see that on certain pipes from time to time. If you have a thin finish that is not very vapor-proof, like shellac or a little oil (tung oil is more vapor proof), you'll see nothing.
Does it affect how a pipe smokes? Nah. No more than staining it black vs brown.
Most smokers have no idea how most of the pipes they own were finished. If the finish doesn't fail, they assume it's one kind of finish or another, some "approved" finish. They'd be shocked to learn it's lacquer, shellac, tung oil, acrylic, or even polyurethane.
OIl cured briar would likely exchange less moisture, or rather, exchange it more slowly, than regular briar, but briar absorbs and releases moisture very slowly in any case. This is why a pipe is not 1/2 pound heavier after smoking.
I've posted this picture before: You can see the moisture "boiling" out of a block as you drill it. Happens with every pipe, every block. That moisture will be re-absorbed (from ambient humidity in the air) over time.
Just before drilling:
You can see a ring of "dark" just around the chamber as it is being cut. That's water coming out.
This same thing happens every time you smoke. You heat the pipe up, and ambient moisture in the wood tries to escape. If you have a thick vapor-proof finish, it might blister, and we see that on certain pipes from time to time. If you have a thin finish that is not very vapor-proof, like shellac or a little oil (tung oil is more vapor proof), you'll see nothing.
Does it affect how a pipe smokes? Nah. No more than staining it black vs brown.
Most smokers have no idea how most of the pipes they own were finished. If the finish doesn't fail, they assume it's one kind of finish or another, some "approved" finish. They'd be shocked to learn it's lacquer, shellac, tung oil, acrylic, or even polyurethane.
Thank you, that was extremely helpful."Breathes" is not a very meaningful term in that wood doesn't have lungs. But briar, like all wood, is constantly exchanging moisture with the ambient air around it. In a dry climate, briar is more dry inside than in a wet climate. This is why cabinet doors are made with panels, it's why things in your house shift and stick at certain times of the year. It's why table tops are built with sliding hardware to acommodate the wood's seasonal movement. You can stabilize wood by vacuum pressing cyanoacrylate into it. But that's not done on tables, nor to pipes.
OIl cured briar would likely exchange less moisture, or rather, exchange it more slowly, than regular briar, but briar absorbs and releases moisture very slowly in any case. This is why a pipe is not 1/2 pound heavier after smoking.
I've posted this picture before: You can see the moisture "boiling" out of a block as you drill it. Happens with every pipe, every block. That moisture will be re-absorbed (from ambient humidity in the air) over time.
Just before drilling:
You can see a ring of "dark" just around the chamber as it is being cut. That's water coming out.
This same thing happens every time you smoke. You heat the pipe up, and ambient moisture in the wood tries to escape. If you have a thick vapor-proof finish, it might blister, and we see that on certain pipes from time to time. If you have a thin finish that is not very vapor-proof, like shellac or a little oil (tung oil is more vapor proof), you'll see nothing.
Does it affect how a pipe smokes? Nah. No more than staining it black vs brown.
Most smokers have no idea how most of the pipes they own were finished. If the finish doesn't fail, they assume it's one kind of finish or another, some "approved" finish. They'd be shocked to learn it's lacquer, shellac, tung oil, acrylic, or even polyurethane.
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Yes, Wilda Mae and Nona Fern bought Harry a Dr Grabow over at Stockton probably once a year, always a small one.
Grabows came varnished, and Harry took it off.
If Wilda Mae would have known about grapeseed oil Harry would have used that instead of her olive oil.
My Rossi. I want to say it was 2016 When I bought it.
This was my Rossi 25-30? bowls in.
Acetone and a cloth.
And Obligatory cake pictures
But I think in this instance, It made my pipe so much more beautiful, and smoke so much cooler. The finish was literally bubbling off the rim of the pipe.
And what it looks like today.
This is my only beef with Rossi. I wish they just used carnauba instead of that crap varnish. Besides the finish, great pipes.
A tip for lovers of pipes that glow instead of shine like a cheap suit.
Beeswax has a lower melting point than carnauba wax.
The briar soaks the beeswax in just under the pores.
This protects to some degree the pipe getting discolored from oils from your hands, but it traps the oils or tannins or whatever leeches out from a hot pipe when smoked.
It helps color the pipe this shade of reddish brown.
View attachment 269268
Beeswax has a lower melting point than carnauba wax.
The briar soaks the beeswax in just under the pores.
This protects to some degree the pipe getting discolored from oils from your hands, but it traps the oils or tannins or whatever leeches out from a hot pipe when smoked.
It helps color the pipe this shade of reddish brown.
View attachment 269268