Feeding your pipes

[coco]

When I finish a bowl I use the oils from my face and rub it in on most occasions. The tobacconist I used to work for way back when showed it me. Don't know if it helps, but it puts a nice matte finish on old briars.

I now have a picture in my mind of DL rubbing his face with his pipe.

[DepartedLight]

When I finish a bowl I use the oils from my face and rub it in on most occasions. The tobacconist I used to work for way back when showed it me. Don't know if it helps, but it puts a nice matte finish on old briars.

I now have a picture in my mind of DL rubbing his face with his pipe.

It's the way John Wayne did it

[coco]

Just a quick note on the oil curing...

Oil curing and the application oils to cure the briar and remove the tannins and other stuff is not the same as applying later in the pipe's life.

Ashton-Taylor also said that he never saw oil baths for their briar in his entire time at Dunhill though it was accepted that they once did and that was the origin of making Ashton pipes with character.

Also that Smokingpipes article appears to have been discredited by photos of Dunhill's pipe making shop. There are no fraizing machines in evidence, nor oil baths. It looks like that they built pipes just like Charatan and all the rest of the old makers in England - they turned the stummels on a Lathe and may have have had shape guides too. Just looking at their shop pics is informative. They've never actually said that they oil cure or that buy pre-made stummels etc. So there is a lot of myth mixed with truth with them.

I was thinking about pipe making, not on finished pipes. But I didn't properly announce my change in direction.

Do you think that oil-curing would help make a better pipe?

If by better pipe you mean more resistant to cracks and other later life issues then I don't think so. But that's opinion and I'll expand on why I think this.

My oil cured pipes are the same as the air cured on this issue. They're wearing the same as air-cured pipes but nothing has cracked on any of them. The oil vs air curing is really two-sided. First, oil curing results in a reduction in investment in briar inventory and holding time for a manufacturer vs another process & maybe more equipment in the shop. Second, oil curing is a feature that suggests character and it has slight marketing advantage. With the Algerian briar that Dunhill used it did also harden the briar after the whole process and that's in the patent write-up I think. But the same Algerian briar was common among air-cured manufacturers as well (eg Barling, Charatan, and others likely). It's likely that their pipes, made of Algerian, survive in proportion to their manufacturing quantities and nothing else. We see old pipes from them all. It's not like we only see oil-cured pipes.

interesting

[coco]

When I finish a bowl I use the oils from my face and rub it in on most occasions. The tobacconist I used to work for way back when showed it me. Don't know if it helps, but it puts a nice matte finish on old briars.

I now have a picture in my mind of DL rubbing his face with his pipe.

It's the way John Wayne did it

Now it's DL and John Wayne rubbing their faces with their pipes, while riding off in the sunset together.

[DepartedLight]

When I finish a bowl I use the oils from my face and rub it in on most occasions. The tobacconist I used to work for way back when showed it me. Don't know if it helps, but it puts a nice matte finish on old briars.

I now have a picture in my mind of DL rubbing his face with his pipe.

It's the way John Wayne did it

Now it's DL and John Wayne rubbing their faces with their pipes, while riding off in the sunset together.

The Duke is proud to ride b*tch on the hog.

[Hovannes]

Respectfully, I admit to having more pressing matters to concern myself with at the present.
I do know that the oils from your hands are absorbed into the briar--
-I've colored several unfinished pipes with that alone.
OK, how much "feeding" would a pipe really need? They aren't like my Water Polo playing 13 year old son who ate most of Atascadero for lunch last week and is currently consuming Riverside Country. Perhaps that is enough?
I have some very old tools from the 1920s, much used and abused but the wooden handles on several of them are sound and really quite excellent shape. This wood hasn't been "fed" for nearly a century! Yet other wooden handles on much newer hand tools have long since splintered.

[coco]

When I finish a bowl I use the oils from my face and rub it in on most occasions. The tobacconist I used to work for way back when showed it me. Don't know if it helps, but it puts a nice matte finish on old briars.

I now have a picture in my mind of DL rubbing his face with his pipe.

It's the way John Wayne did it

Now it's DL and John Wayne rubbing their faces with their pipes, while riding off in the sunset together.

