So I got this pipe back from Premal Today

RadDavis · Post by **RadDavis** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 9:00 pm

It was a bent blasted Dublin, and the entire bowl had cracked off just above the shank. The exposed interior wood on both sides was totally black. Premal's customer said it just came apart in his hands, and as it turns out, I think that is entirely possible.

I took it into the shop and sawed it in half to see WTF had happened. The bowl walls were 1/4 inch thick at the bottom and became thicker on up the bowl.

The pipe was charcoal from the bottom to about halfway up the bowl. I mean all the way around from the inside to the outside.

Some people smoke really, really hot.

Rad

Post by **Tyler** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 10:44 pm

Bummer!

I have a neighbor that has a few of my pipes, and he once complained that one of them smoked hot. I ran into him at the tobacco store one day, and he handed it to me. It was so HOT I could barely hold it. I had never seen anything like it. Thankfully it was one of the very first pipes I made, and it had about 3 lbs. more wood than was necessary. Any other pipe would probably be burned out buy now, but this one is probably safe. YAY for newbie club pipes!

Fast forward a few years and he is over at my house having a pipe on the porch with me. I had loaned him one of my pipes for the evening, having forgotten entirely about that experience a few years before. Well, this was a pipe I really liked that I kept because I was uncomfortable with how thin one area was. Low and behold, after the evening was over and I was putting away my pipe stuff, I see that this pipe, which was a unstained, natural rusticated number, was now completely black in the thin area (about the size of a nickel). DANG! The first pipe I've ever seen burn out.

Some folks smoke HOT!

Tyler

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 3:24 am

I'm curious to know, from both Tyler and Rad, did the pipe smoker blame the pipe or himself? They obviously use a "blast furnace" style of smoking to burn out a pipe that quickly. I have estate pipes in my daily rotation that are decades old, but nowhere near burn out.

kbadkar · Post by **kbadkar** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 4:27 am

In 22 years of pipe smoking, I burned wood once, my first pipe, after a few beers, smoking while zipping around the city on my motorcycle a little too fast. Fortunately, the worst that happened was a horrible cinder taste and a burnt tongue to match the bowl interior. Despite of my temporary insanity, I knew something was awry the second I tasted the campfire log. When I dumped the little tobac that hadn't blown out and the pipe still smoldered, I remembered the effect of bellows in a furnace.

What gets me is that such a huffer doesn't notice that he is going about this pipe smoking thing all wrong... he must have a heavily calloused tongue that can't tell latakia from dung.

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 4:36 am

kbadkar wrote:What gets me is that such a huffer doesn't notice that he is going about this pipe smoking thing all wrong... he must have heavily calloused tongue that can't tell latakia from dung.

I was under the impression that latakia did taste like dung!

(Oh boy, are the latakia smokers going to give me hell now).

Post by **KurtHuhn** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 8:24 am

Another comment like that one, Frank, and the next tobacco I send you will be a pound of Penzance!

TreverT · Post by **TreverT** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:24 am

Frank wrote:I'm curious to know, from both Tyler and Rad, did the pipe smoker blame the pipe or himself?

Is this a serious question?

In my observations, it is always the fault of the "poor quality pipe" or the pipemaker, never, ever the fault of the smoker.

I remember one fellow who said he never bought those cheap, inferior thin-walled pipes because they always burned out in no time, and that was why he preferred pipes with inch thick walls. I'm always left wondering why these folks don't understand that you can keep any pipe from burning out just by setting it down to cool when it becomes uncomfortably hot...

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:57 am

Lets see some pictures Rad!

RadDavis · Post by **RadDavis** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 11:08 am

TreverT wrote:
Frank wrote:I'm curious to know, from both Tyler and Rad, did the pipe smoker blame the pipe or himself?
Is this a serious question? In my observations, it is always the fault of the "poor quality pipe" or the pipemaker, never, ever the fault of the smoker. I remember one fellow who said he never bought those cheap, inferior thin-walled pipes because they always burned out in no time, and that was why he preferred pipes with inch thick walls. I'm always left wondering why these folks don't understand that you can keep any pipe from burning out just by setting it down to cool when it becomes uncomfortably hot...

