Sometimes They Don’t Need Breaking In

[Briar Lee]

My favorite brand of briar pipe to accumulate more than any reasonable person could want is Pipes by Lee, and one of the reasons is I’ve found a new or almost new Lee is a pleasure to break in. Lee had to have used something to cure his pipes with that produces an extremely sweet taste during the dozen or two smokes almost all briar pipes require to break in.

But even a Lee, goes through the break in process. Although it’s sweet, you can smell and taste raw briar, and the pipe must be smoked slowly because it will sweat, get hot, and might crackle a little, until fully broken in.

Only a scant few unsmoked briar pipes I’ve bought over the last fifty years, seem to need no break in.


This week I bought an unsmoked, unmarked French made Dublin with a Cumberland stem that needed no break in. This pipe smokes like it’s been smoked a hundred times, from the first bowl.



The bowl looked to have left the factory with a little stain, but no coating of black carbon.



Is this just the luck of the draw, or was this briar cured and aged to where it had no tannins or other impurities to remove?

I wish they all came like this.

 

[butsiethesungo]

Don’t you just love breaking in a new pipe? ?

That’s a beautiful pipe, Briar Lee. I love the grain of the wood

 

[telescopes]

Don’t you just love breaking in a new pipe? ?

That’s a beautiful pipe, Briar Lee. I love the grain of the wood

I have enough pipes that I bought new that needed to be broke in. For new pipes, I use the old time tested method of 1/3 full, 2/3 full, until finally I am smoking full bowls.

For estate pipes, I send them out to Briarville and have Rich recondition them and ozone them to almost new condition. I find these pipes don’t need the lengthy break in process at all.


This Merchant Service Standard Rusticated Bing filled with Hal O’ the Wind is getting her second smoke ever. She is a new pipe, and yes, I do enjoy being the first smoker.

My estate pipes are ones I find interesting and represent various historical moments in Pipe history. They are more like artifacts that I regularly smoke. The pipes I’ve bought are artifacts, but represent MY history and are records of where I was at various moments in my life.

 

[beargreasediet]

Alright Lee, you haven't convinced me to stand in line for any injections...; however, you've seriously got me on the fence about buying a Lee Star Grade pipe. I admire your devotion to the brand!

 

[greysmoke]

In decades, only this pipe has smoked beautifully from the first puff. Although I bought it new sometime in the late 90's, it never needed any break in and returns a great, consistent smoke no matter what tobacco I use. And I've smoked it with just about everything. Upshall P grade.

 

[jwussow]

The worst pipe I ever broke in was a Butz Choquin. It was one of the first briar pipes I have ever broken in and it tasted awful. I was almost sure I wouldn’t get to the point of enjoying it, but after many, many break in bowls, it smokes like a champ.

I have had three Neerup pipes that smoked perfectly the first time. I just bought a Jeppeson higher end, fully hand made because I was so impressed with his Neerup line.

I also have a Paronelli that was perfect for its first bowl. Some makers seem to use well cured briar.

 

[beargreasediet]

Neerup pipes that smoked perfectly the first time.

I've only got one but that was my experience, it is on the rotation shortlist!

 

[Briar Lee]

As a boy, l just loved sitting and listening and watching the old men in the barbershop as my father and I waited out turn at hair cuts.

Several of those old men had lost an arm to a stationary hay baler, and yet without breaking their conversation could take a can of Velvet or Prince Albert from their bib overalls pocket, tear off a paper from an OCB booklet, roll an absolutely machine rolled looking cigarette with a twirled end, return the can and papers to their pocket and then fire up their smoke with a kitchen match struck on the metal tab of their overalls. The pipe smokers were equally practiced but not so fascinating to watch.

Tobacco smoking becomes a ritual like brushing your teeth or shaving, and nearly all of it is an acquired habit, a learned technique we don’t consciously think about.

Anticipating some Lakeland tobaccos, I’m breaking in what was absolutely the cheapest and poorest finished basket pipe ten dollars ever bought on eBay. It looks better now, but as I break it in the thing doesn’t taste like burnt briar, but it’s popping and snapping and little embers are flying off as I smoke it. At the end it gets hot, and sweats.



Once one gets about a dozen or two smokes they’ll all be good smokers, some a little better, and who knows the mystery why some come out of the box, like they’ve been smoked hundreds of times.