Pipe Mud?
Tom T.
I've got a problem with a favorite pipe, a Biltimore canadian with a
cuttyish cant to the bowl. A pinhole has appeared on the heel, which I fear
indicates impending burnout. Somewhere I have read of a mix-it-yourself
substance known as pipe mud. Does anyone have a recipe and instructions for
making and using this stuff. I hope I can save this pipe. The pipe is quite old
and much used.
Regards,
Tom
Mark Tinsky
yellow...@aol.com (Tom T.) wrote:
Hi Tom
You can petty much use anything that will bind carbon powder, even
elmers glue which I believe is non toxic.But the carbon powder, I use
the stuff fromm fart pill capsules will do the trick . If not a small
hole can be drilled into the pipe and a briar plug inserted. But try
the carbon first MT
Ian Sean
Tom,
I've had success w/mixing a small amount of maple syrup to
act as a binder and fully-charred dottle from a previously-
smoked bowl. Grind up the charred dottle to a fine consistency
and add the syrup until you get a, well, mud-like paste. I've
just always used my fingers, usually the pinky for dexterity, to
apply the paste. I've used this method approx. a half-dozen times
on heat cracks that have formed on the inner bowl of my pipes and,
with two or three carefull smokes afterwords to form a true cake over
the patch, it has worked every time. I wish you luck!
Ian Hendricks
Bernie
news:20021126105925...@mb-fg.aol.com...
The proper official recipe for Pipe Mud has been posted before and is worth
doing a google search for. I think the poster was one of the Roberts. I've
used it quite successfully.
--
Bernie
"The American Indians discovered tobacco, the greatest of all discoveries
and the only real progress in culture since the beginnings of time."
Victor Auburtin
random
"fart pill capsules"??? Is this a trade seekrit? What is a "fart
pill capsule" pray tell? You can take pills to make you fart or what?
Damn, science is wonderful.
camRoon
<nospamber...@email.com> wrote:
>"Tom T." <yellow...@aol.com> wrote in message
>news:20021126105925...@mb-fg.aol.com...
>> Hi ASP,
>> I've got a problem with a favorite pipe, a Biltimore canadian with a
>> cuttyish cant to the bowl. A pinhole has appeared on the heel, which I
>fear
>> indicates impending burnout. Somewhere I have read of a mix-it-yourself
>> substance known as pipe mud. Does anyone have a recipe and instructions
>for
>> making and using this stuff. I hope I can save this pipe. The pipe is
>quite old
>> and much used.
>> Regards,
>>
>Tom
>
>
>The proper official recipe for Pipe Mud has been posted before and is worth
>doing a google search for. I think the poster was one of the Roberts. I've
>used it quite successfully.
Is this it (by Robery DOnnelly, 5/19/2002) ? :
'Pipe Mud' is composed of (3) parts good cigar ash and (1)
drop of water (basically), mix until it looses it sheen and if you
added anymore ash it would crumble (you'll get the hang of it). I
use the wooden end of a match to mix mine and apply it where it's
needed, then work it in with the spoon end of my pipe tool. The
results are amazing, from filling spots in cake, to cracks and
bottomed out bowls, and applying a coating over hotspots, and will dry
hard and allow cake to form.
All the Best,
Robert
Bernie
news:bvm7uu0j4rdcbms53...@4ax.com...
> >
> >
> >The proper official recipe for Pipe Mud has been posted before and is
worth
> >doing a google search for. I think the poster was one of the Roberts.
I've
> >used it quite successfully.
>
> Is this it (by Robery DOnnelly, 5/19/2002) ? :
>
> 'Pipe Mud' is composed of (3) parts good cigar ash and (1)
> drop of water (basically), mix until it looses it sheen and if you
> added anymore ash it would crumble (you'll get the hang of it). I
> use the wooden end of a match to mix mine and apply it where it's
> needed, then work it in with the spoon end of my pipe tool. The
> results are amazing, from filling spots in cake, to cracks and
> bottomed out bowls, and applying a coating over hotspots, and will dry
> hard and allow cake to form.
>
Dat's da one.
buck12ga
incREMOVE_FAKE_HAM.com says...
out of pipe mud.Then I'll charge outrageous prices for them and make a
fortune on "pipe mud pipes".Then I'll move to France and make morta
pipes,yeah that's the ticket.No,I think I'll move to Montana,move'n to
Montana soon.
buck
Tom T.
hitting pharmacies all afternoon asking for "fart pills" and getting weird
stares. The cigar is probably cheaper anyway.
