luckydogguy
Age : 31
Joined : 11 Dec 2007
Posts : 130
Location : Wisconsin, USA
 |  Subject: Re: Pipe waxing?  Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:20 pm | |
| I'm too I'm wondering about Davey's question. Anyone have any idea?
Thanks,
Lucky
_________________
“A man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he describes another's”
-Jean Paul Richter |
|
tin man
Foiled Again
Joined : 10 Dec 2007
Posts : 181
| | Subject: Re: Pipe waxing? Thu Dec 20, 2007 11:35 pm | |
| Pipemaker2,
I enjoy your posts and I hope to read more about wax as your "mainspring unwinds". (I'm gonna catch hell for sayin' that . . . . .  ) It sounds like it would be in the best interest for the average pipe owner to stay away from any and all wax unless he owns (and knows how to use) the right buffing wheels. Please correct me if I understood that incorrectly. I hope you don't mind a couple of basic questions.
With regard to the briar not breathing after using Halcyon wax, are you referring to a breathing reduction or a completely sealed condition? If it is a seal, is this seal permanent or do you think that as the shine wears off so does the seal?
How long will it take to permanently clog the briar if you apply the wax once every couple of months?
Do you think this issue was overlooked at finepipes or do you think that they have a different opinion about it? I don't it is even mentioned on the Halcyon website. (Maybe it is and I overlooked it. Wouldn't be the first time.) They seem to have covered so much about their product that you would think there would be a little statement somewhere saying that it does not alter the breathing characteristics of the briar.
I look forward to seeing a little more discussion on this topic. It's a good read for all. Thanks in advance!  |
|
bronxbill
Age : 61
Joined : 20 Dec 2007
Posts : 195
Location : Triangle area NC
| | Subject: Re: Pipe waxing? Fri Dec 21, 2007 5:25 am | |
| Davey,
Some models of Petersons do have a hard finish, Killarney is one. I don't know if is laquer or not put it is definitely permanent unlike Carnuba. I do have a Killarney that smokes well, but I do notice that the outside of the pipe gets warmer than my other Petes. Also, the Killarneys are dip stained and the stain should be removed from the inside of the bowl before break in IMHO. Hope this helps |
|
howellhandmade
Joined : 11 Dec 2007
Posts : 49
| | Subject: Re: Pipe waxing? Fri Dec 21, 2007 7:36 am | |
| | Puff Daddy wrote: | | howellhandmade wrote: | | ...no finish is truly impermeable, which I say as a bamboo fly rod maker who earnestly desires an impermeable finish. |
Are you the same Jack Howell who wrote "The lovely reed", the guide to building bamboo fly rods? |
Busted. Still working on reprinting it.
Regarding pipe finishes, the curious might be interested in Trever Talbert's blog, where I think he addressed the subject of finishes a while ago. Without a control of some kind, it's hard to have an experiment. Expectations can sway results wildly. Mind, I have no interest in the new waxes and am not defending them.
Let's say you have a pipe that is varnished. I don't think that kind of finish looks very good, and perhaps you agree. You don't like the way it smokes very much, either. You hear or read of someone's experience removing the varnish from a pipe where the resulting nude smoked better. Laboriously, you remove the varnish, working through various grades of sandpaper until you arrive at a satin finish. "Beautiful!" you think, having done a not inconsequential part of the work that actually goes into making a pipe. Where the pipe used to stick in your fingers like bare feet on a gym floor, it now feels smooth and cool as a river rock. You can see the grain now, for better or for worse, but having discovered that grain yourself, you find infinitely more interest in the most bald or wild pattern than you did in the varnish.
Does the pipe smoke better? Need one ask? Is the pipe smoked with more care? Is it regarded with more fondness? Is it given the second, third, and fourth chance to succeed that one would give one's own child? Well, perhaps not, but quite probably so -- it is only human nature. However, it is unproven, because of the personal involvement in the experiment, that the pipe was objectively improved by removing the varnish. It may feel cooler -- I don't own any glossy pipes, but could believe that they would feel a little hotter than a satin pipe for the same reason that a rusticated pipe feels much cooler. I doubt that it will *be* cooler, however, given the same tobacco at the same humidity, the precisely same packing, the same light, the same pace of smoking, the same environmental temperature and humidity, the same mood, the same events leading up, the same thoughts . . . you see where it leads.
Certainly it does seem that some pipes feel hotter to the touch than others, and I attribute much of this to the wood. Some pieces of briar insulate better than others. That doesn't mean the pipe smokes poorly, given the proper attention. Every smoke is its own event, though, and sometimes the pipe gets more blame or more credit than it deserves.
To wrap this up, if you fear that using a particular product on the outside of your pipe will degrade the quality of your smoke, it probably will. Finish? I'd strip an Aldo Velani, but not a Peterson.
Jack |
|
jhuggett
BoB's Pioneer & Founding Father
Age : 36
Joined : 09 Dec 2007
Posts : 1739
| | Subject: Re: Pipe waxing? Fri Dec 21, 2007 5:31 pm | |
| Holy Crap! I just googled your book Jack and the original prints are selling for like $350 bucks!!! Screw investing in tobacco, I'm going to buy up a bunch of your books on the next edition. 
_________________
Jason |
|
Puff Daddy
bIG bAD vOODO dADDY
Age : 44
Joined : 09 Dec 2007
Posts : 990
Location : Northern California
| | Subject: Re: Pipe waxing? Fri Dec 21, 2007 5:45 pm | |
| | howellhandmade wrote: | | Busted. Still working on reprinting it. |
Very cool! I look forward to the re-issue! I'm not a builder but am a cane enthusiast - I have a couple of production rods and am looking at maybe picking up one of AJ Thramers Payne 102L reproductions this summer. I'd love to see some of your work, do you still build for sale, and if so do you have a website for the rods?
_________________
These are horrible times and all sorts of horrible people are prospering, but we must never let this disturb our equanimity or deflect us from our sacred duty to annoy and hinder them at every turn.
I BLATANTLY ENDORSE    |
|
Home 
Chat 
Calendar 
FAQ 
Search 
Register 
Log in 
