Break-in Question-How many bowls per day
RGS
break-in process, after smoking the small bowl full does it go down for a
rest or can more small smokes be had?
Also, when one uses the salt/everclear method of cleaning/revitalizing is
the cake ruined and the pipe re-broken in or does the pipe retain the
benifits of the previous cake?
Thanks
Ron
Jeff Schwartz
None of this 1/3, 1/2, 3/4 stuff for me. I tried that once and the pipe got
so hot it nearly exploded into a ball of fire. Load 'er up. Light 'er up.
That's my style.
During this process I'll smoke it as often as my palate can stand until I
see a good layer of cake building, especially in the bottom of the bowl
where it is so important. Once it begins to cake up it falls into my regular
rotation.
As for the salt and alcohol treatment, you really want to ream the bowl down
to the wood before applying this. This allows the alcohol to leach into the
wood and for the salt to draw off all the impurities. Again, this is my
style and YMMV.
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"RGS" <rg...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
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Joshua
If the pipe is a light colored/natural smooth, I won't mess around with
the 1/3, 1/2 etc... (I did this once with a Castello collection and have
had a two-toned pipe ever since..lol yes it colored that drastically
after one half bowl). I just won't smoke a light colored smooth until I
am sure I have the time and patience to smoke an entire bowl, as it is
important that it needs to be finished. If it's a blast, rusticated, or
a smooth with a nice walnut or other dark stain then I usually will
smoke a few 1/3-1/2 bowls before I load it to the top.
I usually smoke two to three 1/3 bowl smokes in rapid succession when
doing this but that's not written in stone, then I'll most likely do the
same the following day and thenfiller to then top. When running my
first few bowls in a new pipe I am not so concerned about resting the
pipe. Once I have a few bowls run through and a cake is beginning (at
least), I'll put the pipe down for at least a week to let it breathe.
Then it's fair game.
I am also a fan of 'pasting' the ash onto the walls and/or shaking the
remaining ash to help get the cake started.
As for the salt/alcohol method. I've only had to do this twice- I remed
the pipe well, did the procedure and it worked great. I found that the
cake was completely removed (except a bit by the heel), but the bowl
walls remained well seasoned wood... no need to break in the pipe again
to remove the saps.. only to rebuild a cake.
Joshua
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Tapio Pentikainen
>Alright, I pack the bowl one third full on a new pipe and begin the beloved
>break-in process, after smoking the small bowl full does it go down for a
>rest or can more small smokes be had?
Give the pipe a rest, it needs it, at least for a day.
>Also, when one uses the salt/everclear method of cleaning/revitalizing is
>the cake ruined and the pipe re-broken in or does the pipe retain the
>benifits of the previous cake?
Salt/alcohol treatment is IMHO reserved for those really funky estate
oldies, ream the cake off first and then do the treatment if
necessary.
Tapio
G. L. Pease
(in message <UJKt6.124510$t67.1...@news1.rdc1.il.home.com>):
> Alright, I pack the bowl one third full on a new pipe and begin the beloved
> break-in process, after smoking the small bowl full does it go down for a
> rest or can more small smokes be had?
Some of my thoughts on breaking in pipes can be found in another thread.
But, I didn't address the issue of rest. A new pipe can be smoked more
frequently than a well seasoned one. Often, I'll smoke a brand new pipe
two or three times the first day, gradually increasing the rest period.
By the time I've smoked it 5-7 times, it's getting at least a couple days
off between smokes. Once it's had about a dozen bowls through it, it'll
get the full week minimum that all the pipes in "rotation" get.
> Also, when one uses the salt/everclear method of cleaning/revitalizing is
> the cake ruined and the pipe re-broken in or does the pipe retain the
> benifits of the previous cake?
It really depends on the cake. Some smokers build a very hard, dense cake
that will survive the salt/ETOH treatment, while others somehow create a
soft, sponge-like cake that crumbles when you do this.
The nature of the cake is determined by the types of tobacco smoked, how
hot the pipe is smoked, and so on. Heavily sauced aromatics tend to
produce soft, spongey cakes, especially if smoked slowly, while Virginias
tend to produce dense, hard cakes.
The salt treatment extracts soluble organics from the cake and wood of
the pipe, and deposits them in the salt through capilary action. The pipe
won't have to be broken in again, but some of the characteristics of a
properly seasoned pipe will be lost.
BTW, the salt treatment should be considered a last resort, not a normal
maintenance procedure. Normal cleaning with pipe cleaners, and the
occasional swabbing with alcohol is all that's necessary to keep a pipe
smoking sweet, provided it has plenty or rest time between smokes.
-Greg
Bear Graves
"G. L. Pease" wrote:
I guess we still have a few experts around. Barbary in a Dunhill Cricketeer
Bear
Robert Crim
wrote:
>
>The salt treatment extracts soluble organics from the cake and wood of
>the pipe, and deposits them in the salt through capilary action. The pipe
>won't have to be broken in again, but some of the characteristics of a
>properly seasoned pipe will be lost.
There is a school of thought that holds that some of the salt is
dissolved and deposited in the wood fibers by that same capillary
action. I've never experienced the cracking that can occur when the
salt recrystallizes upon drying, but I have read reports of it
happening.
For that reason, I use cotton balls or paper towel as the medium to
soak up the "bad stuff" instead. The alky will also soften the cake
making it easier to ream when you come across one of those estate
pipes that has been in someone's rack for 20 or 30 years.
YMMV
Robert