Letting your pipe rest?

[GreekGuy]

Gents,

I've been smoking the pipe on and off for some years now, but I've begun to get much more into it recently.

So my question for the experts, is how long should you let your pipe rest between bowls? Say you smoke a bowl, can you smoke another right after, should you wait for it to cool, a day, a week? I heard thats why some old pipe racks had 7 slots, 1 for each day so they could rest.

Thoughts?

 

[cursethis]

I tend to wait at least 24 hours before I smoke a briar pipe again. With meerschaum pipes, you can smoke them as soon as they cool down.

 

[milkmanv1]

^+1 to what Jason said.

This is a very common question, which is a personal choice more or less. The personal choice comes in with how long you should let them rest. Some people can smoke the same pipe in the morning and the night with no issues. Some get a 7 day set so the pipe can rest a full 7 days before being smoked again. But resting your pipe for atleast 24 hours before another bowl is enjoyed is extremely beneficial to the pipe. It allows the briar to thoroughly dry and cool. You risk damaging your pipe if you repeatedly smoke it before it dries out. Problems include "Soggy" bottom of the bowl, cracks can form inside the bowl etc.

If you'd like a pipe you can pack and smoke with minimal resting periods (with some cleaning obviously) get yourself a meerschaum, again like Jason said. I've yet to try a meer myself, but if you get yourself a nice one, they supposedly smoke very cool and very sweet.

 

[nortac]

I think that this is another YMMV thing. Some pipe smokers smoke only a bowl or two at a time, some smoke all day long. I would think that you could smoke a few bowls in the same day without having to set aside the pipe for another. But it would be best to let the pipe rest for 24 to 48 hrs after a days smoking. Not doing so would most likely shorten the life of the pipe and cause it to sour quicker, require more frequent cleaning, etc.. It is interesting to note the various capacities of pipe racks. Obviously those with larger capacities are meant to display a collection and don't necessarily reflect how often a given pipe is smoked. But some of the smaller capacities may give us some insight. Of course as with straight razors, there is the seven day rack. There is the two position pipe rack where a pair of pipes could be smoked on alternate days. Then there is a three pipe rack that would allow for a 48 hr rest if the pipes were smoked in rotation. The combinations abound from here and again may not reflect any certain frequency that a given pipe is smoked. There's been the old codger that smoked the same pipe day in and day out and the one who seemed to smoke the same pipe daily, only to be found that he owned several copies of the same pipe and rotated them accordingly.

 

[the_edski]

Great advice, way to go guys!

Short answer: 24 hrs for a briar; just long enough to let the bowl cool for a meerschaum.

 

[Luke49783]

A minimum of 24 hours seems to be the accepted route (as mentioned above). If I smoke a pipe more than once in a day, I generally try to give it more than 24 hours. I read somewhere, probably on another thread here, that the number of bowls per day that you smoke is the number of pipes that you should have. This generally works out well, whether you have the pipe of the day or you have one pipe that you smoke out and about during the day then another that you smoke in the evening at home.

Regardless of the method you choose, the more pipes the better!

 

[Commander Quan]

Don't be afraid to smoke a pipe multiple times during the same day. They're not as fragile as you might be lead to believe. My smoking tends to be cyclical. I'll often smoke one blend from one pipe multiple time a day for multiple days before moving on to something else. I've often dumped the ash from a pipe, run a pipe cleaner though it, and filled it back up and started smoking again. I wouldn't chain smoke from the same pipe every day, but don't think that just because you've already smoked a pipe once you can't go back and smoke it again.

 

[Mr. Scruffy]

I will smoke 4-5 bowls per day in the same briar pipe. Haven't had any problems.

I let the pipe cool for about an hour between bowls and run a cleaner through it before reloading. Then I let it rest for 3-4 days before smoking it again.

 

[PugslyCat]

I have to agree with Derrick. I'll frequently smoke a bowl in the morning and another late in the day at work, both from the same pipe. In the evening I'll grab another pipe and take a walk during which I smoke one bowl on the outbound leg and another on the way back, sometimes with a very brief pause between bowls and other times not. It doesn't seem to have hurt either pipe.

