Kyle Weiss
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2011
- Messages
- 11,988
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- 7
I know a while back some people around here, mostly new guys, were concerned about burnouts in their beloved pipes. Some of the old codgers had never seen such a thing, probably due to experience, or they were full of beans sparing their reputations.
I'm here to present this:
This is a Tsuge Kaga pipe, one given to me by a Brother here a few years back, and it has always been a favorite of mine. Very recently, an inevitable problem I knew would surface eventually finally happened. The hot spot I tried tenderly to be aware of, since I've had this pipe, finally turned dark.
At this point in my piping career, I've put in some time. Not decades, but enough years to know better. I smoke once or twice a day, have 50+ pipes in the rotation, from years-old darkened cobs to fine straight grains, and this is the second burnout I've had. In some circles, this is a warning sign to technique, but I have another tale to tell.
Failure to most of us means finding a blend of tobacco that makes your tongue feel like licking hot asphalt, or even tastes similar to it, that horrid smell of a sour, unrested briar, sitting foolishly on a pipe ignorantly stashed in a back pocket and snapping the stem, dropping a meerschaum and shattering it into little bits, but the burnout, especially those of us who have tried dearly to avoid even the most noobish & careless of mistakes, has to be a particularly upsetting event.
The first pipe this happened to me happened after the third bowl. It was a Nording, one of the 2011 "Hunter" series, the Bear. For all intents and purposes, a semi-rusticated squashed tomato. A shape for which I have a fondness. This Tsuge Kaga saucer and the Bear share something in common: a unique, mass-produced, non-classic shape. Long story longer, these shapes really need to be in the hands of masters, not machines, and certainly not guys churning them out by the truckload. Bottom line: the bottom was too thin.
They burned out in exactly the same location, with scant millimeters of briar material at the bottom, where I assume it is tough to gauge adequate depth. The uniformness of a billiard or bulldog, even the stoutness of a freehand, none of these designs greatly push parameters in which briar's heat resistance will eventually succumb, and so, they are easy to mass-produce without much of a problem. Good pipe craftsmen know how to prevent this in non-classic designs.
In closing, if you see a dark spot like this, leading to a true burnout, there's a slim chance it might not be your fault. Especially if it's on the bottom. Many of us have pipes that are older than our grandfathers that will probably outlive us all. Part of that could be quality of briar, design, and care of craftsmanship, the other part is being an aware smoker, keen on his habits and skills--slow and cool: it's not just a motto, but a complete habit of civility. On the other hand, I now often check by feel, the thickness of the bottom of a bowl between index finger and thumb as I'm looking for a new pipe...
...because if you like a pipe, and it has a terminal flaw, it sucks to discover it when it's too late.
As for this one, I'm going to pipe-mud the bottom and hope for the best. I think we both, the pipe and I, knew this day would come--that hot bottom always concerned me. I never expected this one to go to the grave with me, it was a joy and good friend while it lasted. It never performed poorly, smoked cool, smoked dry, tasted wonderful. Sometimes that's what counts.
8)
I'm here to present this:
This is a Tsuge Kaga pipe, one given to me by a Brother here a few years back, and it has always been a favorite of mine. Very recently, an inevitable problem I knew would surface eventually finally happened. The hot spot I tried tenderly to be aware of, since I've had this pipe, finally turned dark.
At this point in my piping career, I've put in some time. Not decades, but enough years to know better. I smoke once or twice a day, have 50+ pipes in the rotation, from years-old darkened cobs to fine straight grains, and this is the second burnout I've had. In some circles, this is a warning sign to technique, but I have another tale to tell.
Failure to most of us means finding a blend of tobacco that makes your tongue feel like licking hot asphalt, or even tastes similar to it, that horrid smell of a sour, unrested briar, sitting foolishly on a pipe ignorantly stashed in a back pocket and snapping the stem, dropping a meerschaum and shattering it into little bits, but the burnout, especially those of us who have tried dearly to avoid even the most noobish & careless of mistakes, has to be a particularly upsetting event.
The first pipe this happened to me happened after the third bowl. It was a Nording, one of the 2011 "Hunter" series, the Bear. For all intents and purposes, a semi-rusticated squashed tomato. A shape for which I have a fondness. This Tsuge Kaga saucer and the Bear share something in common: a unique, mass-produced, non-classic shape. Long story longer, these shapes really need to be in the hands of masters, not machines, and certainly not guys churning them out by the truckload. Bottom line: the bottom was too thin.
They burned out in exactly the same location, with scant millimeters of briar material at the bottom, where I assume it is tough to gauge adequate depth. The uniformness of a billiard or bulldog, even the stoutness of a freehand, none of these designs greatly push parameters in which briar's heat resistance will eventually succumb, and so, they are easy to mass-produce without much of a problem. Good pipe craftsmen know how to prevent this in non-classic designs.
In closing, if you see a dark spot like this, leading to a true burnout, there's a slim chance it might not be your fault. Especially if it's on the bottom. Many of us have pipes that are older than our grandfathers that will probably outlive us all. Part of that could be quality of briar, design, and care of craftsmanship, the other part is being an aware smoker, keen on his habits and skills--slow and cool: it's not just a motto, but a complete habit of civility. On the other hand, I now often check by feel, the thickness of the bottom of a bowl between index finger and thumb as I'm looking for a new pipe...
...because if you like a pipe, and it has a terminal flaw, it sucks to discover it when it's too late.
As for this one, I'm going to pipe-mud the bottom and hope for the best. I think we both, the pipe and I, knew this day would come--that hot bottom always concerned me. I never expected this one to go to the grave with me, it was a joy and good friend while it lasted. It never performed poorly, smoked cool, smoked dry, tasted wonderful. Sometimes that's what counts.
8)
Speaking of which, it's probably time I got my Scottie-pipe back in the seasonal rotation.