I met a fly fishing guide on the river one day getting his clients set up for a day of fishing. He was smoking a pipe with four blue dots on the stem.

I went over to talk to him and asked, "Is that a Sasieni?". He was surprised that I recognized the brand of pipe he was smoking, and as we talked, he told me that he liked the way Sasienis smoked, but that they tended to burn out frequently. Unfortunately, I had already told him I was a pipe maker.

The wind on the Missouri River averages about 20 mph most days, and this guy's happily smoking away in an open boat, until his pipe catches fire and then blaming the pipe. I could only hope that he wouldn't remember my name.

Rad

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 3:51 pm

TreverT wrote:Is this a serious question?

OK, that question wasn't too bright on my part. If someone smokes a pipe like an idiot, his idiocy will always blame someone else for failure.

LatakiaLover · Post by **LatakiaLover** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 4:25 pm

I love this subject...

How about an S. Bang worth over two grand that had a cigar torch lighter used on it repeatedly? Near-new pipe otherwise in perfect condition, with the bottom 25% of the bowl plus the first quarter inch of draft hole now charcoal. Somebody sent it to me just last week.

Gotta reach way in there to get that final three cents worth of tobacco, you know. Can't be wasteful. Or something.

Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.

TreverT · Post by **TreverT** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 10:15 am

Don't even mention cigar torch lighters! Aeeei!!

From what I've observed, pipe smokers do tend to fall into simple categories - the ones who've never burned a pipe out, ever, and the ones who keep doing it over and over, treating their pipes like disposables. They don't understand why the pipes keep burning out, and blame the poor quality of the pipes, and carry on burning them out. Pipe price has little effect, either - It's occasionally argued that people who buy high end pipes are naturally going to treat them better, and this is sometimes true, but I've seen just as proportionally many people torchify their Bangs as their Grabows.

A lot has to do with common sense... I mean, smoking on a windy river, c'mon! But I met a guy just north of us in La Roche Bernard who does the same thing, and complains that his pipes always burn out while he's smoking them out on the river. I understand that people may want a pipe to smoke in windy conditions, but that pipe is not made of briar, if their tongue can even stand it. I've got one just for such occasions, this meer that I made:

Being blasted, it's rugged as hell so I don't have to worry about scratching or denting it, and I can smoke it in a gale if I want without worrying it will overheat and burn out. It's my perfect outdoor pipe. If people really need something to smoke outdoors on windy days, it's best to have a clay or a Manx meerschaum or something to serve as a beater.

hazmat · Post by **hazmat** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 1:19 pm

Torch lighters are vile unless used to light a cigar.

I made a pipe for my mother's boyfriend not too many months ago. He finally loaded it up for its maiden smoke over the Christmas holiday while I was visiting. After packing the baccy, he produces a torch, fires it up and begins to lower the jet-flame to the bowl. Right about that point, I looked up and realized what was what. All I could manage was a mangled "EEEEEP!!!" which thankfully was enough to stop his progress before he did any damage. I really wanted to slap him silly considering the hours I put into making the pipe specifically for him. Luckily, that wasn't necessary and once I recovered from my scare, a quick explanation about the dos and don'ts of torch lighters took care of the situation.

souljer · Post by **souljer** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 6:08 am

One of my favorite pipes I have made so far was one I was seriously thinking of keeping. But I needed airfare to go to Chicago so I sold it for that amount.

A few months later the guy brings it back and says the bit broke, "all on it's own." At first I thought maybe I made the bit too thin and he broke through it under normal conditions. When I saw the pipe, the bit was broken in four pieces two of which were well down toward the shank where the stem is quite thick. Thankfully the shank was fine. The pipe needed a serious cleaning.

"It broke all on it's own." Then I took it out of the bag.
"You mean all on it's own when it hit the cement after you dropped it off the roof?"
He just sort of weakly smiled... "No I didn't..."
"Please. We're not in court. You are not an attorney right now. It's okay to take responsibility for your actions. I'll fix it. Just don't tell me it spontaneously exploded, okay?"

He actually asked me to make him another pipe a few weeks ago so he must be happy, which in the end, is the point I guess. I don't take it personally if he abuses the pipe, it just happened to be one that I really liked.