Experiences with Clay Pipes

[Slow Puffs]

Last night, I read the following article:

http://www.aspipes.org/faq/faq/clay.html

It tweaked my interest enough to finally try out a small clay pipe that was brought to me as a gift from Holland by some friends a couple of years ago.


I was quite surprised. Once I got over having a "clay mouth piece" and handling it a little differently (the bowl does get hot), it delivered a wonderful, seemingly untainted smoke for me.

My taste buds are not that acute, but the flavours of the "Or L'vom (Daylight)" I smoked in it were very striking. I think a clay pipe could easily replace a "cob" for testing new blends.

Does anyone have experiences with clay pipes that they would like to share?

Paul

 

[Anonymous]

A helpful hint from the old days when people (like my great-grandmother)smoked these because clays were what pipes were) :

Job one is to put the bowl end into a hardwood wood fire (it helps to put some coals into the bowl itself) to cure it. Leave it in for a half an hour or so. Otherwise, it's going to taste like a clay.

:face:

 

[Slow Puffs]

A helpful hint from the old days when people (like my great-grandmother)smoked these because clays were what pipes were) :

Job one is to put the bowl end into a hardwood wood fire (it helps to put some coals into the bowl itself) to cure it. Leave it in for a half an hour or so. Otherwise, it's going to taste like a clay.

:face:

I puzzled over that when I read the article :lol: , especially if it doesn't pass the pipe cleaner test. He mentions in the article that you can clean them on the barbeque :roll: . Surprisingly, it didn't have much of a "clay" taste.

Interesting how some of these posts are bringing up memories of our grandmothers... :lol:

Paul

 

[Carlos]

Don't drop a clay pipe.

 

[puros_bran]

If you clean them on the barbecue won't all Va's taste like they came from McC?

 

[Anonymous]

Yo, PeeBee -- just a regular old hardwood fire in the fireplace (or the pot-belly stove). When you've got a good bed of embers, insert pipe.

:face:

 

[Ol'Dawg]

At one time there was a Canadian clay pipe maker, Stephen Bray that made fine clay pipes under the company named Olde World Fine Clays, 249 Sooth St Glace Bay, Nova Scotia B1A 1W6, Canada but his website is no longer on line and I can't find out any information on him now.

Here are a couple of websites that give more info on clay pipes--
http://www.virtlogic.ca/pipe/pipes.html
http://www.ramshornstudio.com/pipe_.htm

At some re-enactment events and 18th century craft fairs, I've seen people wrap the bit with artificial sinew to make the pipe comfortably clenchable. The bowls can get rather warm in a hurry.

Jim

 

[jeepernick]

Slow Puffs,

Thanks for posting that link on the clay pipe. It will come in handy as I purchased this today.

I am looking forward to the maiden voyage!

 

[Slow Puffs]

Jim,
Thanks for the links... neat to note the Canadian connection. I actually saw a couple of the New Your city clays in a wood box with straw packing at the antique mall a month or so ago. I might take a second look at them, it they are still there.

Jeeper,
That's quite the pipe... share with us how it smokes when you get a chance.

Paul

 

[ftrplt]

Yea for clays!!! I love these things. Have several; mostly smoke Vas and Turkish/Vas in them. Put'em in the fireplace coals to both initially prep them; then every so often to "clean" them. Charcoal grills (no BBQ sauce!!) work also. No touch bowl; it get stinkin' hot!!!! Do a Google search to find sellers; there are many. Enjoy!! Let me/us know your thoughts on your experiences! FTRPLT

 

[JohnnyO]

I enjoy clays as well, very clean and dry smoke once you get used to the mouthpiece. I love the tavern clays, they offer the coldest smoke I've ever tasted. I have a clay pipe with a vulcanite stem, it's a very cool smoke..it's not a porcelain but an actual clay 8)

 

[jeepernick]

Well I have smoked a couple of blends in the clay churchwarden I purchased a couple of weeks ago. At first I had a hard time getting used to the length of the stem, 14”, but now is feels somewhat natural. The first blend I smoked in it was some Haddo’s Delight. The flavors were bright and vibrant. Haddo’s had always seemed sort of muted to me when smoked in a briar. A couple of days later I tried some MacBaren’s Mixture Scottish Blend. I have also smoked up the remains of a sample of Maduro Cut Cake from the box pass and just recently finished some Low Country, Waccamaw. The MCC was a delight, man this stuff is good! (I am not that fond of Latakia but it’s growing on me).

