| Author | Message | ||
     Paul Tummers Member Username: Paul_tummers Post Number: 171 Registered: 12-2007 |
What causes this phenomen: Two 4-dot Brigham pipes, old make with the small digits and patent number stamped in the shank,new old stock, bought on Ebay, smoked by one person-me- one pipe develops cake, the other does hardly get a coat of cake in the bowl,same tobacco used, both being smoked a 20 times now in my own way which does not differ. Is it the wood, I do not know. Please do think with me! Regards, Paul T. | ||
| Todd Bannard Member Username: Sasquatch Post Number: 696 Registered: 05-2006 |
There could be a few reasons. However, if both pipes are same vintage, same stock, from the same place, you would think that both pieces of briar would be of equal moisture content, so I would rule that out. There are male and female briar plants, harder and softer, and I don't know if that affects cake build up. Have a careful look at the "cakeless" one - I have a few pipes that I despaired of ever caking, and then I reamed one, and found that indeed it did have a very good, hard, dense cake indeed. | ||
| W. A. Lanman Member Username: Blenheimbard Post Number: 152 Registered: 01-2009 |
Not all briar is created equal. According to one of our moderators there is a difference in the briar according to the sex of the plant (until he mentioned it I didn't give any thought to this angle). Unfortunately once a pipe is created from the briar it is impossible to no which sex it came from. Within the same bole of wood from the same plant, there are going to be pieces cut from the outside, from the middle and then from the heart, and all of these are going to have different densities, and therefore slightly different characteristics.(and then you can add in the differences in curing and how old the wood was before being formed into a pipe.) What we are looking for in building a cake is a layer of charred material that insulates the burning tobacco from the wood, so that we taste the tobacco, not burning wood. A denser piece of briar will build up the cake slower than a softer piece, but by the same token probably needs less of a cake because it is denser. Some manufacturers will market their pipes according to the provenance of the wood, like the controversial "dead root" briar; or how it is cured, as in oil cured or heat cured bowls; or even claims to the age of the bole it was taken from as in "100 year briar". Brigham was not one of those makers. I believe before they moved production to Italy that they used briar from a number of sources (Italy, France, Algeria, etc.) and it could be something as simple as that. If I have erred in my answer I am sure a correction will follow, but hopefully this will show why there is no one answer to your question. Big question is how do they smoke? Generally if you are getting burning wood you will know it, it is not particularly a fun experience. Many pipes have had the manufacturer pre=treat the bowl to reduce this, and the only brand new Brigham I have owned had no noticable break in taste. It was good to go right out of the box. | ||
| Melvin S. Schwartz Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 4378 Registered: 02-2002 |
"According to one of our moderators there is a difference in the briar according to the sex of the plant (until he mentioned it I didn't give any thought to this angle)." I wonder who that could be?  The main difference between male and female plant aside from denseness is briar from male plant will smoke hotter than briar from female plant. So, yes, the building of cake could be faster in a pipe made from female plant, because the pipe remains cooler. It is a well established fact that puffing at a slow pace will build cake faster, which to me means cooler versus hotter. Even though Paul says he smoked the two pipes the same way all 20 times each, I still wonder about the conditions of which the pipes were smoked under, such as atmospheric, mental state of mind, and physical activities. I imagine someone could forget some difference when smoking two pipes 20 times each and on different occasions. I am assuming here that both pipes are not pre-carbonized, and the internal chamber of both pipes is identical in nature relative to smoothness. | ||
| Paul Tummers Member Username: Paul_tummers Post Number: 172 Registered: 12-2007 |
Both pipes are good smokers, to soon yet to estimate how they will be when completely broken in.There is no layer of pre- carbon in the bowls, just bare wood. They must be both from the 60/70-ties,because after that period, Brigham did not stamp the Patent number on their pipes anymore, For the taste of burning wood, neither of them did taste like that, I always must be careful not to burn the bottom aria of the bowl-seem to be a reasonable dry smoker and am able to finish a good drilled pipe totally, turn it upside down and only ash comes out. The one which almost does not develop cake has a very thin layer of hard cake in it, the other one a much thicker layer of also hard cake, both pipes are very light for their size. Regards, Paul T. |