To Rest or Not to Rest

[hoosierpipeguy]

I have plenty of pipes and most often smoke where I have access to multiple pipes, so resting isn't as thought. I'd also have no hesitation smoking the same pipe all week I'd the circumstances forced that as long as I had plenty of pipe cleaners. I'd wager the majority of pipe smokers don't have a huge selection/collection and just smoke their one or two pipes day in, day out.

 

[mso489]

In your smoking kingdom, smoke as you please. If it were me, I'd put the Brigham in continuous rotation with your other briar, since it will break in more and taste better if smoked often. You could also fill in with an MM cob or two; I'd recommend the special edition ones with an acrylic stem that won't need replacing, much or ever. At about $25 apiece, they're still a great deal and usually last for years or decades.

 

[cigrmaster]

If I am breaking in a pipe I will smoke it every other day or every third day. I clean the piss out of my pipes so I don't worry about it getting wet. I use a ton of pipe cleaners which really cleans the pipe quite nicely.

 

[Sloopjohnbee]

My first pipe was a meer - I moved on to preferring briars - but I bought it based on early research that you only need one pipe - but now that I moved to briars I've learned that resting is overrated - not as big deal as people make it - smoke the pipes you like - if it's one, smoke it - even if it burns out - who cares - but it probably won't

 

[stokesdale]

I'm not a clencher so I'm not that fussed about the stems. [which a rubber bit can protect anyway]
Now when I buy an MM cob, it's more important to me for the MM cob to have the hardwood plug at the base of the bowl.

While on the subject; Those who can buy an MM cob for under $10 at their local store often see cobs as disposable [or at least easily replaceable]
Not I. One new MM cob costs say $15usd + $30usd postage which = around $68aud [So yes, one would buy at least a few cobs to spread the cost of the postage]

More importantly though, I really don't like the taste of a brand new cob which needs 2-3 bowls to lose the vegetal taste [I'm curious that I've not seen any one else mention this] and a few more for the hardwood taste of the protruding stem to dissipate.
Once an MM cob is 'broken in', although they're often used as my outdoor pipes, I treat them with the same respect as a briar.

Yes, a cob absolutely needs a hardwood plug or you will end up with a squishy mess on your hands on the bottom of your bowl as it holds moisture forever. As for the "vegetal taste", I get that too with a new cob, but kind of like it as it is a corn cob after all; it's not unpleasant either...kind of tastes like popcorn.

 

[krizzose]

I really don't think you have to worry about damaging a briar pipe by smoking it more than once a day. It's really more of an aesthetic choice - just keep it clean. I like to water rinse my pipes after each smoke, so I generally let a pipe dry for a few days. But if I'm away from home camping or something like that, I regularly "abuse" pipes for a few days, then just clean them well when I get home.

And I'll reiterate what's been posted here about getting a couple of Missouri Meerschaum cobs. They're solid smokers at a very cheap price that will leverage the briars you do have.

 

[Scottishgaucho]

I remember as a teenager back in the early 70's watching the pipe smokers at work smoke the same pipe and baccy day in day out for months. The only time they changed pipes would be when they lost or broke the one they had

I have less than a dozen pipes but tend to smoke the same two or three on a daily basis sometimes I'll stick to the same one....it's a habit and never give rotation a thought.

 

[UncleRasta]

I give a fairly thorough clean (Q-tips and pipe cleaners) after each smoke. I have a bunch of 6 pipes on deck at any time from which I will smoke for about 4 or 5 days. Some get smoked 2 or 3 times a day, some once, or even nunce. Then another 6 come up on rotation. It's usually 2 MM Diplomat Apples or 2 Country Gentlemen for Burley blends or English, 2 MM Diplomat 5th Avenues for Va/Vaper, and a briar each for those categories.

 

[sablebrush52]

I've gotten lazy of late. Occasionally I'll smoke one pipe multiple times a day for several days. I do clean it out between smokes, unless I'm out on a lunt and forgot to bring along cleaners. So far it hasn't killed any of my pipes. But I also give that poor abused pipe a week's rest before picking it up again. Mostly I smoke a pipe multiple times in one day and then clean it out thoroughly at days end and set it aside to dry out.

I'm not doing my pipes any favors.

Sure you can smoke your pipe day in and day out like grandpa did, but unless grandpa was a Michelin Starred chef, he probably had a very dull and limited palate. Boiled potatoes were and adventure to him. So he wouldn't have noticed the foul acrid flavors and stench building up in his pipe, or he just considered it part of enjoying a pipe.

As for potential damage to your pipes from endlessly using it? Of course you can damage the pipe. Where do you think all those shank cracks come from? But, it's not an absolute. Briar, being wood, it varies from piece to piece, from stummel to stummel. Some pipes will hold up to grandpas and others won't.

In any case they're your pipes. Yours to enjoy or destroy, whatever pleases you most.

 

[anotherbob]

I've gotten lazy of late. Occasionally I'll smoke one pipe multiple times a day for several days. I do clean it out between smokes, unless I'm out on a lunt and forgot to bring along cleaners. So far it hasn't killed any of my pipes. But I also give that poor abused pipe a week's rest before picking it up again. Mostly I smoke a pipe multiple times in one day and then clean it out thoroughly at days end and set it aside to dry out.

I'm not doing my pipes any favors.

