Smoking a new pipe
- Thread starter Sean cauliflower
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It's not necessary, but some might find it fun.
I find it fun (sometimes) but I'm easily amused.
Dampen the sides. Fill the bowl. Pour out excess after some drying time. Load pipe carefully.
I have had the privilege of breaking in about five new pipes in the past few months. Some had maker added bowl coating in the bowl, and some were raw briar. Most of my pipes smoked beautifully from the first bowl. I had one with a coating that had a very off taste for the first three bowls, and now it smokes like a champ. I have never used anything to break in my bowls whatsoever. Stuff it and Puff it!
Hi Sean,
First let me say Welcome!
I believe we are talking about breaking in a new pipe, and how to go about that?
You don’t need to put anything in it to help with breaking in a new pipe, just load it with tabac and smoke.
As mentioned, everyone has their own rituals/methods.
Pipe costs, how expensive, and dedicating pipes to single blends are considerations.
Meaning, it might not be enjoyable spending hundreds on a pipe, and then ghosting it really bad with Aromatics as an example, and then later wanting to smoke only VA blends in it.
So, as an example, on decent pipes, to build a decent carbon build in the chamber, smoking only VAs in new pipes is pretty common for a lot of smokers to accomplish this.
If you care about keeping the pipe in decent condition and not letting the cake build up in the chamber get out of hand, use like a paper towel when you are done smoking to wipe the chamber out, this way, you’ll only ever build up maybe a millimeter or less carbon inside it.
First let me say Welcome!
I believe we are talking about breaking in a new pipe, and how to go about that?
You don’t need to put anything in it to help with breaking in a new pipe, just load it with tabac and smoke.
As mentioned, everyone has their own rituals/methods.
Pipe costs, how expensive, and dedicating pipes to single blends are considerations.
Meaning, it might not be enjoyable spending hundreds on a pipe, and then ghosting it really bad with Aromatics as an example, and then later wanting to smoke only VA blends in it.
So, as an example, on decent pipes, to build a decent carbon build in the chamber, smoking only VAs in new pipes is pretty common for a lot of smokers to accomplish this.
If you care about keeping the pipe in decent condition and not letting the cake build up in the chamber get out of hand, use like a paper towel when you are done smoking to wipe the chamber out, this way, you’ll only ever build up maybe a millimeter or less carbon inside it.
No crickets. New pipe will become old pipe. Be gentle with it and just smoke it.
I can't see honey being a problem. Thinking of it, this just reminded me that Savinelli's Miele line of pipes come with a slight honey coating.
I couldn't honestly tell when I first smoked it, I only remembered by reading this thread.
Give the honey a go, albeit only a tiny bit on a damp finger.
I couldn't honestly tell when I first smoked it, I only remembered by reading this thread.
Give the honey a go, albeit only a tiny bit on a damp finger.
Just smoke it, it will form its own cake. But if you want to accelerate it or give it your artificial lining , Have you tried the activated charcoal, plaster of Paris and salt mix lining? It sticks very well and emparts no taste whatsoever to burning tobacco.
My current break-in method is as follows:
Load the pipe with a neutral blend I am very familiar with - perhaps PS Natural Dutch Cav.
Smoke it.
Repeat every day - one bowl per day - for two weeks.
Let rest for two weeks or so.
Ready to join rotation.
No nonsense about lining the bowl with anything, smoking partial bowls, gradual filling, etc. Load it and go.
Load the pipe with a neutral blend I am very familiar with - perhaps PS Natural Dutch Cav.
Smoke it.
Repeat every day - one bowl per day - for two weeks.
Let rest for two weeks or so.
Ready to join rotation.
No nonsense about lining the bowl with anything, smoking partial bowls, gradual filling, etc. Load it and go.
I’ve coated the bowl of a new pipe with honey a few times in the past but I no longer do. I just load it and smoke it.
The coating of honey was to help build cake, which I've never done. I've gone along when a good old pipe shop owner offered a coating of honey in a new pipe bowl, but just as a celebratory ritual. It didn't do any good, and it didn't do any harm. The real point is to smoke it gently and enjoy the newness. Most of my new pipe chambers have come with a coating, but I have always given high points for uncoated chambers. It honors the experienced smokers who know not to puff like a locomotive. If you like the feel of a ritual to go with your first smoke, a glass of your favorite beverage would be appropriate, alcohol or not. Happy smoking.
A honey or sugar coating does some good, but not enough to be worthwhile for most.
That's pipe mortar. I used it to help a beloved old pipe that was threatening to burn out. It does stick pretty good to the walls of the chamber, but is soft on it's own (like honey or jelly) )and needs some real cake to harden it up a wee bit.
If you must have a bowl coating, it'll do that but it's no substitute for a thin cake of hard carbon
I have never used anything but tobacco in a raw briar bowl as well as those with a bowl coating. I have had no difference with them, except a couple of the raw briar pipes had a very raw briar flavor for the first couple of bowls. I wouldn’t worry about it. I would stuff it and puff it.
and for the few tenth of smokes better to avoid smoking it in windy condition or in the car with blower on engaged in high speed,
Having been smoking pipes on and off for 50 years or so, I still use the “old school” approach to build the cake from the bottom up, being a creature of habit, I suppose. While there may be other effective ways to build up a cake, the “old school” approach still works pretty well.
From a $40 Dr. Grabow to a thousand dollar Dunhill, every briar pipe is a hunk of wood with a stem attached.
More expensive pipes usually have prettier briar, but all briar comes from a growth called a burl that grows on the roots of heath shrubs far across the sea, around the Mediterranean.
Those briar pieces must first be soaked in water, to remove the tannins, then dried out, and then sold to pipe makers.
The burning cherry of a pipe reaches almost a thousand degrees Fahrenheit. That’s about twice as hot as the flash points of most woods. It’s something of a miracle that briar can take the heat.
I break in all my new pipes by first putting a dab of honey inside the bowl (it might help and sure can’t hurt anything) and then smoke them extra slowly all the way to the bottom about a dozen or two times, until I can no longer taste briar.
This will deposit a black, oily carbon like coating all inside the chamber, and that fine coating is all I allow to remain. Many pipe smokers proceed to let a carbon cake form the thickness of a dime, but I like just a black coating and no more, on my pipes.
If your new pipe wasn’t fully cured, it will be nasty to break in. Regardless, a couple of dozen bowls further cures the briar and prepares your new pipe for many thousands of smokes.
More expensive pipes usually have prettier briar, but all briar comes from a growth called a burl that grows on the roots of heath shrubs far across the sea, around the Mediterranean.
Those briar pieces must first be soaked in water, to remove the tannins, then dried out, and then sold to pipe makers.
The burning cherry of a pipe reaches almost a thousand degrees Fahrenheit. That’s about twice as hot as the flash points of most woods. It’s something of a miracle that briar can take the heat.
I break in all my new pipes by first putting a dab of honey inside the bowl (it might help and sure can’t hurt anything) and then smoke them extra slowly all the way to the bottom about a dozen or two times, until I can no longer taste briar.
This will deposit a black, oily carbon like coating all inside the chamber, and that fine coating is all I allow to remain. Many pipe smokers proceed to let a carbon cake form the thickness of a dime, but I like just a black coating and no more, on my pipes.
If your new pipe wasn’t fully cured, it will be nasty to break in. Regardless, a couple of dozen bowls further cures the briar and prepares your new pipe for many thousands of smokes.