Pipes Don't Breathe!

[Thomas Tkach]

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[Dutch]

Come to think of it, I suppose briar and cobs don't breathe. If they did, you would need to run them through 2 or 3 cardio sessions each week, or else risk them dying a slow death from cardiovascular disease. :suspect:

 

[RDPipes]

Come to think of it, I suppose briar and cobs don't breathe. If they did, you would need to run them through 2 or 3 cardio sessions each week, or else risk them dying a slow death from cardiovascular disease.  :suspect:

Ya know I think your right, I've never heard any of mine take a breath.
Although I have had them spit in my mouth a few times in the past.

 

[Brewdude]

Come to think of it, I suppose briar and cobs don't breathe. If they did, you would need to run them through 2 or 3 cardio sessions each week, or else risk them dying a slow death from cardiovascular disease.  :suspect:

Ya know I think your right, I've never heard any of mine take a breath.
Although I have had them spit in my mouth a few times in the past.

eewww......... ale:



Cheers,

RR

 

[monbla256]

Well of coarse they can't breath, their inanimate objects !! duh :twisted: :twisted:

 

[RDPipes]

Well of coarse they can't breath, their inanimate objects !!  duh :twisted: :twisted:

You mean yours don't talk to ya? :suspect:

 

[SpeedyPete]

Some pipes sweat! Peterson red dye.

So, if they can sweat, surely they must breathe as well? I have a couple which can whistle too. And gurgle. And bite and spit.

Pipes are living creations. Treat them bad, misuse them and see how they come back to you.

Want more proof?

 

[RDPipes]

Some pipes sweat!

Try maybe Antiperspirant.

 

[Thomas Tkach]

I don't think there has been one serious reply to the topic of the video yet. Did anyone actually watch it?

Even on this board I see from time to time someone talking about how the natural cobs smoke better because they breathe or that only a natural finish like carn wax should be used so that the pipe can breathe and smoke better. Shellac is anathema! or so the argument goes. But, shellac is also natural, is not a great moisture barrier, and wax isn't breathable! I was just trying to kill that pernicious myth.

 

[SpeedyPete]

Two guys formed an opinion........should I believe THEM or rather stick to what I experience?

 

[monbla256]

I was just trying to kill that pernicious myth.

This whole activity of pipe smoking is BASED on these !! :twisted: You want to have FACTS? Then why have a forum to discuss the veracity of the myths? Just publish a sting of these "facts" and be done with it !! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

 

[Stick]

Experience is just that, isn't it? I mean we all have our experiences and it's from these that our opinions are formed. Trouble is, very often our experiences are not the same as others'. But who's right?!?! A different experience doesn't automatically have a right or wrong association.

Thomas, interesting concept and a pair of chilled chaps in the video. Pipes breathing? Gosh, in my limited experience  I'd be hard pressed to go one way or the other. I can only offer that breathing suggests a gaseous exchange.  The fellas in the video only tested for a water transition. Gases are capable of moving through membranes that liquids can't; PTFE which makes up the goretex membrane being an example. Perhaps briar is capable of this?

 

[bentbulldog]

This is too funny!!

I give my pipes names!

 

[Thomas Tkach]

Experience is just that, isn't it? I mean we all have our experiences and it's from these that our opinions are formed. Trouble is, very often our experiences are not the same as others'. But who's right?!?! A different experience doesn't automatically have a right or wrong association.

Thomas, interesting concept and a pair of chilled chaps in the video. Pipes breathing? Gosh, in my limited experience  I'd be hard pressed to go one way or the other. I can only offer that breathing suggests a gaseous exchange.  The fellas in the video only tested for a water transition. Gases are capable of moving through membranes that liquids can't; PTFE which makes up the goretex membrane being an example. Perhaps briar is capable of this?

