Smoke Them Down to the Bottom

[Briar Lee]

I just got in a couple of days ago a very heavily caked Marxman Super Briar that I removed all the cake, every bit, leaving nothing but bare briar in the bowl.



Even though this pipe is one of the heaviest caked pipes I’ve ever seen, with a tobacco hole just a sliver before I removed all the cake, the very bottom was bare, tan briar. This is the rule in used pipes. Most smokers don’t smoke all the way to the bottom.

I’ve smoked this pipe all the way down about eight times to where there’s an even black, oily coating down to the air hole.

A pipe needs the heat of the burning ember, all the way down, to fully cure the briar and it’s as good now as any pipe I’ve ever smoked.

I’ll probably not smoke it down all the way very often again.

But I’m convinced it’s good to break one in by smoking all the way to the bottom.

It doesn’t hurt one, anyway

 

[LeafErikson]

Smoking Your Pipe To The Bottom Of The Bowl | Smokingpipes.com

Should you smoke your pipe to the bottom of the bowl? We're covering the question with advice from a range of expert pipemakers.

www.smokingpipes.com

Here's an interesting article on the subject in case you haven't checked it out already. I usually don't smoke all the way to the bottom myself but I know there are some that do. I've always likened smoking a pipe all the way to the bottom like smoking a cigarette all the way down to the filter.

 

[Sigmund]

Interesting post and article. I dont push it a the bottom if it doesnt want to stay lit. I think in part becasue of taste and also a statement fromt he Danish Pipe Shop that also suggested not to "Torture the pipe" to get the last reamining substance.

Im not doing it as much any more but good tobacco is sometimes a challenge to get your hands on in parts of Europe. I sometimes toss a pinch of neutral (as well as cheap and boring) tobaco in the bottom of the bowl. This becomes my dottle and I toss it (or not) at the end. I know its only a pinch but when it is hard to come by you dont relish throwing it away. So it does a few things. It protects the bottom of the pipe, it saves good tobacco and it rescues really boring tobacco that would otherwise stay in the closet.

I do also admit to being a meiser and a bit crazy at times....

 

[samuelgawith01]

I just got in a couple of days ago a very heavily caked Marxman Super Briar that I removed all the cake, every bit, leaving nothing but bare briar in the bowl.

View attachment 259650

Even though this pipe is one of the heaviest caked pipes I’ve ever seen, with a tobacco hole just a sliver before I removed all the cake, the very bottom was bare, tan briar. This is the rule in used pipes. Most smokers don’t smoke all the way to the bottom.

I’ve smoked this pipe all the way down about eight times to where there’s an even black, oily coating down to the air hole.

A pipe needs the heat of the burning ember, all the way down, to fully cure the briar and it’s as good now as any pipe I’ve ever smoked.

I’ll probably not smoke it down all the way very often again.

But I’m convinced it’s good to break one in by smoking all the way to the bottom.

It doesn’t hurt one, anyway

I light up the ashes also,but I don't do it to the point where the wood gets charred .It's good in my opinion to have a good even cake in the chamber.

 

[Briar Lee]

A freshly dug hunk of briar is useless to make a good pipe.

The burl must be boiled and seasoned, and then dried, and preferably aged.

Even after curing and aging, to some extent every pipe gets better after a break in period. We’ve seen new pipes that get hot, sweat, snap and crackle, and taste like pungent burning briar until fully broken in.

What I should have made clearer is every pipe needs broken in all the way to the bottom.

This cures out the briar all the way with the heat of the ember.

After full break in there’s no need to smoke it all the way down.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

If one doesn't ever smoke all the way to the bottom, there is no need to build cake at the bottom. My Hilson 203s all have been smoked to the bottom so often, that I have to carve a hole back down into the draft every now and then. But, I have some that I don't get to the bottom, and I am not worried at all.

 

[Briar Lee]

If one doesn't ever smoke all the way to the bottom, there is no need to build cake at the bottom. My Hilson 203s all have been smoked to the bottom so often, that I have to carve a hole back down into the draft every now and then. But, I have some that I don't get to the bottom, and I am not worried at all.

That seems to be the consensus of opinion, but I respectfully dissent.

Raw briar is so nasty it cannot be smoked at all.

Even cured and seasoned briar isn’t best until broken in.

By breaking one in all the way down, the smoker has cured out all the bowl.

The smoke is still hot, and taking on the tannins and saps in that last quarter inch if not fully broken in.

I’ve reamed a lot of used pipes to the bare briar and I’m convinced it’s not the cake that breaks in a pipe, it’s the heat.

This last pipe had to have been smoked maybe a thousand times to have such a thick cake, but never once to the bottom.

This morning I put in a pinch and I’m smoking it, and it’s as cool, zesty and flavorful as if I’d filled it up.