Thanks all,
Tom
random
Oh stop it. Pass the beer. Thanks. I just want to know about these
"fart pills" because I have not seen them advertised for $19.95 on
television yet.
random
If the pipe is old and beat up, you can use just about anything
without damaging it. Bondo? Don't smoke anything that'll make you
puke and worse, okay?
Ever think about a military-honors funeral for the pipe and buying a
new one to celebrate its passing?
camRoon
> You mean I'll have to smoke a cigar? A good one? Damn. Oh well' I've been
>hitting pharmacies all afternoon asking for "fart pills" and getting weird
>stares.
I can just imagine ... "You want a pill that makes you do WHAT?"
Bernie
news:lmk7uuk2m0805f758...@4ax.com...
>
> "fart pill capsules"??? Is this a trade seekrit? What is a "fart
> pill capsule" pray tell? You can take pills to make you fart or what?
> Damn, science is wonderful.
In the UK they are called Heinz Baked Beans. Quite popular so I'm told.
fred hanna
I published the original pipe mud article back a year or two ago in
the NASPC newsletter. It is tremendously useful and was the result of
months and months of experimenting with many pipe problems back in the
late 1970s, and we called our solution pipe mud. I will include the
entire text of the article below.
Hope it helps.
Fred
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pipe Mud:
A Solution to the Problem of the High Draft Hole, and Other Pipe Bowl
Problems
There is a frequently occurring problem among pipes of nearly all
grades and brands that seldom receives the attention it deserves.
Unfortunately there has been no satisfactory solution that pipe
collectors and enthusiasts can actually put to use with relative ease.
It is the problem of the high draft hole (also known as the air hole
or shank drilling). A high draft hole is a condition that occurs when
the drilling through the shank of a pipe meets the bowl or tobacco
chamber at a point higher than its bottom. In other words, the draft
hole and the bottom of the bowl do not meet flush. The net result is
that due to the high drilling, the bottom of the bowl of the pipe does
not get properly caked. It gets wet and sometimes rank, and the pipe
may not draw as well as it should. It seems to occur more often with
bent pipes.
High draft holes are a problem with workmanship and are seldom
mentioned among pipesmokers or carvers, as most people believe that
little or nothing can be done about them. I have known several pipe
collectors who will avoid any pipe with a high draft hole due to the
fact that the condition severely diminishes the proper function of the
pipe as a smoking instrument. I have seen many expensive Dunhills,
Charatan Supremes, Castello Greatlines, and other high grade pipes
with this problem. I would like to offer an approach to this dilemma.
I make no claims to this being the perfect solution but it does seem
to work, and seems relatively harmless as well. It was jointly
developed around 20 years ago by myself and my good friend Terry
McLoughlin who is now the manager of the fine Port Royal Pipe and
Cigar shop in Toledo, Ohio.
The Technique
Our solution is what we call "pipe mud." We experimented with other
solutions to the problem, including many variations involving the use
of honey, but pipe mud was by far the best. Please allow me to
describe it to you. Pipe mud is a mixture of fine cigar ash crushed
into fine powder, and then mixed in the right combination with water,
so as to produce a thick "paste" or "mud" that can fill in the bottom
of the bowl of a pipe. The bottom of the bowl is filled in with mud
to eventually meet the lower end of the draft hole. Unlike honey and
ash combinations, pipe mud is a nonsticky paste, and it can be formed
or molded in any way the smoker wishes. But the best way is by using
a pipe cleaner inserted through the shank, to serve as a guide to
build a well shaped "false bottom" at the entrance of the draft hole.
This simulates the actual conditions of a proper drilling by a
competent pipemaker, and compensates for the lack of precision in the
making of that pipe. The best tools to form the new bottom seems to
be the rounded outside of the "spoon" of a pipe tool, and the rounded
end of a pipe tamper (if you have one of that sort) to round out the
new bottom.
The single most important point to remember about making pipe mud is
that the cigar ash and water must be mixed properly or the entire
effort will be wasted. If too much water is used in the mix, the pipe
mud will easily crumble, flake away, and disintegrate. The mixing
should be thorough and complete. When mixing, as little water as
possible should be used, so that there is no reflective "sheen" of the
water showing on the surface of the "mud." If too little water is
used, the ash will separate and the mix will not become cohesive. The
ideal combination is to have so little water in the mix that any less
will cause that separation. Mixing should be very thorough, and I use
a pipe tool spoon to do the job. It takes a bit of practice but
eventually one gets the knack. After creating the "false bottom" of
the bowl, the mud should be allowed two full days to dry, so that the
water can evaporate and the pipe mud can harden and "grab" onto the
walls of the bowl. After the mud is dry, it is a good idea to gently
rub it with a finger and blow out any loose grains before smoking.
