Any ideas anyone???

[The pipe man]

Hi all. Hope you are all well. I purchased another pipe from our old friend eBay but this time it was an unused pipe and it has no primer of any sort on the inside of the bowl so I was wondering if anyone out there knows of a good substance or has a recipe of sorts to make and apply to the bare briar inside the bowl. I only have heard of one which of course is honey mixed with some pipe ash. If anyone can help or has an idea please let me know.

 

[D.L.Ruth]

I just smoke em as they are and naturally build up the cake

 

[urbino]

I've seen some that use yogurt or sour cream as the binder. And I think somebody makes an off-the-shelf coating now. Ran across a mention of it a couple of months ago. Can't remember the name, unfortunately. No idea what's in it.

 

[Ranger107]

Carter Hall tobacco.

 

[daveinlax]

I’ve tried lots of coatings but IMO just carefully smoking the pipe au naturel builds the strongest cake.

 

[urbino]

Carter Hall tobacco.

That's pretty much what I do.

 

[D.L.Ruth]

Actually when they come precoated I've started removing the coating to get to the natural wood

 

[Brewdude]

Actually when they come precoated I've started removing the coating to get to the natural wood

This.



Cheers,

RR

 

[Timbo]

Just smoke it, bugger a precoat. If I get a pipe that has a coat, out comes the sand paper.

 

[daveinlax]

I don’t buy many new unsmoked pipes but I smoke them as I get them. I would never remove a bowl coating. It’s there for a reason and you might not like what you see under it.

 

[Zeno Marx]

I remove bowl coatings with a little 91% alcohol and a paper towel. Never had an issue starting from bare wood, and it is a preference. In the old days, I would put a very light film of honey in a new pipe. I'm embarrassed to say, that despite immediately noticing those honey cakes were brittle and not solid, ie they would flake off the bowl wall in sporadic pattern and not be solid, hardy protective cake, I kept doing it. I got lazy more so than applying that knowledge, and I stopped.

Here's a video how to use yogurt or sour cream and carbon powder from supplement pills. I can't remember which he uses, and I can't check right now. It's interesting, but it also seems like a lot of unnecessary bother.

 

[ftrplt]

Wow, yogurt in your pipe!! New one on me!! Never used anything other than some sweet sherry, port, or other sweet aperitif to put on bare wood. And, to be honest, sometimes I just put tobacco in it and smoked it!! FTRPLT

 

[Timbo]

The reason I remove bowl coatings is I find they change the taste of the tobacco and not in a good way. I know unsmoked briar also changes the taste but I generally like that taste myself.

The worst bowl coating I remember was from a Brigham, it looked and tasted like yellow acrylic paint. I got half a smoke in and dumped the bowl then cleaned it out with 100 % ISO and sand paper and maybe the help of a pipe knife.

 

[Blackhorse]

 

[gravel]

Lucky you! Precarb isn’t necessary. Instead it is insurance against inexperienced pipe smokers who smoke too hot. Even so, most pipes can handle an inexperienced smoker.

 

[pachydermpipes]

Carter Hall tobacco.

This is the way! Seriously. No better way to break in a new pipe.

 

[Corncobcon]

Another vote for Carter Hall.

 

[Niblick]

Put your favorite in it that you can smoke every day for the fastest break-in

 

[RSteve]

With a briar, I just smoke it with the style of tobacco I'll be using; for me, 99/100 English latakia dominant. For a cob, I do make a paste of cigar ash and a drop or two of agave syrup. For me, breaking in a bare cob is like putting a torch to my tongue.

 

[DWSmith]

Like so many others have said, just smoke it with Carter Hall if you have it. Enough said!