Why Does a Pipe Smoke Hot?

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davek

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 20, 2014
685
952
But, it makes sense as if you watch the speed in which a straw pulls up a soda, with just the smallest of pressure. It's like instantaneous. You would need many feet for the smoke to have a noticeable delay in reaching your mouth to cool it any at all.
If your technique is poor and you have hot smoke, a long stem would still make it cooler. How hot it was to begin with has nothing to do with if it is cooler than it started out. I use long reed stems at least half the time and I've noticed that a long stem definitely makes a tobacco taste different. I think it is a little cooler as at least part of that.

That being said, I don't think that it is an appreciable difference in temperature.
 

didimauw

Moderator
Staff member
Jul 28, 2013
10,701
37,561
SE WI
Yes the pipes smoke hot because everyone is afraid of the cake. Embrace the cake. Love the cake. Strive for cake. Bow down to the cake.
 

milehighpiper

Can't Leave
Sep 10, 2018
418
310
Denver, CO
One reason may be the coating on your pipe. I just had this conversation with a guy who has a pipe finished in some thick plastic lacquer. He complains that the pipe smokes really hot and we agreed that it had something to do with the finish. Again, I do not know what pipes you have or what the finishes on them are but I am throwing out guesses like everyone else.

P.S. Feel free to cut your pipe in half, just post the pictures please!
 
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didimauw

Moderator
Staff member
Jul 28, 2013
10,701
37,561
SE WI
One reason may be the coating on your pipe. I just had this conversation with a guy who has a pipe finished in some thick plastic lacquer. He complains that the pipe smokes really hot and we agreed that it had something to do with the finish. Again, I do not know what pipes you have or what the finishes on them are but I am throwing out guesses like everyone else.

P.S. Feel free to cut your pipe in half, just post the pictures please!
Yes I've heard that the coating on a pipe can have that effect too. Lots of guys don't even like to put caranuba wax on their pipes I guess. Says it smokes cooler that way.
 

jpmcwjr

Lifer
May 12, 2015
26,273
30,334
Carmel Valley, CA
Perception is important! However, the physics of a coating are such that it'll have very little effect on the heat in the chamber and of course, the smoke that's produced.

Even its effect on the breathability of briar is somewhat doubtful.

I recall a shop in NYC that had a sign saying "Don't Smoke Paint" near their displays of unfinished pipes.
 
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If a blasted pipe smokes cooler because of increased surface area, then the differences between the surface area on a totally smooth and coated bowl verses one that is merely sanded and waxed is pretty significant. It may not be visible to the eye, but on a microscopic level there "could" be as much as twice as much surface area on merely a polished pipe, verses the coated one.
...of course, understand that this is coming from a complete moron who often bawks when experts post. It's always way more fun to guess... than to hear from a boring-ass expert in the field. puffy
 

tg51

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jan 24, 2017
261
464
Fort Polk, LA
Certain pipes just love to get hot no matter what you put in them. I have a Moonshine Canadian that idles at smelting level heat. Sometimes a pipe just attracts the heat pixies and theres nothing you can do but be patient and build some cake.
 

lightmybriar

Lifer
Mar 11, 2014
1,315
1,842
But, it could be that it is easier to sip on a churchwarden, making it cooler by default, but not necessarily because of the added length of the stem, but because of better technique.

Ah! I think there is a lot to this hypothesis. My “coolest” smoking pipe is my MarTelo LC, and it isn’t a church warden, but it has a good 6-7 inches of material to draw the smoke through. Additionally, the bowl is 2 inches deep, so upon the initial light, the smoke would be traveling through two inches of packed tobacco, somewhat filtering it and adding the unlit taste to the overall flavor, and then going through the 6-7 inches of briar and vulcanite...

As Cosmic noted, the amount of effort needed to draw the smoke hardly increases at all, yet if you couple that with the fact that more smoke is being drawn, maybe this is where the experience of “cooler” comes into play?

I’m having trouble properly articulating what I’m getting at, but hopefully someone understands and can either shoot it down or develop the idea further haha.
 
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