Shiny or not?

[cosmicfolklore]

My sarcastic response to the science of someone cutting a briar in half is based on this idea that someone doing something to one pipe, which is all I have seen on here. Sable, of course sets me straight on that. But, isn't the myth idea behind breathing pipes and diamonds amongst coals that they are rare? So, the pipes that were cut in half were all pipes that someone proposed were the best smokers of the herds, very rare pipes amongst the millions of "average" pipes. So, someone gives up their best smokers to be cut in half? Or, did someone just grab some random bucket pipes? And, does any of that "prove" anything?

 

[sablebrush52]

Woods have different densities and varied structure. Balsa may have more capacity for absorbing moisture. Not my field. But when you look at the amount of penetration shown in these very old bowls that have been smoked for decades it becomes clear that the process is minimal. It is most pronounced where the chamber walls have been cracked by inept users.
My one lacquer finished pipe, a Nording handmade high grade, smokes very coolly. So, the lacquer isn't causing any problems that I can tell.

 

[eggrollpiper]

So Cosmic, air doesn't travel through wood as a gas alone. Water travels through wood by osmosis with gasses dissolved in it. And osmosis happens, to a lesser degree, but it happens in dead wood. Haven't you ever seen a tree that's dead or a stump have a sprout come out of it? But yes given the carbon on the inside and Finnish on the outside and excessive drying of the cells there's relatively no flow of anything but heat through, all the way through that is, the briar.

 

[pipesmokingtom]

One of my first pipes was a highly lacquered Viking Rhodesian that smoked hot as hell.
It was either the lacquer or my inexperience. Occam's Razor tells me it's the latter, and thankfully that saves me from speculating about how the permeability of briar affects heat transfer which may be blocked by the finish, bla bla bla.
You guys are a hoot.

 

[eggrollpiper]

I'm mostly playing devil's advocate cuz I tend to agree they don't breath but like cosmic says the cut pipe proves nothing. There are different qualities of briar and even more types of laquer. Im sure the Nording pipe has better laquer than my cheap german freehand. And moisture is not colored. The tar can go not deep and be filtered from the moisture that goes deeper. Really though it comes down to personal belief.

 

[sablebrush52]

So, the pipes that were cut in half were all pipes that someone proposed were the best smokers of the herds, very rare pipes amongst the millions of "average" pipes. So, someone gives up their best smokers to be cut in half? Or, did someone just grab some random bucket pipes? And, does any of that "prove" anything?

Speaking only for the ones that I've seen, they were chosen on the basis of having been well used over a long period of time. I doubt that their bloodlines were checked.
As for the characteristics of briar, there's been quite a bit of analysis on that:
https://pipedia.org/docs/CharacteristicsOfBriar.pdf
enjoy!

 

[pipesmokingtom]

Really though it comes down to personal belief.

Yeah, that's about how the truth works these days.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

All of my Nordings are lacquered, and all smoke cool. I had one Savinelli that bubbled.
So, heated water travelling towards the surface keeps the pipe cool? I'm just trying to fathom...
I have one pipe that started off as a blonde stained pipe with very little contrast in the grain, and after years of smoking it, their is a lot of contrast in the grain now, as if the cake is staining it from the inside out. Now, this is just a thought that occurs to me, and I keep the pipe cleaned, buffed and waxed, but yet the grain gets more and more contrast, with the birdseye side becoming very dark. Yes, it could be some reaction with my hands. But, it really looks like it is stained now.
It is a very good smoker, so just allowing this to be a mystery is outweighing any notion of cutting it in half, ha ha. But, I think that it is good to allow some things in pipesmoking to remain magical. I don't understand the arguments fully on either side. But, no matter what science says, some of us will hang onto a notion of a higher cosmic being, and it is always more fun to believe in Santa Clause than to just set at home alone on December 25th and watch TV. ::

 

[eggrollpiper]

Im satisfied with the mystic law of brair. I said personal belief cuz to me there is no clear truth here. It would be hard to test these theories conclusively. And with that I'll cut my losses and spare everyone..

 

[Waning Embers]

They're just pipes.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Yeh Duane, those look very average... just pipes. ::

 

[sablebrush52]

Im satisfied with the mystic law of brair. I said personal belief cuz to me there is no clear truth here. It would be hard to test these theories conclusively. And with that I'll cut my losses and spare everyone..

I like the cat!

 

[eggrollpiper]

Thanks that's Charlie, he's a good boy..

 

[instymp]

Breath was a wrong word.
"I think the supposition is that the heat the gets to the outside of the bowl doesn't diffuse as well from the surface if it has a heavy lacquer on it. Like wearing a sweater, perhaps. Not really anything to do with it "breathing."
This is what I meant.

Thanks all for the comments.

It is the "Shiniest" I have ever owned.

Will let it ride for a while & wear Polaroids.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Breath was a wrong word.

No no no, we would have had this conversation no matter what word you used. You did good.
Does it get hotter than your other pipes? Is there a reason for your concern outside of assuming the shiny will get hot? Just curious.

 

[crashthegrey]

Has someone cut a bowl in half that was being smoked currently? The briar and carbonization layer will act as a filter for the tar and oils, basically particulate matter. That does not prove that moisture and/or air are not making it through the wood. Smoke a pipe hot and wet and cut it in half and see if there is moisture beyond the chamber. Then I will probably believe that you may or may not be right or wrong about whether or not a pipe does or does not breathe.

 

[briarbuck]

Pipes don't breathe. They're dead.

Tip of the hat. I spit coffee on that one. lol

 

[sablebrush52]

Has someone cut a bowl in half that was being smoked currently?

Sound kind of tricky. But please have your survivors contact me with the results. 8O

 

[irishearl]

I have a number of lacquered pipes with varying amounts of lacquer applied, some rather thick and "shiny." I have found no significant differences in the smoking experience between my rather heavily lacquered ones and my wholly unlacquered ones.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Agree.
And I am pretty sure that the bubbling of a finish that we hear about from time to time is caused primarily by heat, not driven moisture, though that may be an important factor. But I also believe that heat will drive moisture out of all woods, though at greatly varying rates.