The Duke is proud to ride b*tch on the hog.

[DAN]

I don't know what to tell you except what I've seen, and God knows it's not exhaustive.

Every pipe I own was bought used. It was fairly apparent to me in more than a few cases that the pipe was lightly used but fairly old--little to nothing in the way of cake, scorch marks, nicks, etc., but substantial oxidation on the stem--and I ain't seen no cracks or nothin'. Nothing to indicate that the briar had suffered in any way from lack of oiling, waxing, or handling.

Just my two cents.

[hugodrax]

I don't know what to tell you except what I've seen, and God knows it's not exhaustive.

Every pipe I own was bought used. It was fairly apparent to me in more than a few cases that the pipe was lightly used but fairly old--little to nothing in the way of cake, scorch marks, nicks, etc., but substantial oxidation on the stem--and I ain't seen no cracks or nothin'. Nothing to indicate that the briar had suffered in any way from lack of oiling, waxing, or handling.

Just my two cents.

I agree. Most of mine are real old. Right around the century mark. No issues that weren't man made.

[A_Morley]

I thought my rage at this thread had subsided.

I was wrong.

I'm going now.

[Cleon]

When you smoke a pipe aren't you, in a sense, feeding the pipe - exchanging the natural tannins and such (even oil from oil curing) over time. The moisture, tar, and carbony stuff from smoking the pipe is what develops it's character.

So, smoke your pipes. You don't want them to go hungry.

[SmokinGordon]

When you smoke a pipe aren't you, in a sense, feeding the pipe - exchanging the natural tannins and such (even oil from oil curing) over time. The moisture, tar, and carbony stuff from smoking the pipe is what develops it's character.

So, smoke your pipes. You don't want them to go hungry.

Great! If anyone ever complains about you smoking one of your pipes, you just say you are being compassionate!

[nosferatu]

When you smoke a pipe aren't you, in a sense, feeding the pipe - exchanging the natural tannins and such (even oil from oil curing) over time. The moisture, tar, and carbony stuff from smoking the pipe is what develops it's character.

So, smoke your pipes. You don't want them to go hungry.

Great! If anyone ever complains about you smoking one of your pipes, you just say you are being compassionate!

+1 Yay compassion!

[A_Morley]

Yep. Still enraged.

[nosferatu]

Yep. Still enraged.

Thought that was a state of existence for you.

[coco]

Yep. Still enraged.

Thought that was a state of existence for you.

Morley's trend mug

[Cleon]

Bump. For Goose.

Dunhill oil curing and shell (sandblast) patent specs for Algerian briar:

[Goose55]

Bump. For Goose.

Dunhill oil curing and shell (sandblast) patent specs for Algerian briar:

Interesting. That old Bartlett & Bickley Piccadilly I found last summer is blasted and is very, very hard. When I tap a Czech tool on the stummel it sounds ceramic or like rock.

[hugodrax]

Bump. For Goose.

Dunhill oil curing and shell (sandblast) patent specs for Algerian briar:

Interesting. That old Bartlett & Bickley Piccadilly I found last summer is blasted and is very, very hard. When I tap a Czech tool on the stummel it sounds ceramic or like rock.

Maybe it's Sea Rock briar?

[Rusty]

Bump. For Goose.

Dunhill oil curing and shell (sandblast) patent specs for Algerian briar:

Interesting. That old Bartlett & Bickley Piccadilly I found last summer is blasted and is very, very hard. When I tap a Czech tool on the stummel it sounds ceramic or like rock.

Yeah. There are pipes that ring when we tap them with finger nail or pipe tool. I have a couple of French briars that do this and they are blasted. One of them is a superb taster. But I also have some clear finished pipes that do this as well. This is the hunt for interesting briar and it can be more interesting than the hunt for specific models or brands with some.

The old Algerian briar that was prized in the past (and that Dunhill used for Shell Briar pipes & Barling and Charatan air cured them) was actually very soft compared to any other block. But it has a very good taste. I have some modern pipes made from old Algerian briar. You'd be right if you guessed that I hunted for interesting briar.