Bowl rim darkening

My experience is that comes from accidently tilting the pipe or your neck down or forward while lighting. It is easier to see what you are doing, but then the flame and heat from your lighter flame rises across the back side of the rim.

I had the same problem, but now 1) I consciously tilt my pipe the slightly up when lighting and 2) switched to a IM Corona Old Boy Lighter. The Old Boy gives me better control and a smaller flame.

Maybe I need to try an actual pipe lighter. I figured the mechanics of having the Bic practically upside down would imitate the sideways flame, but maybe not. Yes, I do tilt it to see what I'm doing. Maybe I'll try wooden matches too.

Wooden matches are my preferred lighting method. #2 is a weird lighter I found on amazon. It takes zippo fluid (I only use the black can) and has its wick cut short so I get a small flame.

A small soft flame is more easily controlled.

I only stuff my pipes with tobacco 3/4 of the chamber...never to the top of the rim. After 50 years of smoking a pipe not one of my pipe rims have any slight scorch marks. My grandfather used his right pointer finger...wet with his saliva and wet the rim of his pipes. Never had any scorching as well.

Probably a noob move but lately I have been wetting the tip of my finger with spit and very lightly running it over the rim before lighting.

   Matches work well with no wind. If outside and lightning a pipe,it’s done in the garage...completely out of any slight breeze. 

  Good move for a newbie👍👍👍

Michael, nothing wrong with your pipes, they smoke great for you....that’s all that matters👍👍

Lighting your pipe is unlikely to crack it.  You would have to use one of those blow torch types of lighters to cause any serious damage.  Smoking your pipe hot is more likely to cause cracks to form in the chamber walls.  Some darkening is inevitable, but not charring. 

To avoid charring, apply a bit o spit around the rim before firing up.  That gives you a little more time to light up.  Don't pack your bowl to the top.  Leave about 1/4 inch between the top of your pack and the rim.  Keep your lighter a good 1/2" above the rim when lighting, moving the flame around, and don't keep the flame going for more than a few seconds.  If you need to redo the light, apply some spit and try again.

Some smokers leave the carbon build up on the rim as an insulator.  I'm not one of them.  To clean off the carbon gunk, either use spit and a rag, which will dissolve the gunk in minutes, or cold black coffee and a rag, which will also dissolve the gunk in minutes.  Saliva may actually remove a little of the stain at the rim, but I haven't experienced that with my pipes.

I use a tiny bit of spit and a linen cloth that is dedicated to burnishing pipes. It doesn't remove enough of the finish to ever be noticeable and the longer you use the same cloth the better it works. Its also great for taking the lighest oxidation off of cumberland and bringing a high shine back to duller stems. It literally takes me a minute to bring a great shine back to any one pipe. A pipemaker friend of mine gives these linen napkins to people that commission shiny pipes from him and he showed me the tricks that he uses on his own personal pipes.

    Tar is normal and fairly easy to remove. My grandfather’s saliva trick worked well for him for over 65 years of pipe smoking. As I’ve posted prior, after each use of my briars I wipe down with a microfiber cloth with bee’s wax and mineral oil mixture. That’s why I don’t even get a tar build up. Wipes clean every time. If you hold the flame to close to the briar that’s when you can scorch or burn the briar. I don’t hold the flame long in one spot either. Wether it’s your saliva, Nivea cream or try my method of bee’s wax and mineral oil your briars will clean up easy without ever burning the briar. Some pipe smokers don’t worry about a scorched rim as long as they smoke well. Every pipe smoker has their own way which works best for them.

I'm late to the party, but I'd second this (and the others who have suggested this).

I find I have so much more control of the flame using matches. It's a smaller flame too so you can keep it away from the tin easier.

For me, thankfully, I have a garage where I can light up if it's windy. Mid way through the bowl, if I need a relight, I use the bowl to shelter the match.

Actually, you don’t need a torch lighter to cause serious damage to a pipe.  You can do it with a soft flame lighter and enough repetitions...

I know someone in one of my pipe clubs who is a purely a pipe smoker and doesn’t care about the condition of his pipes as long as they burn tobacco.  He uses a Bic to light his pipes. He holds the Bic horizontally in his right hand and the flame crosses over the right front portion of his rims.  He has one pipe that he has smoked so many times that there is now a U shaped divot burnt out down out of the bowl wall about 1/3 the height of the bowl from where he consistently crosses the rim with his flame.

Use matches.