That being said I don't smoke every day, especially during winter, and have five and six pipes at the office and home. I can usually give each pipe a full week of rest before the next time I smoke multiple bowls from it on the same day.

Having one pipe for each day of the week is a good goal, but having 2-3 pipes that you rotate through is a great start. If you can even give a pipe one day of rest after multiple bowls during the day it will help. Getting to the point you can give each pipe a week of rest after each bowl is what PAD is all about.

 

[Luke49783]

I have to agree with Derrick. I'll frequently smoke a bowl in the morning and another late in the day at work, both from the same pipe. In the evening I'll grab another pipe and take a walk during which I smoke one bowl on the outbound leg and another on the way back, sometimes with a very brief pause between bowls and other times not. It doesn't seem to have hurt either pipe.

That being said I don't smoke every day, especially during winter, and have five and six pipes at the office and home. I can usually give each pipe a full week of rest before the next time I smoke multiple bowls from it on the same day.

Having one pipe for each day of the week is a good goal, but having 2-3 pipes that you rotate through is a great start. If you can even give a pipe one day of rest after multiple bowls during the day it will help. Getting to the point you can give each pipe a week of rest after each bowl is what PAD is all about.

Stopping at 7 seems to be the problem for most people

 

[ctr]

Ok, so I'm gonna tell my wife I need to buy at least 5 more pipes to make a 7 pipe set. Really, I need to protect the pipes.

Think I can pass that one off?

 

[the_edski]

Ok, so I'm gonna tell my wife I need to buy at least 5 more pipes to make a 7 pipe set. Really, I need to protect the pipes.

Think I can pass that one off?

It's worth a shot!

 

[nortac]

Ok, so I'm gonna tell my wife I need to buy at least 5 more pipes to make a 7 pipe set. Really, I need to protect the pipes.

Think I can pass that one off?

If she doesn't go for it, then tell her that you don't need more than three pairs of under wear and she can wash them every other day.

 

[Mr. Scruffy]

Ok, so I'm gonna tell my wife I need to buy at least 5 more pipes to make a 7 pipe set. Really, I need to protect the pipes.

Think I can pass that one off?

Worked for me!

 

[GreekGuy]

Wow, sounds like a lot of varying opinions here. I have a few pipes so I guess for my "nicer" ones I'll let them rest for a full 24 hours, but my "beaters" I'll not worry so much about puffing away.

Thanks guys!

 

[the_edski]

Wow, sounds like a lot of varying opinions here. I have a few pipes so I guess for my "nicer" ones I'll let them rest for a full 24 hours, but my "beaters" I'll not worry so much about puffing away.

Thanks guys!

YMMV reigns supreme on every forum!

 

[cb91710]

Stopping at 7 seems to be the problem for most people

Yup... I've got 14 including the two MM cobs that "live" in my glove box... not counting the 2 old ones and 2 newer cheapies that are somewhere in the garage.

 

[nortac]

PAD has quickly and totaly displaced RAD (about 60 razors). Jump started my collection by inheriting Dad's 10 or so pipes, bought a few dozen more. Just got 6 off the bay this month. I may be done for the year but not done by a long shot!

 

[PugslyCat]

Getting to the point you can give each pipe a week of rest after each bowl is what PAD is all about.

Stopping at 7 seems to be the problem for most people

Yes, but if you smoke 2 bowls per day you suddenly NEED 14 pipes, right? OK, not so much. Not in my book anyway.

Yup... I've got 14 including the two MM cobs that "live" in my glove box... not counting the 2 old ones and 2 newer cheapies that are somewhere in the garage.

I took to having a rack of pipes at each of my common smoking spots so that I wouldn't be tempted to smoke up the car. Yea, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I've got 5 small briar pipes at the office, 6 large briar pipes at my apartment, and my weekend place has another 8 that are well suited to sitting in front of the fire.

 

[cb91710]

I took to having a rack of pipes at each of my common smoking spots so that I wouldn't be tempted to smoke up the car. Yea, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Don't smoke in the house, can't smoke in the office, pipe takes too long to load, light, and smoke during the short "smoke breaks" when my boss and I walk outside and continue discussing work (or politics, or society) while he smokes a Camel.

That leaves the pipe as something to make the 2 hour drive home more pleasant.