mel64us
Junior Member
Divorced
Posts: 247
Location:
|
Post by mel64us on Jan 31, 2019 16:59:45 GMT -5
I remember when my dad passed away. He had several pipes, mostly Kaywoodies and Dr. Grabows. My mom told me to take them, thinking I could restore them and smoke them. When I got them home, every one was cracked because dad never used a reamer on them. Some had so much cake, there is no way a tamper would fit in them. Two were so bad, a wooden pencil was a tight fit.
|
|
|
|
Post by puffy on Jan 31, 2019 17:22:05 GMT -5
I remember when my dad passed away. He had several pipes, mostly Kaywoodies and Dr. Grabows. My mom told me to take them, thinking I could restore them and smoke them. When I got them home, every one was cracked because dad never used a reamer on them. Some had so much cake, there is no way a tamper would fit in them. Two were so bad, a wooden pencil was a tight fit. I once saw a beautiful carved GBD cracked for the same reason..It was sad to see. |
|
mel64us
Junior Member
Divorced
Posts: 247
Location:
|
Post by mel64us on Jan 31, 2019 17:33:30 GMT -5
I remember when my dad passed away. He had several pipes, mostly Kaywoodies and Dr. Grabows. My mom told me to take them, thinking I could restore them and smoke them. When I got them home, every one was cracked because dad never used a reamer on them. Some had so much cake, there is no way a tamper would fit in them. Two were so bad, a wooden pencil was a tight fit. I once saw a beautiful carved GBD cracked for the same reason..It was sad to see. One of my college professors smoked an author shaped pipe that was missing a big chunk of bowl. He could only smoke half a bowl. He said he got lazy and forgot to ream it. He smoked it because he said " half a bowl is just right between classes. I believe it was a Butz-Choquin. |
|
|
|
Post by Legend Lover on Jan 31, 2019 17:49:14 GMT -5
Sounds like they had a good life with him though
|
|
|
|
Post by Dramatwist on Jan 31, 2019 18:02:16 GMT -5
This is one of the reasons I eschew allowing a buildup of cake in my pipes... I realize maintenance is required, but more often than not, it just doesn't happen... I'd rather lightly clean my pipes after smoking than having to ream them out after hours of neglect.
YMMV... just my 2 cents.
|
|
|
|
Post by Legend Lover on Jan 31, 2019 18:02:47 GMT -5
This is one of the reasons I eschew allowing a buildup of cake in my pipes... I realize maintenance is required, but more often than not, it just doesn't happen... I'd rather lightly clean my pipes after smoking than having to ream them out after hours of neglect. YMMV... just my 2 cents. I'm with you in that regard. |
|
|
|
Post by Dramatwist on Jan 31, 2019 18:08:51 GMT -5
...though it's regarded as "pipe lore", I see no good reason to have a buildup of "cake" in a pipe... one always hears or reads that it "protects the briar"... it does not...
|
|
|
|
Post by scrooge on Jan 31, 2019 18:14:26 GMT -5
BS ?
|
|
|
|
Post by Dramatwist on Jan 31, 2019 18:15:54 GMT -5
...edited post... BS="B*** S***... |
|
|
|
Post by Scott W on Jan 31, 2019 18:18:26 GMT -5
...though it's regarded as "pipe lore", I see no good reason to have a buildup of "cake" in a pipe... one always hears or reads that it "protects the briar"... it does not... Fully agreed! |
|
|
|
Post by scrooge on Jan 31, 2019 18:19:55 GMT -5
...edited post... BS="B*** S***... OH poo poo. LOL! |
|
|
|
Post by kbareit on Jan 31, 2019 18:27:38 GMT -5
There's no such thing as too much cake, I love cake. Wait, wrong cake. Ah pipe cake, no I don't like it and give my pipes a good cleaning at the end of the week to avoid it's buildup.
|
|
|
|
Post by skeeter456 on Jan 31, 2019 20:11:28 GMT -5
Why would to much cake crack a bowl?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
Location:
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2019 21:11:14 GMT -5
No cake allowed here, just pure tobacco goodness.
|
|
mel64us
Junior Member
Divorced
Posts: 247
Location:
|
Post by mel64us on Jan 31, 2019 22:13:42 GMT -5
Why would to much cake crack a bowl? Cake built up in a pipe expands at a different rate than briar. When cake gets too thick, it puts more pressure on the briar than it can handle. |
|
|
|
Post by trailboss on Jan 31, 2019 22:23:46 GMT -5
I don’t have the luxury of being fastidious on the majority of my pipes, they are workhorses on the road... I clean the bowl with the Czech tool, and the stem and bowl get swabbed with the pipe cleaner. Consequently, my bowls build up some cake which reaming takes care of....Yeah, if you build cake to the point that you cannot get a pencil in the bowl, that is a recipe for disaster.
In a lot of areas of life, moderation is the key.
|
|
|
|
Post by Matthew on Jan 31, 2019 22:49:19 GMT -5
I'm in the group of "no cake". Once or twice a year,more if needed, I will use sand paper
to clean all the way to wood. My most used pipes get cleaned like that weekly.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ronv69 on Jan 31, 2019 22:52:28 GMT -5
I have almost no cake in my pipes. I wipe them out after every smoke.
