Why don't aromatics make cake on my briar?

[mathoozula]

I got a hefty King-sized Savinelli last year. I have been using it to smoke the occasional aromatic, but have preferred not to use it as it gets rather hot quickly. I know it needed broken in, but after almost a year of sporadic use, it has no cake at all.
Should I just go ahead and enjoy my Latakia blends in it knowing that I might ghost the pipe? I heard that English type blends build cake quicker. And that Latakia ghosts pipes.
It would still like to dedicate the pipe to aromatics.
Any suggestions?

 

[Chasing Embers]

Try Carter Hall to build your cake. No ghosting there.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Guyrox hit it. But, speaking of latakia ghosting... you may get residual latakia in a few smokes when you switch back to aromatics, but it's short lived. And, I kind of like it. The slight latakia with aromatics reminds me a little of the Frog Mortons.

 

[lordofthepiperings]

I've never had a problem building cake in a pipe dedicated to aromatics. Can't help, sorry.

 

[mathoozula]

I enjoy FrogMorton Cellar so maybe I should try to build cake with Latakia blends.

 

[warren]

How are you cleaning the inside of the bowl? Nothing too vigorous I hope.

 

[cobguy]

Why don't aromatics make cake on my briar?

It needs to be a cake flavored aro? Sorry ... couldn't resist! :mrgreen:

 

[deathmetal]

Sweet Virginias seem to build the best cake for me.

 

[mathoozula]

I am only digging the bowl out with a Czech tool. I don't think anything but dottle and ash is coming out as I dump the bowl.

 

[warren]

Well, that's not the problem. How sporadic? 10? 20? bowls over the year?

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I wouldn't really worry about cake. I would suggest just learning to smoke your pipe slower, cooler. I hate cake in my pipes, and I wipe them out with. Paper towel after each smoke and still have to scrape them occasionally. The catch 22 is that smoking slower and cooler will better push the essence that creates the oils and gunk that makes the cake. Usually as soon as you stop fretting over cake, it will start building up faster.

 

[skraps]

If you are insistent upon keeping it an aro pipe, here is what I would suggest.
When you smoke other tobaccos, that generate a nice white ash upon dumping the pipe, keep that ash. When you are done with a bowl of tobacco in this pipe, use your Czech tool to scoop some of that ash into the bowl. Put your thumb over the top and give it a good shake. Leave it in there until the bowl cools and then dump it out. You should see the bowl coated evenly with that ash. Give a good blow through the stem before smoking it again so you don't get a mouth full of ash.
This has always worked for me. YMMV.

 

[pitchfork]

Warren's question is probably the answer. (Huh?)
What I mean is, building up a noticeable layer of cake takes longer than you might think. I have more than a few pipes and only the ones I smoke regularly and often have ever built up cake to the point that I've scraped it back - and even then I just used a Czech tool. Just doing a quick count, I'd say only about 5 or 6 of my pipes (out of 40 or 50) have ever built noticeable amounts of cake.
Also, I buy estate pipes fairly often and I've seen some pretty thick aromatic cake, so the aromatics themselves shouldn't be a problem.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Ash?? That's what builds cake? I generally wipe ash out, or rinse it out if I am not using the pipe for a day. Yet I have cake, though I think cake is often overrated.
I though it was the combo of heat and tobacco ingredients that don't fully combust that build cake. I've been wrong before!

 

[phil67]

I wouldn't be concerned about building up any cake as it literally can't be avoided while smoking a pipe whether it be aromatics or not. As the old saying goes: a watched tea pot never boils. However, if you're all that concerned about building up some cake quickly simply do this: after smoking the pipe gently tap out the ash and dottle on a pipe cork or the heel of your shoe, etc., but don't clean the bowl in any way and let it dry for out for one day. Then simply wipe the bowl out gently with a napkin or paper towel. This gives a chance for the oils and tar residue that the tobacco leaves behind to dry and adhere to the walls of the bowl rather than promptly cleaning the bowl after every smoke. Do this and you'll be amazed at how quickly you'll get a cake build up if it really concerns you all that much. But, as I stated earlier I wouldn't be concerned about it as it will indeed build up and become nothing more than a PITA to keep under control. Smoke it, and it will come.

 

[perdurabo]

Don't be concerned with cake. I clean the inside of the bowl with Golden Grain to stop that damn cake build up.
One thing I've observed while shopping antique stores for pipes, those damn codgers didn't take care of their briars. Cake is so thick that the briar is cracking.

 

[mso489]

Two points. A sturdy minority of us don't recommend building cake at all. Scoop out the ash, wipe out the bowl, and leave the carbon layer permanently thin. It will do the trick and there is almost no reduction of bowl size and no burn-out in the briar, and no reaming to grind away the chamber. I know most favor cake building, but my thirty and forty year old pipes do just fine with a thin carbon layer for all these years. Second, unless you are exquisitely sensitive to residual flavors, Latakia isn't a ghosting problem. A few of the overtly floral and soapy aromatics cause a problem, but most people don't have to designate pipes for Latakia. I think for most this is not an issue. I don't dispute people who prefer to build cake, and who want to designate pipes for specific kinds of blends, but I just point out that others of us, just as fussy and particular about our pipe enjoyment don't do either of those.

 

[mathoozula]

It turns out that I was just smoking the aros too quickly. Pipe gets hot as I try to get some tobacco flavor and nicotine from these goopy aros.
I've decided to forget about aros all together and just focus on more straight tobaccos. I recently learned more about the cadence I should use by retrohaling. If the smoke is too thick, it burns my nose and I should slow down.
Part of my problem is that I have been smoking fast to get a dose of nicotine, but I'm finding out that I seem to get more Vitamin N as I smoke slower. Seems counterintuitive, but it seems to be true. More time in the mouth I guess as I sip.

 

[shutterbugg]

Why don't aromatics make cake on my briar?

Cause they're busy making number two in your briar.

 

[lordofthepiperings]

Part of my problem is that I have been smoking fast to get a dose of nicotine, but I'm finding out that I seem to get more Vitamin N as I smoke slower. Seems counterintuitive, but it seems to be true. More time in the mouth I guess as I sip.

If your smoking for the nicotine then it's probably better to go towards more natural blends. Most aromatics have very little nicotine in them. I could probably have 10 bowls in a day of 1Q and not feel anything. A VaPer like Luxury Bullseye Flake though, that one packs a bit of a punch.