The smoke is really cool, I guess to be expected with a 14” stem. No gurgling whatsoever. I did have to buy a rope of pipe cleaner as the standard churchwarden cleaners won’t go all the way to the bottom of the bowl. The first two bowls (Haddo’s and McB’s Mixture) had a similar flavor component that started out quite dominant but had diminished considerably after the second bowl. I did not detect it at all with the MCC or Waccamaw. Don’t know if it was a similar topping of the tobaccos or just a breaking in process of the pipe. I have also noticed that the pipe is starting to color a bit on the exterior at the bottom of the bowl. I would assume that this is from the absorption of some of the fluids from the tobacco as it is smoked. The bowl is also starting to take on a dark burnt look from lighting with matches. These both give the pipe quite a bit of character which changes each time it is smoked.

I did notice a couple of drawbacks. This thing is long. I think my next purchase will be something a little shorter. The bit is coated with a glaze and is round which also takes some getting used to. The pipe came with a sticker wrapped around the stem which I took off. Now there is a sticky residue where one would naturally hold the thing. I hope this will disappear after the first fire cleaning.
Overall impression, ME LIKE! Would I recommend this pipe to someone? Absolutely, especially at only $30.

 

[JohnnyO]

How do I always miss out on these box passes haha I can't wait for MCC! :bounce:

 

[Buster]

I just got mine, one of the long glaze-tipped dutch ones as pictured above. And my girlfriend has taken to calling me 'Gandalf' when I smoke it.

Wow, talk about relaxing. Can it get any more luxurious than sitting in a comfy chair, with your feet up, sipping this delicate, giant pipe that's light as a feather and balances nicely in the hand? You feel like Sir Walter Raleigh or Ben Franklin, or a ship captain or a road traveler reaching a safe port after a long journey. You cant do anything while smoking one of these, other than sit, and maybe read a good book or watch the fireplace or a good film. And that's just perfect at the end of the day. Its only for relaxing smoking and contemplation, no work or exertion allowed.
The fragility of the pipe adds to the appeal. It is something you handle carefully, with both hands, like a sacred object or rare relic. It is smoking and tobacco enjoyment as ritual, even moreso than a hookah.

Its an added historical thrill for me, knowing this was how it was done for centuries, and that the founding fathers enjoyed these while brainstorming the practical workings American dream.

It hasn't made a virginia fan of me, but it certainly made it more enjoyable to smoke. I'll have to try this with something oriental next, as I think thats more my thing.

Do yourself a favor and please buy one, they aren't expensive and you wont regret it.

 

[Anonymous]

I've been wanting to try a clay, and after reading these reviews I'll probably go ahead with it. In my searches I ran across LePeltier Pipes which produce several different shaped modern looking pipes. The bowl is a double walled clay with a glazing on the outside with some options on color and printed on designs. It looks like the smoke is pulled from the bowl through a small hole in the bottom through the hollow chamber around the bowl then up through the stem.
Here is their web site:
http://www.lepeltier-pipes.com/
If anyone has experience with them let us know; good, bad or ugly.

ipe: on Brothers.

 

[Buddy Springman]

...the bowl does get hot...

Paul

You only have to raise blisters a few times to learn not to grab the bowl. And, yeah, they are fragile as snot.

I prefer the glazed LePeltier http://www.lepeltier-pipes.com/. They can be cleaned by simply running it under hot water out the faucet. And the voicemail where you leave your order is a trip.

Buddy

 

[mark]

Well I tossed one out that I got as a gift quite a few years back because it tasted like clay,,,which didn't make sense cause it was already fired in a kiln,,,,,never thought to toss it in a hardwood fire,,,,recently watched a video somewhere of some guy making them (Holland?),,,,the double wall design sounds interesting, kinda like a calabash,,,,

 

[JohnnyO]

le peltier pipes are REALLY nice, they are porcelain, and I have several made by them, Zenith, and that other holland brand lol

Used double wall pipes can be HORRIBLE, because cake and nasty gunk build up in the double wall and just RUIN the smoke, I've bought some on ebay, and one from a refutable dealer, and it was sour and gross. However, a brand new one is amazing! They are washable, so after every few smokes rinse out the bowl and inside, fill it up and shake it around with hot water, use some pipe cleaners to get the gunk out of that double wall area, and let it dry completely a couple days before smoking again and it'll be good to go

some pics from my photobucket tobacco site

Used le peltier, cake is almost impossible to get out and that inside gunk just wont come out, I had thick hard as a rock pieces come out after soaking it with hot soapy water....better to just buy a new one

 

[Buster]

Can you try packing it with rice (or that granular glass pipe cleaner that they sell at head shops) and boil it for an hour or two? Similar principle to a brass cartridge-case polisher for firearms reloading.

Any reason you didn't try to clean it with alcohol?

 

[JohnnyO]

never tried the boiling method, I think I did try alcohol but not soaking