Sure you can smoke your pipe day in and day out like grandpa did, but unless grandpa was a Michelin Starred chef, he probably had a very dull and limited palate. Boiled potatoes were and adventure to him. So he wouldn't have noticed the foul acrid flavors and stench building up in his pipe, or he just considered it part of enjoying a pipe.

As for potential damage to your pipes from endlessly using it? Of course you can damage the pipe. Where do you think all those shank cracks come from? But, it's not an absolute. Briar, being wood, it varies from piece to piece, from stummel to stummel. Some pipes will hold up to grandpas and others won't.

In any case they're your pipes. Yours to enjoy or destroy, whatever pleases you most.

also those guys would smoke like a train. Everyone I know who has cracked a pipe more then once smoked like a train.

 

[Mark 0092]

For years now I have been smoking a new pipe for at least 10 days, only that one ... I don't have any problems smoking a pipe even for days I have many pipes, the right one and I smoke them all .... never had any problems .... .I smoke only Italian pipes and artisans if possible ....

 

[saltedplug]

I often smoke the same pipe multiple times per day for a week or more before changing pipes. That goes for factory pipes, commissioned artisan pieces, meers, cobs or what have you. I've had this one since Summer 1992.

View attachment 57262

Great design! The ridge is a simple idea that I've never seen before. Maker?

 

[saltedplug]

No rest is easy.
Rest without rest.
Without resting the rest.

Resting pipes is another pipe myth that makes sense on the surface but in practice makes no difference.

Dedicating pipes wastes resources.

 

[PipeIT]

These are my observations, test this too, and see if you notice the same thing(s), because I’ve always experienced the same results.

It is a fact that Briar is very fire resistant, but Briar will collect moisture and have some level of condensation.

Because of the moisture and condensation, I look at it like drying out is curing the wood.

I call this curing rather than drying, because drying something out, doesn’t always means it is at an ideal state, it is simply dry.

After you smoke a bowl smell the chamber, what does it typically smell like? For me personally every pipe I’ve smoked pretty much smells like ash and dottle.

If you notice the chamber smells like ash and dottle after smoking, let the pipe rest, until the smell of the chamber starts to resemble more of the smell of tobacco. If you let it rest long enough, the smell becomes better, even to a point of taking on a sweeter aroma sometimes.

So do this experiment, smoke the pipe, then smoke it the next day, and see how it tastes. Now rest your pipe until the chamber smells nicer, and then smoke the pipe again to compare tastes.

For me personally without fail, every pipe I have rested until the chamber starts smelling sweeter, has given me a better smoke.

The one thing about this drying/curing process, depending on your ambient temperature/humidity, it will make a difference on how long to rest.

For me personally 2-3 days is where my pipes start smelling the sweetest and taste the best.

 

[puff_not_snuff]

Don't believe everything you read. When I started smoking a pipe 53 yrs ago I only had 2 pipes and smoked them like I stole them. Briar is alot more durable then you think. Clean after each smoke and your pipe will be fine. If your that concerned then do what @ChuckMijo said and get you a corn cob pipe or two.

I'm bad about resting, and cleaning. Did clean this one pipe recently and it tasted so much better after.

 

[PipeIT]

I only have 5 pipes at the moment I smoke, so I smoke one after the other, which gives each pipe 4 days to rest.

My MM Apple Diplomat Cob I’m getting ready to smoke from 4 days ago, when I put it down it smelled of ash, I smoked Samuel Gawith Squadron Leader in it.

Today 4 days later the chamber smells like nice smoky Latakia.

 

[mso489]

One of the obligations I have to owning too many pipes is to rotate them pretty much every bowl, so I get all my too many smoked, and they get dried out for weeks until they are smoked again. I scoop, wipe out the chamber, pipe cleaner the airway, and hand buff the whole pipe, so mostly they stay in pretty good shape. I keep only a thin carbon layer in the chamber, no cake building as such, and this works out well, especially when pipes get over 20 years old. The first pipe I ever bought, a bent smooth pot with a nifty vertical saddle stem, looks fine and smokes better than ever, at about 40 years old. It's a Tinderbox St. Ives probably made by Chacom with light chestnut stain. In the mid-seventies, I think I paid about $35 for it, but I'm guessing. With no cake, I don't ream, don't own a reamer.

 

[morior8]

I bought three for my first set up to rotate out as needed. I don't plan on smoking all that much but they were on sale so I figured why not.

 

[anotherbob]

after reading this thread I decided to rest my pipes. To only smoke them once in a day. So I bring three pipes to work. One for my pre work smoke one for my break and one for the walk home. I have noticed a difference. Not a critical difference but a definite difference. The pipes taste slightly sweeter but generally not anything huge. The biggest difference is how the pipes smell sitting on the shelf. Before when I didn't bother with resting my pipes they'd give off whiffs of cigarettes and ash tray. With resting them (one smoke a day per pipe) the pipe shelf smells more like well-- pipe tobacco with a slightly smoky odor. So thanks for posting this question. I think I prefer resting my pipes but also wouldn't make it into a rule either. And as always I am sure other people will have wildly different experiences.

 

[Chasing Embers]

After you smoke a bowl smell the chamber, what does it typically smell like? For me personally every pipe I’ve smoked pretty much smells like ash and dottle.

Are you wiping out the chamber with a paper towel and cleaning the mortise and airway after each smoke?