I did have too much cake at my friends birthday party last week. 😁🎂🤠
|
|
|
|
Post by Legend Lover on Feb 1, 2019 3:37:42 GMT -5
I don’t have the luxury of being fastidious on the majority of my pipes, they are workhorses on the road... I clean the bowl with the Czech tool, and the stem and bowl get swabbed with the pipe cleaner. Consequently, my bowls build up some cake which reaming takes care of....Yeah, if you build cake to the point that you cannot get a pencil in the bowl, that is a recipe for disaster. In a lot of areas of life, moderation is the key. you would save loads of tobacco if you can't fit a pencil in the bowl. Although, it would be an extremely short smoke. |
|
|
|
Post by qmechanics on Feb 1, 2019 4:52:24 GMT -5
And grumblings were heard across the empire!!!
|
|
|
|
Post by libertysmoke on Feb 1, 2019 10:52:11 GMT -5
... I clean the bowl with the Czech tool, and the stem and bowl get swabbed with the pipe cleaner. Consequently, my bowls build up some cake which reaming takes care of....Yeah, if you build cake to the point that you cannot get a pencil in the bowl, that is a recipe for disaster. In a lot of areas of life, moderation is the key. I'm with this guy !!    |
|
joeman
Full Member
Posts: 566
First Name: Joe
Favorite Pipe: Grabow Hillcrest
Favorite Tobacco: Sutliff Barbados Plantation
Location:
|
Post by joeman on Feb 1, 2019 12:06:07 GMT -5
I disagree that cake "does not protect the briar"...because in at least some situations, it certainly does. While it's subject to each smoker (what's being smoked, cadence, tamping...etc), I've received many pipes (including some which just came to me for refurb work this week) where the walls were not reamed into, but rather became charred and thinned when the briar is exposed to the burning embers, over and over. A friend of mine is such a smoker. He does not ream his pipes into the wood, but he does not allow cake to form. His smoking style is very hard on his pipes, the "hots" are spread across the entire surface of the burning tobacco (his blends are rather dry and burn very hot), and he smokes'em hard. Because the burning tobacco is also constantly right next to the chamber surface...all of his pipes end up very thin to the point where the remaining walls fall apart. In his case...if he allowed even a dime's thickness of cake to remain...that cake would help protect the briar from becoming charred. By comparison...my own smoking style and choice of blends does not require a thin cake to protect the briar, you won't see this same issue with any of my pipes.
But to the point of this thread...yep...thick cake is always a risk to crack a bowl for the reasons noted above. I've gotten estates which were literally smoked nearly shut. One wasn't down to a pencil width...but down to the width of the pencil lead...less than 1/8"! I don't know how the guy smoked it to that point...
|
|
|
|
Post by monbla256 on Feb 1, 2019 14:49:18 GMT -5
Over the past 50 years I've never let my cake get past about 1/16" thick. Once a month I go over that mo's rotation and ream as required those pipes which have aquired more cake than that. I have a Senior adj reamer which i use and my pipes ALL smoke great doing this. You don't need a thick cake but some is needed!
|
|
|
|
Post by sperrytops on Feb 1, 2019 15:20:24 GMT -5
Why would to much cake crack a bowl? Cake built up in a pipe expands at a different rate than briar. When cake gets too thick, it puts more pressure on the briar than it can handle. I didn't know that. Thanks for that bit of information. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
Location:
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2019 16:51:26 GMT -5
I don't let hardly any cake build up, just can't see letting it build up. I hope to get a proper pipe reamer soon.
|
|
|
|
Post by roadsdiverged on Feb 1, 2019 16:59:37 GMT -5
I prefer pie. My work/yard/car pipes have a little cake in them. That's only there because I either get busy and dont finish the bowl, or I get finished and I'm too busy doing something else to give it a wipe down. My "just sitting smoking a pipe" pipes get wiped out after each bowl. Original subject. That's a lot of cake if you cant even get a pencil through. It shows how much he enjoyed his pipes though |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
Location:
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2019 17:09:01 GMT -5
I let a little more than I probably should cake build up. Not lazy I just think they smoke better so. Then ream and leave a little cake on. It just suits me I guess.
|
|
rmb
Full Member
Posts: 646
First Name: Ryan
Favorite Pipe: Currently an IMP meerschaum cutty that may or may not be rose colored.
Favorite Tobacco: English/Balkan
Location:
|
Post by rmb on Feb 1, 2019 19:31:19 GMT -5
I'm pretty fastidious about cleaning out my pipes, I let zero cake build up in any of my meers and cobs. I'd hate to lose something to neglect.
|
|
|
|
Post by peteguy on Feb 1, 2019 19:45:55 GMT -5
I have seen some of those pipes where a pencil wouldn't even fit down the bowl. I always wondered how in the world do they even smoke it? Drop a few crumbs and light it up? A quick smoke indeed lol.
|
|
|
|
Post by trailboss on Feb 1, 2019 21:12:08 GMT -5
In so many other aspects of pipe smoking... Meer or Briar?... straight tobacco’s or aromatics?, fold and stuff or rub out?, salt/ alcohol treatment or not?, Pipe clubs,or no.. I prefer solitary smokes!, ... it really goes on and on... figuring out what floats your boat is the journey we take.
There are heretics among us though.... Captain Black Grape lovers need to be in the leper colony.
|
|
