Strange Taste at the Bottom of the Bowl

[scooterdoo]

Hi All -
I've been having a lot of fun breaking in my two new briars. However, in trying to make sure I was caking the bottom, I'm concerned I may have done some damage to one of my pipes. I was smoking it earlier, the ash was real close to the bottom, and I lit it again and I got a foul, almost acidic taste.
Is this normal? Did I do damage to my pipe? Has anyone experienced this before?
Thanks!

 

[cortezattic]

I thought you said in an earlier post that your briars were estates. If so, you may have discovered what goop-soaked briar tastes like when burned. Well, you almost certainly did not ruin your pipe, but you did discover the limits of how far down you can go.
btw, building a cake lining is much over rated in my book. In fact, I spend more energy on keeping it down to a minimum.

 

[scooterdoo]

Yep, they're estates. I guess by "new" I meant new to me.
I had a hunch it might just be burning goop. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[matchstickman]

In my day, I've owned a lot of pipes and broke my face on a lot of mistakes and mishaps that were due to piss poor technique. Of all the things that I've done and learned, I've never had a pipe that got damaged beyond repair due to hot/poor smoking, so I'm sure that you're doing just fine. Like others have pointed out, I've never been a fan of the whole break in/cake building technique of smoking quarter bowls, then half bowls, then full bowls. I just load it to where I normally load it and stop it where I would normally stop it. If you've got a larger sized chamber and you never smoke it all the way to the bottom, there's no need to have cake at the bottom. That's my experience at least.

 

[bnichols23]

Something that will probably help (& *definitely* if the source you bought from didn't sanitize them) is to take some bristle cleaners & rubbing alcohol & repeatedly work it through the stems & down into the bowl until it comes out mostly clear. The alcohol will clean out almost ANY crap left over from a prior user & give you a *much* better smoke.
Unless it comes from a source I know & trust that I know sanitizes pipes, I treat all my estates as if they haven't been. Not a germaphobe by any means, I just like knowing I'm smoking what *I* want as opposed to what someone else did.

 

[shanez]

I'm not a fan of smoking a bowl until there is nothing left. It seems I get a pretty nasty flavor, regardless of pipe or blend, if I try. I always have a little tobacco colored dottle left and I'm okay with that.

 

[slowroll]

Sometimes even great pipes and fine tobac occasionally leave a nasty bitter dottle. Just dump it and start over.