My curiosity is not so much about the building up of cake, but about the practice of coating the bowl.
To Coat or Not to Coat
- Thread starter Sanzini
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I prefer very little cake. I think my briars smoke cleaner without or with very little.
The thing is back in the day a maker could buy lower quality briar. Supposedly the bottom line stuff is basically the old high end. Big imperfection in the wood can cause cracks and burnout before we figured out how to spot these things it could get any pipe. At least that's the rumor I heard. Probably a load of bull.
Looking back at my Grabow thread, I got to that point every month before I reamed it.
This is what I do and if a new pipe has a factory coating, I remove it and lightly coat with honey. I wipe out the bowl with a paper towel after every smoke.
Personally I’ve never coated a bowl with anything other than tobacco. I work at keeping cake from building up.
I've tried coating with honey, and I've tried doing absolutely nothing, and didn't notice much of a difference. My standard new pipe procedure is to use alcohol to remove any factory applied bowl coating (if applicable) and then fill at least the first five bowls all the way to the top and smoke them slowly.
For me in the ideal World there would be no such thing as cake. I regularly sand out out all my pipes to get rid of that flavour killing stuff known as cake.
Just to help prove that any forum dedicated to taste and olfactory preferences is at best a subjective muddle, I prefer cake because it adds flavor. Kind of a umami thing goin' on. Or, if not that, the overused word nuttiness comes to mind, for more reasons than one.
I often just smoke, but if the carbon resin layer doesn’t build like I want I’ll use a layer of olive oil and then rub off the access with a paper towel. It’s similar to rubbing oil on food before grilling…. It works.
I don’t like a cake though, I use a paper towel or pipe cleaner and I find that thin carbon layer that stays behind is extremely tough and protects.
I don’t like a cake though, I use a paper towel or pipe cleaner and I find that thin carbon layer that stays behind is extremely tough and protects.
I keep a small cake in my pipes for two reasons: First, I find it keeps the briar cooler for “some” of my pipes that tend to burn hot. Second, it is a preventative measure for burn outs. I live in one of the most consistently wind places in the world. Consistent wind on one particular place on a pipe over time will encourage an uneven chamber. Since allowing a cake to build first before using it where wind is a concern, I eliminated all uneven burning into the briar.
Prior to moving to the Coachella Valley, I never experienced uneven burns.
Prior to moving to the Coachella Valley, I never experienced uneven burns.
Just smoke the darned thing. People used to do all sorts of stuff to break in a pipe that make it a lot more complicated than it needs to be.
My current break in practice is pretty simple. I smoke one bowl a day, every day, for two weeks; I then stick it in the rotation and don't smoke it for another two weeks or so. I am a firm believer in using neutral tobaccos, that I know well, to break in a new pipe. This means you only have one variable - you know how the tobacco smokes; you just need to figure out how that pipe smokes. I do something like the following. based on my tastes:
My current break in practice is pretty simple. I smoke one bowl a day, every day, for two weeks; I then stick it in the rotation and don't smoke it for another two weeks or so. I am a firm believer in using neutral tobaccos, that I know well, to break in a new pipe. This means you only have one variable - you know how the tobacco smokes; you just need to figure out how that pipe smokes. I do something like the following. based on my tastes:
- Lane Ready Rubbed, 4 or 5 days
- Sutliffe Virginia Slices, 4 or 5 days
- Peter Stokkebye Natural Dutch Cavendish, 4 or 5 days
None of the cake in any of my pipes kills flavor whatsoever. I believe it enhances it, unless, of course, it's a cake built up by poor tobaccos or is sour for some other reason. (Likely in some estate pipes until seasoned by me)
Some folks- e.g. cosmicfolklore—love the break-in period where he can taste the briar. So, sanding out the small build up of cake after a smoke enhances the experience and taste for you, right on! Enjoy!
Well I'm not old. A codger maybe but not old.
I've heard of the coating process myself. I've not done it. Never would do it either. In my pipes the only things that go into them are tobacco, pipe cleaners (maybe if they are really filthy a little white lightning), pipe tools and fire. I find that in my briars that cake happens on its own and honestly I prefer to have just enough cake to protect the bowl. No more, no less. How much cake that is depends on the pipe, and the smoker.
When I break in a new briar pipe I usually do so by smoking an entire pouch of Carter Hall in it.
I was going to say be careful of what you say, because Lee Van Cleef is watching, but then again Lee would plug you no matter what you said.
Bowl coating is one of those tired topics that never goes away, mostly the concern of n00bs. Coat that bowl with honey, etc., or your pipe will burnout. Untrue, but with so many opinions as are in this thread, what to do?
Buy an Italian pipe, which are usually uncoated, and don't apply any coating yourself. Smoke it and see what happens. Buy another piper with a factory coat or coat the pipe yourself. Smoke it and see what happens.
Should tell the tale.
Bowl coating is one of those tired topics that never goes away, mostly the concern of n00bs. Coat that bowl with honey, etc., or your pipe will burnout. Untrue, but with so many opinions as are in this thread, what to do?
Buy an Italian pipe, which are usually uncoated, and don't apply any coating yourself. Smoke it and see what happens. Buy another piper with a factory coat or coat the pipe yourself. Smoke it and see what happens.
Should tell the tale.