Breaking in a new pipe with sugar?

[jacko]

I just finished reading the chapter about breaking in a new pipe in the book 'In Search of Pipe Dreams'. The author had mentioned a technique of breaking in a pipe whereby you wet the bowl then coat it with sugar before your first smoke. Has any one tried this? Sounds a tad risky, no?

 

[i.keenum]

I've tried honey and i don't know if it helped but it held no ill effect and the pipe taste like honey for a few bowls, and i assume it is more about ash sticking to the sugar and building a barrier quicker than anything else

 

[i.keenum]

sorry meant to post in the post below me but made my own on accident. He was asking if sugar helped start a cake in the bowl faster.

 

[Rad Davis]

I have no personal experience, but from what I've heard, sugar burns pretty hot.

I just fill the pipe up and smoke it.

Rad

 

[NeroWolfe]

Indeed; burns very hot. Another "old trick" was to coat the inside of the bowl with honey. I did that on a Savinelli in the mid-1970's. It burned hot when breaking in, and created a layer of cake that was crystalline and crumbled easily. I had to ream back down to wood and start over.

 

[Sasquatch]

I would only recommend this on a Rad Davis pipe. :king:

 

[Zeno Marx]

I've used honey and maple syrup. We're talking an extremely thin coating. Not certain about it quickening the caking process or not. Never had it cause problems, though.

 

[Smoker99]

I don't know what would be risky about it. I have used sugar water, and a very think coating of honey. The key with the honey is very thin coat. Sugar is one step away from carbon, and rapidly coats the bowl. I have never noticed any additional heat. The bad rap on honey, is many put in on too heavily, and then it does flake.

 

[mark]

Many opinions on this,,I've heard honey, maple syrup, grape jelly,,,I agree it can't hurt and like you say, ash will stick to it,,,

 

[hobie1dog]

sounds like it would produce a sticky situation :face:

 

[Harlock999]

I've never had a problem getting ash to stick to the chamber walls, but maybe I'm smoking "stickier" blends?
For me, honey, pipes and tobacco just doesn't sound good together.

 

[Doc Manhattan]

sorry meant to post in the post below me but made my own on accident. He was asking if sugar helped start a cake in the bowl faster.

I will combine the two topics using Moderator Voodoo.

 

[Hunter5117]

Never used anything to hasten the carbon or cake build up. I will often smoke an OTC burley like PA or CH for the first few bowls as these seem to create a layer of cake quicker than does a va or other tobacco. Other than that I just smoke 'em, trying to keep the bowl as cool as possible for the first few smokes until it gets seasoned.

 

[Guy]

In a decent briar??….A myth at best…. maybe a sweet aromatic to start with, if so inclined..

 

[docwatson]

Personally, On a new pipe I've used a light coating of honey for years if the bowl is virgin. If it's a pre-carbonized bowl I use nothing.
The old Kaywoodie YelloBole pipes were coated with honey from the factory. In an oil cured pipe I also use nothing for break in. Different strokes for different folks.

 

[Schacht]

If the intention is, to produce a cake that´s sticking well to the chamber walls, why should I put a film of burned sugar (caramel at best) between wall and cake? Even with oil-cured pipes, I never really had a problem bringing a decent cake into the bowl sooner or later.

The chemical process of burning honey brings additional heat into the pipe-bowl, that´s for sure, but this might be irrelevant if the honey-coat is thin enough. In fact - breaking in a pipe using sugar and the like, seems to be a popular tradition. My own grandfather did it - and how could a rational argument beat that fact? But it´s maybe simply too much fumbling around for me.

I personal smoke a new pipe careful about six times filled toward one third, approximately another six times about half filled, and then the complete pipe, always trying to smoke it als cool as possible for another half a dozent times. In spite of the opinion that even this is an anachronism, it always worked for me this way.

 

[Smoker99]

The recommendations for OTCs and aros is pretty much the same as it is for sugar. OTCs and aros are laden with sugar and additives and stick to bowl walls.