Pre-Carbonizing
Pre-Carbonizing
Does anyone here pre-carb their pipe bowls? How do you do it?
I figure - just my idea, mind you - that you would either 1)smoke the pipe yourself, 2) use pipe mud to coat the insides of the bowl 3) use some sort of carbon insert the size of the bowl.
I'm curious - can anyone help ease this itch?
I figure - just my idea, mind you - that you would either 1)smoke the pipe yourself, 2) use pipe mud to coat the insides of the bowl 3) use some sort of carbon insert the size of the bowl.
I'm curious - can anyone help ease this itch?
- KurtHuhn
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There are a couple reasons to pre-carbonize a bowl - protect the briar during break-in, provide a surface for cake to form more readily, give a clean "finished" appearance, etc.
I precarb for the sake of appearance and to give a surface for cake to form. I use a mix of buttermilk, sour cream, and activated charcoal - you could eat that if you so desire. It even tastes halfway decent. I put it on very thinly, I don't want people complaining of a heavy hand with regard to bowl coating. Some people object greatly yo that, but very few complain too loudly if the coating is thin.
I precarb for the sake of appearance and to give a surface for cake to form. I use a mix of buttermilk, sour cream, and activated charcoal - you could eat that if you so desire. It even tastes halfway decent. I put it on very thinly, I don't want people complaining of a heavy hand with regard to bowl coating. Some people object greatly yo that, but very few complain too loudly if the coating is thin.
- KurtHuhn
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I make mine until it feels right, it's tough to describe how thick. About the consistency of stirred sour cream, perhaps a touch thicker.How thick do you make it?
Coat the entire inner surface of the bowl, including the heel. Do not lay it on thick.Do you put the mix on the heel of the bowl as well?
After the pipe is completely finished and otherwise ready for photographing or sale.When do you put the mix on: before or after staining/finishing the stummel?
If you use the right stuff, it shouldn't taste like anything at all, even during the first smoke.Does it affect the flavour of the smoke past the first bowl?
- KurtHuhn
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- Location: United States/Rhode Island
I lay mine on *extremely* thin. Maybe 1/64", but that would be on the high side. I really just use it as a paint. It goes on thicker than it is when dry - it reduces by about 70%.AAdomeit wrote:How thick you do "lay it on" on the interior of the bowl?
On the few pipes that I've seen that are precarbed, it looks thinner than 1/32"...much thinner, but I can't really tell
I am dying to post pics on here of my first pipe with an inlay (oak) and will do so when I get a camer in my hands... I want to do my first bowl coating in this pipe because I have to keep it That will give me my chance to try the bowl coating first hand (which I feel I'd need to do before putting it on a pipe for sale...)
Why do I have to keep it? Cause I split the stummel while pressing it onto a dowel (sp?) rod! Which reminds me, I've been meaning to start another post to find out how people make use of dowel rods for strip sanding... see the Stummels forum for the post.
Why do I have to keep it? Cause I split the stummel while pressing it onto a dowel (sp?) rod! Which reminds me, I've been meaning to start another post to find out how people make use of dowel rods for strip sanding... see the Stummels forum for the post.