I think I’ve put the last, final cure to the entire bowl.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Raw briar is so nasty it cannot be smoked at all.

That is an opinion based on self-absorption or narcissism.

Many people love the taste of fresh briar, especially on this forum. Complaining about and removing the bowl coatings on new pipes to be able to taste it briar is a given on any thread that mentions these coatings.

I, for one, love the fresh briar aroma. I have mentioned this before on your threads. I guess either you forget or don't care, and like to keep retelling this "opinion" over and over.
This is why I have so many pipes. I will buy a new one from time to time to enjoy that fresh, warmed briar aroma.

If you don't like the aroma, that is on you, but not everyone here agrees with this opinion.

 

[Sigmund]

I think he is referring to uncured green briar. Before the stuff is ready to be made into pipes.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I think he is referring to uncured green briar. Before the stuff is ready to be made into pipes.

Maybe, if so, I will stand corrected.

But, to the rest of the post, I have been doing this for quite a while now, as have many other members who do not smoke to the bottom on some (or all) of their pipes, and the whole idea that pipes "must" be smoked/broken in down to the bottom still wades out into those soggy depths of self-absorption and narcissism. If we all don't have a problem with it, why would it bother him?

 

[Auxsender]

That is an opinion based on self-absorption or narcissism.

Many people love the taste of fresh briar, especially on this forum. Complaining about and removing the bowl coatings on new pipes to be able to taste it briar is a given on any thread that mentions these coatings.

I, for one, love the fresh briar aroma. I have mentioned this before on your threads. I guess either you forget or don't care, and like to keep retelling this "opinion" over and over.
This is why I have so many pipes. I will buy a new one from time to time to enjoy that fresh, warmed briar aroma.

If you don't like the aroma, that is on you, but not everyone here agrees with this opinion.

You’re being really aggressive and a little mean here.
It’s the most fundamental nature of an opinion that not everyone will agree with it and that’s ok.

Maybe you’re having a shitty morning. I get that. I have shitty mornings too sometimes.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

You’re being really aggressive and a little mean here.
It’s the most fundamental nature of an opinion that not everyone will agree with it and that’s ok.

Maybe you’re having a shitty morning. I get that. I have shitty mornings too sometimes.

I bow my knee deeply in that I misunderstood the use of the term "raw briar". I apologize... and send all medical bills for injuries to my lawyer. I'm joking. I do apologize that my post... irritated you.

Any aggression comes from myself and others constantly posting to his past threads that we love the aromas of breaking in raw briar as opposed to coated briar, and yet he will say that "No one like sit" over and over.
There is a difference between opinion and just making stuff up. An opinion would be that "he doesn't like it." It would be just wrong to say that "no one likes it." An opinion would be if I said that, "I don't like aromatics." A lie would be to say that "no one likes aromatics." It is subtle, but the language is very different.

Edit, is it less jerkish that he is telling you how you "must" break in your pipes?

 

[Briar Lee]

That is an opinion based on self-absorption or narcissism.

Many people love the taste of fresh briar, especially on this forum. Complaining about and removing the bowl coatings on new pipes to be able to taste it briar is a given on any thread that mentions these coatings.

I, for one, love the fresh briar aroma. I have mentioned this before on your threads. I guess either you forget or don't care, and like to keep retelling this "opinion" over and over.
This is why I have so many pipes. I will buy a new one from time to time to enjoy that fresh, warmed briar aroma.

If you don't like the aroma, that is on you, but not everyone here agrees with this opinion.

Let’s distinguish between the raw, freshly dug burl and the cured and seasoned final product.

All accounts say the raw briar is unsmokable, which is why it’s boiled and then dried out.

I like the taste of briar myself, and especially in a Lee pipe. Lee did something to give a new pipe a sweet taste.

But aside from the faint briar taste, a new pipe usually gets hot, it sweats, and sometimes pops and crackles until anywhere from a half a dozen to two dozen bowls are smoked.

Linkman didn’t pre smoke his Dr. Grabows for nothing.

 

[Briar Lee]

I bow my knee deeply in that I misunderstood the use of the term "raw briar". I apologize... and send all medical bills for injuries to my lawyer. I'm joking. I do apologize that my post... irritated you.

Any aggression comes from myself and others constantly posting to his past threads that we love the aromas of breaking in raw briar as opposed to coated briar, and yet he will say that "No one like sit" over and over.
There is a difference between opinion and just making stuff up. An opinion would be that "he doesn't like it." It would be just wrong to say that "no one likes it." An opinion would be if I said that, "I don't like aromatics." A lie would be to say that "no one likes aromatics." It is subtle, but the language is very different.

Edit, is it less jerkish that he is telling you how you "must" break in your pipes?

I grew up in a home where we’d argue over whether a picture ought to be hung an inch high or low on the wall.