I imagine if that were the case, we'd have briar slivers rather than gore-tex in our hiking boots. I just don't see wood has having the same properties as a high-tech synthetic membrane. Try plugging your noses and breathing with your mouth pressed against a slab of briar. I'm guessing it wouldn't work too well. Then post a picture for us to laugh at. :lol!:

What's more, briar's breathability or lack-thereof isn't the main issue. The real issue is basically whether wax is more breathable than shellac. Carnauba is the standard finish, but does anyone complain about how it blocks up the pores of a pipe and makes it smoke hot/wet since it's not breathing?

I imagine the myth started over anecdotal evidence based on poorly-made pipes with a thick, glossy coating used to cover bad grain. Correlation does not equal causation. The coating didn't harm the smoking properties, but the lack of attention to engineering which you'd expect from a company that also had a lack of attention to the aesthetics of briar (or maybe even the curing of the briar) was probably the cause of a bad smoker. From there confirmation bias took over and the 'all shellaced pipes smoke horribly' myth was born.

I know that lots of high-grade pipe carvers I can't afford use shellac, and I use it myself when I carve or re-stain an estate pipe. It's not done any harm yet.

 

[SpeedyPete]

Some pipes sweat!

Try maybe Antiperspirant.

But I use it every day instead of taking a shower :twisted:

 

[RDPipes]

Some pipes sweat!

Try maybe Antiperspirant.

But I use it every day instead of taking a shower :twisted:

Then maybe it's a good thing you live in Cape Town.

I can't help from thinking about your sweating pipe though, maybe the briar wasn't dried thoroughly enough before it was made into a pipe and when you smoked it the heat generated inside the bowl forced the moisture out, thus causing sweating. If the briar couldn't breath as we say, the moisture would not have been able to escape like it did.
This makes more sense to me.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

This is one of those discussions that gets batted around ala cats with a nepeta-infused mouse-toy, until someone like Greg Pease steps in and shares pros/cons on either side. :lol: I think these guys were pretty on-target.

Bad pipe smoking habits = a lot of dissatisfied piping.


8)

 

[SpeedyPete]

No piece of wood is solid, like stainless steel.

Now, pipes do not breathe like humans. What is meant is that air can move through the wood. Thus, the pipe is breathing (not breeding or bleeding). Although, come to think of it, my Peterson might be bleeding? Red stuff oozing from the briar? Living creature?

I'm off to bed now, will think about it during the night and let you know.

 

[Thomas Tkach]

Some pipes sweat!

Try maybe Antiperspirant.

But I use it every day instead of taking a shower :twisted:

Then maybe it's a good thing you live in Cape Town.

I can't help from thinking about your sweating pipe though, maybe the briar wasn't dried thoroughly enough before it was made into a pipe and when you smoked it the heat generated inside the bowl forced the moisture out, thus causing sweating. If the briar couldn't breath as we say, the moisture would not have been able to escape like it did.
This makes more sense to me.

Or the moisture might have come from his hands and picked up the stain because it wasn't properly finished.

GP is a wealth of knowledge, but in this instance I think you want to hear from professional pipe makers, like those in the posted video or those who share their knowledge on PMF. Here is a thread about satin coming off (and about using shellac).

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Greg knows a fair bit beyond the norm; this you can be assured. I hate to tell ya, Bro TT, but even pipemakers have opinions, faulty logic and fallibility. Much is discussed, agreed upon, disagreed upon, and so on. I read quite a bit over there. Sasquatch probably leads my base of reference in that arena, and then Marty Pulvers rounds out the bunch after Greg. Personally, I can only take so much expertise before it becomes noise. And there's a ton of expertise over at PMF. The pipe makers I like the most are the ones that spend their time making pipes.

Coming here and debating the specifics of briar "breathing" is like going to a Best Burger Eating Fan Page and bringing up the finer points of the origins of modern French cooking.

So... battles/discussions chosen wisely (or with purpose) vs. chaos for the sake of it/lack of other things to bring up? Especially when there was some discontent at the humor derailing any seriousness. <img class="emojione" alt="?" title=":shrug:" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/emojione/assets/png/1f937.png?v=2.2.7"/>

Not sure what this thread is trying to accomplish for either the OP or all attending, honestly. But please, continue.

8)