The pipe can then be smoked and a new cake can be formed over and upon
the new surface. When done right, the pipe mud job is completely
unnoticeable after a few bowls of tobacco. Of course, one would want
to inform any new or prospective owner of the pipe that it had
undergone this treatment.
Pipe mud has several important advantages. When properly mixed it
dries very hard, almost as hard as cake. It adds little or no flavor
to tobacco, and is made of a completely inert, noncombustible
material. Unlike honey, it will not run down the sides of the bowl
when it heats up, and leaves no carbon residue from excess sugar. It
is very readily and easily caked over by the normal process of
smoking. Remarkably, it is absorbent of moisture, more so than briar
itself. Another advantage is that it can be removed with a standard
reaming tool if one decides to get rid of it. A final advantage of
pipe mud is that it is inexpensive, costing no more than the enjoyment
of a fine cigar or two. It is important to add that only high quality
cigars should be used for this process, so that no bits of tobacco
residue are embedded in the ash.
Other Uses of Pipe Mud
In addition to adjusting high draft holes, we used it to fix heat
fissures in the inside of bowls for customers, and to fill in heat
cracks around a draft hole that is starting to burn out. Hungarian
and full bent shapes are especially prone to such burnout due to the
steep angle of the shank bore into the bowl. Pipe mud can protect
areas that are starting to burn. With regard to another form of draft
hole problem, my friend Jeff Goldman once acquired a Ser Jacopo Picta
that had one side of the draft hole literally burned away from
combustion. He used pipe mud to fill in and restore the old draft
hole and the pipe now smokes wonderfully. Recently, a friend from the
Christopher Morley Pipe Club in Philadelphia told me with some concern
that a favorite old Ben Wade had mysteriously formed large heat cracks
in the inner bowl walls. This sometimes happens through no fault of
the pipe smoker. After all, briar is a thing of nature and subject to
the laws of physics. My friend made a batch of pipe mud and pressed
it into those cracks and caked it over with great success, saving the
pipe.
Another use for pipe mud has been for bowls or tobacco chambers with a
"U" shaped bottom, that is, one that does not allow tobacco to burn
completely and, consequently, leaves too much dottle in the bottom of
the bowl. In these cases, pipe mud can be used to reshape the bottom
of the bowl, tapering it gently into the draft hole, as it might
appear in a well bored pipe. This greatly increases the efficiency of
the draw, and makes for much less accumulation of dottle. In another
case, I once acquired a Castello Collection Greatline that was so
poorly reamed that the cake was plagued with large uneven lumps, and
with craters in the cake that went all the way down to bare wood. It
was quite disconcerting to see that such a great pipe had been so
poorly treated. I carefully smoothed the lumps with a 3-sided pipe
knife/reamer (made by Savinelli), filled in the craters with pipe mud
(to protect the bare wood), and caked it over by smoking my favorite
tobacco. After smoking 3 or 4 bowls one would never have known there
was a problem. Although there is a just a hint of cigar taste when
pipe mud is applied to the walls (but not draft holes) of a pipe, in
this case that Greatline was smoking great after those 3 or 4 bowls.
Many of my fellow pipe smokers have used pipe mud successfully. My
friend Bill Feild, a discerning collector and a long time critic of
high draft holes, has used pipe mud to great advantage to compensate
for the poor drillings of several of his pipes. I should mention,
however, that we use this stuff very conservatively, only if and when
there is need. There is no point in overdoing it or getting fancy
with this method. In closing, I know that this approach might be
controversial for some, but please bear in mind that pipe mud can
usually be removed with a good pipe reamer. We have never had any
negative consequences as a result of using it. In any case, I welcome
comments, criticisms, suggestions for improvement, or better solutions
to the high draft hole, a problem that remains, nevertheless, in need
of more attention.
Fred Hanna
Baltimore, Maryland
Tom
Thanks Fred.
--Tom
------------------------------------
"Homo sum, humani nil a me alienum puto."
Terrance
MWR
(waterglass) for a 'guaranteed hold' mixture. Anyone interested in obtaining
this miracle liquid :) please contact me.
MWR
"fred hanna" :
James Fawls
fredc...@comcast.net wrote on 11/26/02 8:37 PM:
> Hi Tom,
>
> I published the original pipe mud article back a year or two ago in
> the NASPC newsletter. It is tremendously useful and was the result of
> months and months of experimenting with many pipe problems back in the
> late 1970s, and we called our solution pipe mud. I will include the
> entire text of the article below.