I almost incapable of taking offense at different opinions. Sometimes I change mine.

One other minority opinion I hold is anything more than a black, oily coating in the bowl is not good for a pipe. Everything I’ve ever read about breaking in a pipe says to build a cake, the older sources say “the thickness of a dime”.

In other words, I don’t think it’s a layer of hard carbon that makes a good pipe taste good.

It’s very well seasoned, cured by heat all the way down, good briar that makes me love my Marxmans, or any other brand.

 

[gervais]

Personally, I do not smoke my pipes all the way to the bottom. Pretty much never. The way I see it, is that if it happens to burn to the bottom below by usual cake line, so be it. What's it going to hurt? So it might impart a different flavour, who cares? I really never think about this issue much.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I don't like cake either. I know that the old school of thought was that a pipe "must" have cake. But, for me, cake means less tobacco in the pipe. I just allow a thin layer of carbon in mine. In all of these years it has kept my pipes smoking like how I like them. If I was having issues or finding my pipes less enjoyable, I would consider these old ideas.

My grandfather and my uncles would take pride in cake, showing off with pride pipes that had only a pencil's width of bowl left. They would toss the pipes into the garbage or fireplace and go buy a new one, making themselves happy in the process. It was a bragging thing for them. I pay way more than a Grabow's cost for my pipes, so I smoke them how I prefer.

 

[Briar Lee]

I don't like cake either. I know that the old school of thought was that a pipe "must" have cake. But, for me, cake means less tobacco in the pipe. I just allow a thin layer of carbon in mine. In all of these years it has kept my pipes smoking like how I like them. If I was having issues or finding my pipes less enjoyable, I would consider these old ideas.

My grandfather and my uncles would take pride in cake, showing off with pride pipes that had only a pencil's width of bowl left. They would toss the pipes into the garbage or fireplace and go buy a new one, making themselves happy in the process. It was a bragging thing for them. I pay way more than a Grabow's cost for my pipes, so I smoke them how I prefer.

This last pipe is a prime example of the old school, the more cake the better belief.

For a quarter inch down it was almost bare briar. He didn’t fill it up.

Then there was a wide cone of cake funneling to the smallest tobacco hole I think I’ve seen. I’ve had old men give me their “worn out” Grabow pipes when they bought a new one, and the cake on those wasn’t as thick as the middle of the bowl on this one.

And the shank and stem was just ridiculously gunked and tarred up. A pipe cleaner wouldn’t enter the bit, the end of the stem or the airway in the shank. The stem would not close to the shank. It was just loaded with tars.

Yet after an hour’s drilling and cleaning and cussing the pipe did clean up and to my surprise it wasn’t the slightest sour or ghosted.

Yet way down in the bottom below the pin hole in the old cake, was tan, pristine Algerian briar, after the gunk was removed.

After ten smokes there’s still a little brown left.



This is what I’ll get this one to, which was a new old stock Benchmade Bulldog that’s just like I like em’



That’s not a hard cake in the Benchmade.

It’s sort of like a well seasoned cast iron skillet.

 

[Briar Lee]

Smoking Your Pipe To The Bottom Of The Bowl | Smokingpipes.com

Should you smoke your pipe to the bottom of the bowl? We're covering the question with advice from a range of expert pipemakers.

www.smokingpipes.com

Here's an interesting article on the subject in case you haven't checked it out already. I usually don't smoke all the way to the bottom myself but I know there are some that do. I've always likened smoking a pipe all the way to the bottom like smoking a cigarette all the way down to the filter.

I’ve read that article and agree that continuously smoking all the way down will char the air hole.

What I’m doing to my Super Briar is a complete all the way to the bottom break in.

After it’s totally broken in, my habit is to smoke a pipe until I can tell, by the change in heat, it’s done.

Usually I’ll flip the pipe upside down over an ashtray and a cherry of almost the last bit comes out without any effort. There’s a few flakes of unburned tobacco on top of the cherry. My pipes never gurgle, get wet, bite, or burn my mouth,,,,which is me subconsciously puffing to where they won’t hurt me.

By the way, one of the mysteries is why if I refill the pipe too soon it’s hot, strong, and generally a bad smoke .

That hot pipe tasted good, down to the end. Why does fresh tobacco change anything?

Often I’ll use Everclear and a twisted paper towel to remove any cake, and leave that black, oily seasoning.

 

[El Capitán]

I just smoke until the pipe goes out. I haven't really an opinion on the matter but I do like hearing the banter back and forth lol.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I just smoke until the pipe goes out. I haven't really an opinion on the matter but I do like hearing the banter back and forth lol.

Yeh, it makes this place more like an actual smoking room. Busting balls and discussing stuff that really doesn't matter much, but appeals to us.