Greetings,
About a month ago, I purchased a Savinelli Trevi Smooth 602 which comes with the bowl completely uncarbonized. When first smoking the pipe, I made an effort to be especially careful not to smoke too fast and to avoid heading up the pipe, to avoid damaging the naked briar. After one smoking session, I noticed that the finish on one part of the pipe almost looked wet. I didn't think much of it at the time, but upon further recent inspection, I'm seeing that on the right side of the pipe, there is an area where the varnish appears to be duller and lighter than on the rest of the bowl, and this spot looks curiously like a thumb print. Also, on the left side of the bowl, there are multiple, crescent shaped, side by side marks in the varnish which are also duller and lighter, they almost look like " stretch marks" on the finish.
Last night, I tried applying a small amount of olive oil per a suggestion I had seen on a pipe site, in an effort to correct this. When I first applied the olive oil, the pipe looked awesome, super shiny and the marks I'm describing seemed to vanish. However, as the olive oil dried, the varnish on the whole pipe now looks softer, albeit still shiny, but the aforementioned marks are still present. Is it possible that the bowl is getting hot enough during smoking that the lacquer is breaking down? This would seem crazy for a pipe of this price. I have a twenty dollar drug store pipe that I often hold by the bowl while smoking and have had no such issues with the finish. In general, is it considered a no-no to handle the bowl of the pipe while smoking? I will try to post some pics of the marks on the pipe either this evening or tomorrow, and would be very grateful for any insight our advice. Thanks very much.
About a month ago, I purchased a Savinelli Trevi Smooth 602 which comes with the bowl completely uncarbonized. When first smoking the pipe, I made an effort to be especially careful not to smoke too fast and to avoid heading up the pipe, to avoid damaging the naked briar. After one smoking session, I noticed that the finish on one part of the pipe almost looked wet. I didn't think much of it at the time, but upon further recent inspection, I'm seeing that on the right side of the pipe, there is an area where the varnish appears to be duller and lighter than on the rest of the bowl, and this spot looks curiously like a thumb print. Also, on the left side of the bowl, there are multiple, crescent shaped, side by side marks in the varnish which are also duller and lighter, they almost look like " stretch marks" on the finish.
Last night, I tried applying a small amount of olive oil per a suggestion I had seen on a pipe site, in an effort to correct this. When I first applied the olive oil, the pipe looked awesome, super shiny and the marks I'm describing seemed to vanish. However, as the olive oil dried, the varnish on the whole pipe now looks softer, albeit still shiny, but the aforementioned marks are still present. Is it possible that the bowl is getting hot enough during smoking that the lacquer is breaking down? This would seem crazy for a pipe of this price. I have a twenty dollar drug store pipe that I often hold by the bowl while smoking and have had no such issues with the finish. In general, is it considered a no-no to handle the bowl of the pipe while smoking? I will try to post some pics of the marks on the pipe either this evening or tomorrow, and would be very grateful for any insight our advice. Thanks very much.
