I recently cleaned my pipes sanded the inside lightly as to take off cake build up, i also rubbed some honey on the inside, has any ever heard of rubbing anything on the inside to keep the life of the wood better, crack retention etc.
Pipe preservation
- Thread starter brother cavefish
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Commander Quan
Commander Yellow Pantyhose
You actually want that cake. The thin layer of carbon is actually what protects the wood, and helps the pipe smoke drier. Some claim honey, or Grape Jelly and other Non-Newtonian fluids high in sugar will help accelerate the cake formation but I've just always let it happen.
Once the cake gets to be thicker than 1/16" you can ream it back.
Once the cake gets to be thicker than 1/16" you can ream it back.
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- #3
i left a thin layer, no fresh wood , i thought thick cake layer is bad
Commander Quan
Commander Yellow Pantyhose
Some Cake is good. Not everyone agrees how much is enough. The thickness of a nickle is usually agreed to be about right. Everyone except this guy agrees this is too much.
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- #5
i still have a cake after cleaning , but i love the pipes i have and may just build a extra layer for mental sakes
wipe honey on the inside of the pipe---Take your favorite tobacco and put it spread out on a sheet and in the oven at 150 degrees or so. Bake all the moisture out of it but no more. Take it out and grind it with a mortar and pestle until its dust. ( i did it with my fingers) Now sprinkle it into the bowl and shake out the excess. You should be left with a super fine layer. Now comes the hard part, waiting until its all dry which should take at least a few days but I give it a week- did i wait no LOL
check this vid out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDAgaz5VLGE&feature=player_embedded
wipe honey on the inside of the pipe---Take your favorite tobacco and put it spread out on a sheet and in the oven at 150 degrees or so. Bake all the moisture out of it but no more. Take it out and grind it with a mortar and pestle until its dust. ( i did it with my fingers) Now sprinkle it into the bowl and shake out the excess. You should be left with a super fine layer. Now comes the hard part, waiting until its all dry which should take at least a few days but I give it a week- did i wait no LOL
check this vid out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDAgaz5VLGE&feature=player_embedded
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Or... as you are cleaning the dottle out of the bottom, get it all loose in the bowl, carefully (after there are no more embers), hold your thumb over the bowl, and shake well a few times before dumping the dottle out... guess what you just did... pretty much the same thing as above, using tobacco that is getting tossed out anyways.
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- #7
the honey coating is the trick , it kicks butt, a sweet tobacco powder layer or like you said use the ashes
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honey and ash is what i used for my last few bowls and it worked great. spit and ash is what i did before. honey seemed to work better for me. ymmv and whatnot
Awesome video!
I have been waiting for my pipes to build a cake and none of them seem to be doing so. I remove the ash after each smoke though...seems like it would negatively affect flavor to leave it in there.
I have been waiting for my pipes to build a cake and none of them seem to be doing so. I remove the ash after each smoke though...seems like it would negatively affect flavor to leave it in there.
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- #10
i remove the ash too , i believe one is only supposed to leave it in IF it still has ambers, your cake will build up, some tobaccos have better cake building properties, from what i read
Burley.s will form a cake fast, but it will make a softer cake, Virginias will form a harder cake, almost shellac , some say 5 brothers (burley) makes a good cake (never tried it extremely full-bodied, ultra-high nicotine content) not for me
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Thanks for the info!
I just smoke mine, clean when necessary, and the odd buff and polish. May of mine have been around over 25 years with no issues.
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- #13
although this forum is fun, my goodness, I have never thought or worried more about my pipes till i got on here---but i love to tinker, i am a tinkering fool so taking care of things and modifying is a part of what i do, i sure messed up a good 20 year churchwarden last week i dont know what the heck i was thinking about
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- #14
i actually have done this a few times after each smoke in each pipe and it seems to prep the inside , as far as new pipe that have a carbon coat or preburn, who knows,i would have some thoughts on using anything at all.
as far a the honey trick ,my thoughts are maybe the honey may cause a hardening effect or crystallization -this is just a hope/theory i wish there was more of a positive proof/result
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Ok, I poked about a bit for info... pretty sure it's stated as fact that pipe cake is a layer of carbon, so assuming that is true, here's some things to ponder...
It seems pretty obvious the carbon is formed from the heat of the tobacco smoldering, and the study I found stated that the average temp around the combustion zone inside the bowl was around 500 degrees C. Most sugars will caramelize around 160 to 180 C, a few even lower. Starting around 400C, they will begin to carbonize.
While I'm sure that the carbon cake layer is more than just natural sugars from the tobacco and sugars from the casings, it would seem pretty certain that at least part of the carbon layer is from sugars. This would give enough information to form a theory of why some tobacco's form cake faster or better, and why some honey mixture could enhance or speed up the process.
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- #16
it would seam so, thanks for the imput
I think I might see things a little different than most when it comes to pipes. I really don't value any of mine as 'prized possessions', I mean I quite like them, but for me they are a tool and should be used as such. Much like a hammer or wrench it serves a purpose, in this case a tobacco delivery tool. Sure I try not to drop them or abuse them, but they are remarkably resilient to pretty well everything one can throw their way. My proof of this is just take a look at some of the restorations some of the members have done, and the quality product that was hidden underneath the years of grime.
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- #18
i am sure you have much more peace of mind, worrying sucks- i was like you for years till i came on here, now i cater/tinker ( still fun) but on the flip side i did learn some valuable things , better packing and lighting techniques
