Type of Tobacco While Breaking a Brand New Pipe

[tmb152]

+1 what Cosmic said.

 

[judcole]

If you have a new pipe, smoke a tobacco in it that you know well, so you aren't wondering if it is the pipe or the tobacco influencing the smoke.

I tend to use Lane RR to break in pipes. ::

 

[andvary]

For some reason when I get a new pipe, at first I use the MacBaren Navy Flake (rubbed out, not folded).

And I also try to avoid cake build-up.
And I also burned a Brog, a pear one I believe. Burned the entrance to the air passage, a typical burn-out spot. Apart from me being clumsy the whole drilling on the pipe was off... Fixed it with pipe mud, seems to be holding OK.

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

Thanks folks for the comments,as a side note,I can tell you the following,not so long ago I was just a five minutes away from ruining my

little Peterson Prince pipe(from that unfortunate high glossy Killarney series)starting out,I went with lesser than half a bowls some tree times,then in a whim,packed it full, smoked down to heel,and what a surprice,had noticed the varnish got bubbled at the heel,very minor though,after this fricking pipe had constantly a somewhat sour taste in it,eventually gave it that salt and alcohol treatement,and this method worked out pretty satisfactory ,nevertheless that little pipe tends to develope that sourness back all again,requiring constant deep cleaning.So what I had learned while braking brand new pipes in,one must pay special attention to candence and have some patience.Paul

 

[cabinfever]

Newbie here. Dumb question. What is "cake?"

 

[aldecaker]

Cake is the carbon-y deposit left on the bowl walls after smoking. Do a Google image search for "pipe cake" or a similar term, and you will see what we are talking about.

 

[cossackjack]

+1 @Cosmic.

Tried OTC burley blend in the past & noticed no difference in conditioning the pipe, so like others I tried paring tobaccos with pipes dedicated to a particular genre.

I maintain a thin carbon layer or minimal cake at most in my pipes.

 

[davet]

What is "cake?"

Might be a little thicker than a dime though.... :rofl:

 

[cossackjack]

That pipe looks more like a sewer pipe. How & why? (Slothfulness I suspect).

 

[okiescout]

My dad has told me the stories several times about how during the war ( WWII ) if they really wanted tp piss off another sailor or marine they would ream the cake out of the guys pipe. But back then especially with men who had no room for a rotation they must have smoked the same pipe most of the time.He said at the PX you had the choice of only one codger blend and one make of pipe. This may have just been while they were actively deployed in the island campaigns, but he was stationed at Pearl for a while at one point. He is 92 so some of the stories may be reaching back, generally he is pretty consistent though but he has really only started talking about those experiences the past decade or so.
I have never let mine build up more than a fingernail thick. My old boss in my teenage years had pipes that were almost caked shut. There might be something to it.

 

[didimauw]

I perfer a lot of cake in my pipes. Cobs and briars alike. Usually don't ream them til I can't fit my little finger in the bowl. I perfer to use carter hall to start the cake build up in my pipes. Then I like to continue using cater Hall when I have a cake built up. Then I scrape it and fill it back up with more Carter hall. Get my gist? ::

 

[andrew]

My OTC goes off the charts when I'm breaking in a new pipe. This is why I'll only smoke dried grass as in lawn clippings, this way I can assure myself I'm building a good cake and breaking in the pipe properly while not worrying about wasting tobacco. I can't actually enjoy smoking a pipe until it's broken in proper, which is roughly 100 bowls.

 

[andrew]

Oops, OCD not OTC, or did I meme to say OTC