How to Prevent Pipe Burn Outs

Charles

Found this from Pipesandcigars.com.  This is great information for the beginner to intermediate smoker but is also interesting for everyone to see.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qqJdVuMQwk

ocpunk714

I love Russ’s videos! This was a very informative one. Thanks!

mfresa

Good advice there.

Bloodhound61

That was a great and interesting demonstration.  Sometimes it’s useful to hear the specifics beyond just the do’s and don’t’s

RockyMountainBriar

I have had one pipe burn out.  It was a brand new Peterson Calabash...the small one.  It was the maiden voyage and I was smoking some Peter Stokkeby Luxury Twist Flake.  Just a few minutes in, I felt a little heat on the front of the bowl, dead center top to bottom, left to right.  In that instant, the front of the brand new pipe had discolored on the outside of the bowl.  I dumped the tobacco, there was a burn out from the inside where there must have been an unseen pit in the wall.  I sent it back to Peterson, and they sent me a new one no questions asked.  I still have that pipe and smoke it with strong flakes.  I also bought another little Calabash Pete but with the light stain deluxe finish.  It smokes strong flake tobaccos well also, the bowls are pretty small.  They work great for me, since I prefer nicotine in small doses.

jim102864

An excellent reminder to never use such intense heat on your brier generated by a torch lighter.  I love my Zippo and I regularly use it and wooden matches.

PappyJoe

I've never had a burn out. Not even on my cobs or cheap pear root pipes.

jfreedy

I haven’t either, @PappyJoe. I guess I’ve just been lucky these 30 plus years of pipe smoking. 

Charles

I use wood matches or my trusty Zippo to light my pipes.  Have used them since I began smoking in 1975 and have never experienced a burn out.  I did however experience a burn up once from a cheap corncob that was to soft on the bottom and probably should not have been sold to be gin with.

Charles

Off topic?  Really @jfreedy?  My post has nothing to do with pipes?  Interesting, my apologies for posting something off topic.

RockyMountainBriar

I have never used a torch lighter to light a pipe either.  Zippo, soft flame butane, matches, cedar spill, and beeswax soaked hemp twine (I do use a torch lighter to light the beeswax hemp twine sometimes).  It’s good to have options 😉

motie2

Let this be a warning to ye.......

RockyMountainBriar

It looks like someone hated pipes and took a blowtorch to it from the outside 😳  I think they may have been pulling a little to hard a few times.

motie2

@RockyMountainBriar

Yeah, it’s not like the owner didn’t see it coming.

PappyJoe

@motie2
I came across a pipe smoker a few years back who bought a lot of cheap basket pipes for daily use because he always burned them out. He's the only man I've ever met to smoke a pipe while riding his motorcycle. 

That being said, the most common reason for pipe burning out like pictured above, is defects in the briar and/or the pipe wall being too thin. I have an old Preben Holm that I no longer some because the outside has started to discolor on the outside of the bowl. It's an estate pipe I found and cleaned. It was already darker in that one area but I bought it anyway. Then I started noticing it getting a lot hotter in the dark area than rest of the bowl.

In my opinion, if you combine a hidden defect like a pit in the bowl and a thin bowl wall with someone who smokes a pipe too fast, you get a burn-out. 

RockyMountainBriar

I would agree with pits/defects, but that pipe has a dark ring all the way around the bowl, smoked too fast and or in a stiff breeze without a wind cap if an accident, OR someone wanted to see how much they could flog that pipe on purpose😳

ghostsofpompeii

Thankfully I've never experienced a burn-out in all my years of smoking. And early on I huffed and puffed like a locomotive with no real knowledge of the proper pipe smoking techniques. I do know I had a few bowls that were almost too hot to touch. Guess I was just lucky.

motie2

I started a bjurn out one time, years ago. After a good reaming, I could see a groove where the fire had begun eating into what was probably a flaw in the briar.

Winton

I had good teachers, when I first picked up the pipe. I followed their instructions, and never had a problem with burnout. 

RockyMountainBriar

Well, I had my second burn-out, or near burn-out a few days ago.  It happened to the first pipe I made, it was a pre-drilled block.  It was a crappy block of briar.  I’m pretty sure it is why it ended up for sale as a pre-drilled block.  I knew that the walls were thin when I made it, hey, my first pipe, give me a break.  I had always smoked aromatics, such as RLP-6, BCA, Devil’s Holiday, and the like in it previously and had no issues.  This time I decided to smoke some C&D Smoking Pipes 20th Anni. XX Flake a Virginia Flake.  Well, it was smoking a little hot, then in a flash, I detected that hint of burning briar and just that quick, the outside blackened🙁. Oh well, I knew it was a sub-standard pipe with thin walls.  Interestingly, the inside of the bowl is still solid in that area, although if I look at it closely, I can see an area that is more black.  There is an area in the grain from the outside that looks like there was an “area of concern” at that spot, not a sandpit, it just looks “different”.  It really looks different now.  I think I will load it with BCA or RLP-6 and see what happens.  If I can’t smoke it, it’s a doorstop, and I’ll use the stem on another pipe.
The two burn-outs I have had, happened when I was smoking “fresh” (mostly) Bright Virginia tobacco blends.
This one and PS “Luxury Twist Flake”.  Apparently, Fresh Bright Virginia’s and I don’t get along.  The “grate” in the bottom of this pipe was necessary because the drilling was so bad.  Remember, I did not drill this block, I did what I could to salvage it.  The oak extension was part of that salvage as well.  I am never buying a pre-drilled block again.

motie2

https://www.lepipe.it/en/SmokingPages-Avoiding-Pipe-Burnout

mfresa

@RockyMountainBriar, I am struggling with a block that I made a pipe from that is giving me briar notes down toward the bottom of the bowl, and I drilled it myself. Granted, it was on sale, Algerian briar, which I will now avoid.  No point putting all the work into a pipe and then having it go south on you.
By the way, Virginia flakes do smoke hotter than aromatics.  If your pipe can take a flake, it is a keeper.