Why Does a Pipe Smoke Hot?

[shaintiques]

Why does a pipe smoke hot? And what I mean is the smoke itself is hot. The other night I smoked two bowls of Escudo back to back in two different pipes. The second bowl smoked hot. I smoke slow, slowly sipping. I smoke escudo more than anything else. But for some reason this one pipe I own smokes hot. The pipe has thick walls and a shallow bowl. So takeaway technique and tobacco type, why do you think it would smoke hot. Maybe the Briar isn’t cured enough. Could that be a factor? What do you guys think?

 

[Peterson314]

Length of your stem would makes a big difference. A short stem doesn't give smoke a lot of time to cool. How wide is the bowl and how well are you lit? More surface area = more tobacco burning at once, which could make it hotter.

Drier tobacco burns hotter than high-moisture tobacco. Probably not an issue here since you've got the same tobacco in two different pipes.

The biggest factor is airflow. More air will make things hotter, but you said you are smoking slowly. If one pipe just draws more quickly, bigger hole for example, you'll draw more air which burns hot.

I'd doubt it has anything to do with the wood itself. It's likely geometry.

Also, how do you light your pipes? Matches burn a lot cooler than butane & zippo lighters.

 

[Chasing Embers]

On some of my thick walled bowls, it seems they insulate the heat and make the tobacco in the chamber burn a bit hotter.

 

[mso489]

The shallow bowl and the coin cut might relate in some way. Did you fold and stuff, or rub it out, the same in both cases? A slightly looser pack and a wider ember might contribute. I'm not as convinced by the length of stem; that seems debatable. Do other blends and cuts do better, smoke cooler, in the offending pipe? If you discover the "culprit," I'd be interested to know. Could be a certain cut and blend in one pipe. Coin, and especially Escudo, was a favorite of fish'n'banjo, the late great.

 

[haparnold]

I don’t believe stem length makes any difference. If you look at the velocity at which smoke is traveling through the stem, even adding several inches doesn’t reduce the amount of time it takes the smoke to reach your mouth by an appreciable amount.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I don’t believe stem length makes any difference

+1

Someone on here showed a study years ago that the smoke from a churchwarden was the same temperature of a nosewarmer. A pipe would have to be many feet long for it to have any impact on temperature reduction.

 

[cshubhra]

I don’t know what is causing this. However the following can be ruled out

1. Lighters and Matches

2. Length of the stem - a long stem cools the smoke because the smoke is in the pipe longer, this logic can be ruled out. I cannot completely rule out length of the stem, because of the aerodynamics involved. However I don’t think, the difference if any would be significant

@chasingembers Logic sounds good. A thick wall will radiate heat less, but will the temperature of the smoke (not the pipe) will be so different that the smoker can taste it

I will follow this closely to see what others think

 

[cshubhra]

I am merely speculating at this, but I would think two or three different reasons at play here

1. The tobacco is burning hotter due to the thick bowl
2. The pH of the smoke may make it feel hotter. The pH of the smoke can change due to the Briar
3. Smoke enters the stem from the small drilled hole. The volume of the stem (and other aerodynamic characteristics) determines the fall in pressure in the stem. If the pressure falls, the temperature would also fall. So a narrow constricted stem may not cool the smoke enough.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

This topic goes back to times of antiquity, when all pipes were made of clay and looked alike, and people were accidentally picking up someone else's pipe. When a pipe is stolen, it reacts by getting angry (or worried), which causes the pipe to heat up more than one that doesn't have ownership easier. Over the years, this is where we get the term "hot" for stolen goods, and it also explains why thieves wear gloves.. and have tongue burn. puf

 

[davek]

A longer stem will cool the smoke, maybe not appreciably. You can feel that stem get warm or hot sometimes, so it is radiating heat.

 

[Chasing Embers]

You can feel that stem get warm or hot sometimes, so it is radiating heat.

If you get to that point, you're smoking way too fast.

 

[luigi]

The cheapest pipe I own has a tendency to overheat, the bowl is hot and the air coming out of the stem if hot. I decided to abuse it to get a good reason to throw it in the trash and get a new one. In the meantime a decent cake has formed and it smokes like a champ now. I'm afraid to ream it as it will get worse again. :D

A short version: low quality briar or not "seasoned" enough. I guess we will never know for sure though.

 

[cshubhra]

That does not seem very scientific. Ideal gas law is PV = nRT. Real gas differs from ideal gas, but the concept remains similar.

He should have measured the volume pressure and temperature NOT length if he had done it scientifically


I remember during engineering days the steam tables, it will list out pressure, volume and temperature of steam to solve complex thermodynamic problems

Someone on here showed a study years ago that the smoke from a churchwarden was the same temperature of a nosewarmer.

 

[Chasing Embers]

That does not seem very scientific.

Neither does ingesting carcinogenic vapors but you can burn your tongue the same with a churchwarden as you can any pipe if you don't smoke it slowly. An eleven inch straw isn't going to cool smoke significantly enough to be a crutch for poor technique.

 

[cshubhra]

That is 100% true

Neither does ingesting carcinogenic vapors but you can burn your tongue the same with a churchwarden as you can any pipe if you don't smoke it slowly. An eleven inch straw isn't going to cool smoke significantly enough to be a crutch for poor technique.

 

[aquadoc]

I am merely speculating at this, but I would think two or three different reasons at play here

1. The tobacco is burning hotter due to the thick bowl
2. The pH of the smoke may make it feel hotter. The pH of the smoke can change due to the Briar
3. Smoke enters the stem from the small drilled hole. The volume of the stem (and other aerodynamic characteristics) determines the fall in pressure in the stem. If the pressure falls, the temperature would also fall. So a narrow constricted stem may not cool the smoke enough.

How would the smoke pH be changed by the briar?

 

[prndl]

I vote bad wood.

I owned a Savinelli Fuoco billiard once. All I could taste was "heat" whenever I smoked it, no matter the tobacco, no matter the pace, no matter the weather, no matter any of those "usual suspects" variables.

There was no explicable reason for it doing so. The other Savinelli's I owned at the time may have tasted "green" for quite a few months but, never simply "heat". After a long suffer and a short temper, I finally did the right thing and tossed it into the fireplace one winter.

Sometimes, a turd (for no other reason) is just a turd.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Two things: If the briar doesn't conduct heat as well as the other one, the ember and smoke will be hotter, all things being equal. If it's less well cured, it will be moister than the other. Those things could cause that pipe to put out hotter smoke.

 

[cshubhra]

More speculations ...

The Briar, the cake they burn a tiny amount and release volatile compounds. That is why the Briar is cured for a long time for expensive pipes

This may change the pH. But more speculations since I don’t know

How would the smoke pH be changed by the briar?

 

[mso489]

Trials with various other blends and cuts might at least suggest whether it is the pipe or the particular cut and blend.