Kapnismologist
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So many of the estate pipes I acquire have poorly built cake and various degrees of charring in the chambers (typically in the last 1/3rd of the chamber, where many pipes tend to smoke hottest). I just received an mid-range estate which, when I removed the cake, had a nice gray ring of charred wood banding the chamber. Fortunately the charring was not too deep and was easily scraped and sanded out, leaving but a small irregularity in an otherwise straight walled chamber.
Now I myself am a notoriously hot smoker, and will readily admit to having charred a fair share of chambers. While I have a number of pipes in my rotation with gray spots in the bowls, I have never had a burn out. However, it is something I do worry about in certain cases.
Recently, I have started using a different approach to developing that first critical layer of protective cake in bare bowls. While I realized that this is already common practice for many, I have started to think about the possible reasons why it works so well.
The method: very slow, cool, and measured smoking until a nice black (not gray!) film of carbon is established. This is very different than the normal kind of smoking - if the pipe gets even more than pleasantly warm, I let it cool down before coaxing up the ember again. It is a slow and time consuming activity, especially since it is critical to smoke all the way to the heel.
It seems to me that a low burning temperature is critical, because it allows the sticky tars (or resins?) of the tobacco to not evaporate or burn up as quickly as they might if the temperature was higher, but rather remain on the walls of the chamber and thus serve as the necessary binding agent (i.e., glue) for the ash/carbon which composes the grit of the cake itself.
In addition to the 'super slow smoke', as many also do I fluff up the ash at the end of the smoke, cover the rim of the pipe with a match box, and shake to distribute the finer stuff on wall of the chamber (and then dump out any bits of dottle or clumps remaining in the bottom) - making it ready for the continued cake building of the next cake-building session. Recently, I have also started to add some finely ground tobacco to the mix (whatever blend I am using to do the break in is dried in the microwave until crispy and then ground in a mortar and pestle until it is the consistency of a fine snuff,). I have found that this little bit of extra tobacco coating the walls helps speed the process. I will also periodically smooth down in rough spots as the cake builds.
The result is typically a smooth, thin, hard black cake with nary a gray streak or spot to be found. It takes about 6-8 smokes. Thereafter, it is just a matter of regular maintenance.
Any thoughts on the merit of the 'super slow smoke' to keep away char would be greatly appreciated.
Now I myself am a notoriously hot smoker, and will readily admit to having charred a fair share of chambers. While I have a number of pipes in my rotation with gray spots in the bowls, I have never had a burn out. However, it is something I do worry about in certain cases.
Recently, I have started using a different approach to developing that first critical layer of protective cake in bare bowls. While I realized that this is already common practice for many, I have started to think about the possible reasons why it works so well.
The method: very slow, cool, and measured smoking until a nice black (not gray!) film of carbon is established. This is very different than the normal kind of smoking - if the pipe gets even more than pleasantly warm, I let it cool down before coaxing up the ember again. It is a slow and time consuming activity, especially since it is critical to smoke all the way to the heel.
It seems to me that a low burning temperature is critical, because it allows the sticky tars (or resins?) of the tobacco to not evaporate or burn up as quickly as they might if the temperature was higher, but rather remain on the walls of the chamber and thus serve as the necessary binding agent (i.e., glue) for the ash/carbon which composes the grit of the cake itself.
In addition to the 'super slow smoke', as many also do I fluff up the ash at the end of the smoke, cover the rim of the pipe with a match box, and shake to distribute the finer stuff on wall of the chamber (and then dump out any bits of dottle or clumps remaining in the bottom) - making it ready for the continued cake building of the next cake-building session. Recently, I have also started to add some finely ground tobacco to the mix (whatever blend I am using to do the break in is dried in the microwave until crispy and then ground in a mortar and pestle until it is the consistency of a fine snuff,). I have found that this little bit of extra tobacco coating the walls helps speed the process. I will also periodically smooth down in rough spots as the cake builds.
The result is typically a smooth, thin, hard black cake with nary a gray streak or spot to be found. It takes about 6-8 smokes. Thereafter, it is just a matter of regular maintenance.
Any thoughts on the merit of the 'super slow smoke' to keep away char would be greatly appreciated.