>
> Hope it helps.
> Fred
> -------------
Terrific post. Thanks a lot!
James
Robert DOnnelly
Hi Tom,
I posted the string about 'pipe mud',.. it's simply good cigar ash.
What I do is mix approx.(1) drop of water to (3) parts cigar ash,
adding the ash as I as I go, rather than all at once. You want to mix
it to the point where it loose's it's sheen, and that if you added any
more then it would crumble. I use the end of a wooden match to mix
with and a small plastic lid to contain the ashes. Once mixed
throughly,.. then take the end of the match with 'pipe mud' on it and
dab it wherever it's needed. Afterwards, use the smooth end of your
pipe spoon to work it in while pressing at the same time. This is a
simple method, and cheap, and allows cake to form over it. I have used
it countless times and I can attest that it works great. As your
problem is in the heel just use your tamper to press down firmly,,
then use the spoon to smooth the sides up. I also usually insert a
cleaner in the shank just to play it safe. Now if it were around the
rim I would suggest using a bit of stain to set it so it won't
crumble, but after you start smoking it will hold the cake. Hope this
helps.
All the Best,
Robert
Robert DOnnelly
Hi Tom,
I just happen to be a cigar smoker as well, but only on occassion, as
they are too expensive these days,.. but whenever I do, I save the
ashes for 'pipe mud'. Any good cigar will do,.if you bulk at this
perhaps you know someone who does smoke cigars and will do this for
you, just make sure you save the ashes.
All the Best,
Robert
Robert DOnnelly
Hi Fred,
I didn't mean to take any of your limelight away, just thought I was
the first to post it here on ASP, and I believe I mentioned at the
time that I read it in Pipes and Tobacco's Magazine which was probably
your article. It's great stuff isn't it? It sure has helped me with
some of my older pipes and I want to thank you for letting everyone
know, and I just tried to spread the word around here as well.
All the Best,
Robert
inquisitor
activated charcoal odor eaters for your shoes, but, well, you know.
And you know what? Damn stuff works too. I've even heard that you can
re-use yer turds as barbecue briquettes....
Christopher
"Mark Tinsky" <m...@mt.net> wrote in message
news:mt-90435A.10...@news.mt.net...
fred hanna
> I didn't mean to take any of your limelight away, just thought I was
> the first to post it here on ASP, and I believe I mentioned at the
> time that I read it in Pipes and Tobacco's Magazine which was probably
> your article. It's great stuff isn't it? It sure has helped me with
> some of my older pipes and I want to thank you for letting everyone
> know, and I just tried to spread the word around here as well.
> All the Best,
> Robert
Hi Robert,
No problem at all. I appreciate your spreading the news. Actually, I
had forgotten I had originally written up the formula for P&T. This
technique has helped with many pipes of my own and my friends.
In reference to some of the others posts in this thread, however, I
would shy away from using anything "sticky" simply because the pure
ash and water technique is far superior. I say this because I tried a
vast number of honey and ash combinations and variations, all with
less than satisfactory results.
Take care,
Fred
Bernie
news:jycF9.34340$hK4.2...@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
> You can buy activated charcoal capsules for flatulence. Kind of like
those
> activated charcoal odor eaters for your shoes, but, well, you know.
>
> And you know what? Damn stuff works too. I've even heard that you can
> re-use yer turds as barbecue briquettes....
>
You know I had you marked as one of the more sophisticated members of this
forum.....:-)
Todd M. Johnson
Hey Tom,
You can use activated charcoal (I buy it from a friend in the medical
profession) and immulsify it in either water glass, unflavored
geletain, or non fat sour cream. The consistency is up to you,
depending on whether you need to simply coat the walls, pool it in the
bottom to match the draft hole height, or fill in the start of a
burn-out.
Todd
STOA Briars
http://home.earthlink.net/~tmjohnso
Allen Vick
everywhere in the area I live in and can't find it.
Allen Vick
Frank Nawrath
in the area and most don't even know what I mean - shame on that
profession!
I found it for sale at: www.Lehmans.com
BUT....
Waterglass (liquid sodium silicate)
One gallon bucket will preserve 50 dozen eggs Non hazardous; fumeless
#10406 $ 24.95
That's a bit too much for our needs.
Frank
On Thu, 28 Nov 2002 20:26:46 -0500, "Allen Vick" <vic...@erols.com>
wrote:
inquisitor
Christopher
(BTW, IBPTT samples en route)
"Bernie" <nospamber...@email.com> wrote in message
news:as5tmq$ob7iu$1...@ID-112332.news.dfncis.de...