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Sanzini

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jul 14, 2021
144
1,606
Bristow, VA
Ok fellas - especially all you old-timers - help me with this one.

Pops smoked a pipe for about 30 years and swears that coating the bowl with honey and a bit of whiskey helps build up cake and makes for a better overall smoke. I've read mixed reviews on this practice.

Thoughts?
 

Merton

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 8, 2020
941
2,499
Boston, Massachusetts
Some folks use honey at the very beginning to coat an uncoated bowl. Probably has little effect but it makes them feel better. It has been said that the honey simply carbonizes and might help build cake. Many smokers, especially those of us who love uncoated bowls do not allow cake build-up in our pipes and wipe the bowl out with a paper towel vigorously after each smoke. Lots of people use a bit of whiskey or other alcohol when cleaning their pipe, especially a pipecleaner dipped in the spirit and run through the stem. You should find out what works best for you, however be cautious about building too much cake as, left unchecked, it can have deleterious results for the pipe.
 

craig61a

Lifer
Apr 29, 2017
5,765
47,541
Minnesota USA
Smearing a little honey in there won't hurt anything. One manufacturer made an add campaign out of coating bowls with honey.

And I wouldn't worry too much about cake building up too fast, unless you're smoking frosted flakes.

There are as many bowl coating concoctions as Carter has liver pills...

I'm in the school that cake is necessary. There are others that will argue vehemently against that. Smoking 20 bowls a day for several years without removing ash and buildup will yield a bowl that has more cake than chamber space, and supposedly that will cause the bowl to crack, according to urban legend.

I've had several estates where the bowl had so plugged with cake the chamber was the diameter of a pencil, but the bowls didn't have any cracks. As a matter of fact, reaming out the old cake and sanding the remaining thin cake back to original wood revealed chambers that were in quite good or even amazing condition.

So do whatever you like or feel is necessary. After all, it's your pipe. Pipes are pretty resilient.
 
May 2, 2020
4,664
23,771
Louisiana
Cake is a personal preference. I used to build up cake in mine, but found I prefer to have no cake at all, and now rinse my pipes out after each smoke. As for the honey, grape jelly, or any other coating, I prefer not to do it, but some folks do. Like @hoosierpipeguy said, it was common practice at one time, but not necessary if you decide you want cake.
 
Mar 2, 2021
3,476
14,247
Alabama USA
Smearing a little honey in there won't hurt anything. One manufacturer made an add campaign out of coating bowls with honey.

And I wouldn't worry too much about cake building up too fast, unless you're smoking frosted flakes.

There are as many bowl coating concoctions as Carter has liver pills...

I'm in the school that cake is necessary. There are others that will argue vehemently against that. Smoking 20 bowls a day for several years without removing ash and buildup will yield a bowl that has more cake than chamber space, and supposedly that will cause the bowl to crack, according to urban legend.

I've had several estates where the bowl had so plugged with cake the chamber was the diameter of a pencil, but the bowls didn't have any cracks. As a matter of fact, reaming out the old cake and sanding the remaining thin cake back to original wood revealed chambers that were in quite good or even amazing condition.

So do whatever you like or feel is necessary. After all, it's your pipe. Pipes are pretty resilient.
I’m with you. There is a picture somewhere of CS Lewis’s pipe with noticeable cake buildup. I doubt he and Tolkien carried a half dozen pipe or tobacco blends at the fowl and foetus.
 
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craig61a

Lifer
Apr 29, 2017
5,765
47,541
Minnesota USA
Prior to first smoke I use to apply little bit of honey in the chambers of my refurbished estate pipes and in those brand new pipes with naked bowls,

I will do that (coat) if there is some char or spider webbing, but if it’s nice clean briar, new or old, nowadays I just wet the chamber so it’s slightly damp, load up and smoke. I’ll do that for the first several bowls until cake starts to take to the chamber.

There’s a lot of ways to go about it, and there’s no right or wrong (within reason). They’re all different means to the same end.
 

craig61a

Lifer
Apr 29, 2017
5,765
47,541
Minnesota USA
Any and all of the above answers! In the long run, even the short one, it makes no difference. I do wet the chamber before loading a virgin pipe for the first few bowls.

And cake just happens!

Removing cake early and often… I don’t know…

I don’t have my brake rotors turned each time I take my car out for a drive. But that’s just me. ?
 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
I have honey and whiskey available, but I don't use these when I receive a new pipe at home. However, when offered these amenities at my local independent pipe shop, I accept the ritual as a grand old gesture. I don't build cake, but wipe out the bowl after each smoke, building and maintaining a thin carbon layer, but retaining the diameter of the chamber and eliminating the need for a reamer and the potential for over-reamng. As for pre-coated new pipes, I prefer an uncoated chamber, but haven't had any problems with pre-coated.