Burnouts

PipeProfessor

Has anyone every smoked a pipe way too hard, for way too long and burned it out? 

Subtilis87

No I have not, but I have often wondered what the experience of smoking a bowl hot enough to experience one is like.

Subtilis87

I would also be curious to see a pic of someone's pipe that split open because their cake grew to thick. #PipeSadness

Topaz75

As I recall, my grandfather would occasionally discard a pipe that he claimed was "smoked out". I never understood exactly what he meant by that.

JosiahWN

I've never burned out a pipe. Even estate pipes. But I'm curious what that tastes like.

drac2485

@subtilis87 I would like to see that as well. I have seen some pipes with a cake so thick a pencil could barely fit in it but it still never cracked the bowl.

ghostsofpompeii

@drac2485 There is an antique/resale shop near me in Crown Point, Indiana that I visit regularly and I bought two estate pipes to refurbish. The owner of the shop has a wooden box containing about two dozen pipes in varying state of disrepair he acquired from the collection of an elderly gentleman who had to give up smoking for health issues. And with the exception of about four (counting the two I purchased) the pipe bowls were caked as thick as you describe - and several in the collection were actually split and well beyond repair. So I guess it does happen. For the life of me I can't figure out why the original owner didn't clean out the cake every once in a while.     

Woodsman

I've seen pipes split from excess cake but I've only burnt out one pipe by doing something stupid. I had bought a new Dr G and I complained to an old pipester about break in. He told how he broke in his pipes by holding them out a car window and bring them in when they felt hot. He forgot to tell me to drive slow. I had a 1965 GTO sooo, at 60 mph by the time I felt it grow hot I burnt a hole through the bottom. When I told him what happened, he laughed so hard his false teeth fell out. I never repeated that experiment even at slow speed.

Woodsman

There was a batch of 4 Dunhills on Ebay that all had cracked bowls, they all had a piece of stiff wire wrapped around them and twisted tight to hold them closed.

Philip

When I first started smoking a pipe I would over-smoke it (if that's even a term) and the inside bottom of the bowl got little spider web looking grooves or cracks in it. I retired that particular pipe but kept it because it was my first one. I'm not sure what's up with it but it doesn't look right. I also noticed a little hole on the outside but I don't think it burned through, it must have been a flaw in it that I didn't notice before. Later on I'll get it out and take a closer look. It's been years.

piperdave

I have had a pipe start with a small burn-out like @phillip stated with his first pipe. It was a new un-smoked Kings Cross (Savinelli 2nd) that I bought which was from the 70's or 80's approx. the bowl did not have a carbon lining just smooth wood. After it's maiden smoke I noticed small spider web like cracks in the bottom portion around a dark charred spot in the bowl. The problem was that the briar had dried out so well it was too dry. And in that particular spot in the bowl there may have been a flaw just under the surface unseen the heat brought it out. The pipe never got that hot during the smoke, it had no odd flavor other than the tobacco I was smoking in it. I still have the pipe and enjoy it on occasion, I made up some pipe mud and caked the bowl to protect that spot and I try to never smoke it down to the bottom of course. Still is a great smoke and wonderful draw. I learned with older pipes like this before you smoke a bowl wet the inside with a small amount of moisture or saliva to help prevent something like this.