
绿标
 
- 注册时间
- 2010-6-30
- 最后登录
- 2013-4-23
- 生日
- 1986 年 3 月 10 日
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It happens now and then that burnt pipes are complained about to us or the manufacturers. In a large number of cases damage is not caused by material defects but by the owner's handling of his pipe. For this reason we have found it appropriate to give you some hints and explanations on this matter.
Every briar pipe requires to be broken in, this also goes for pipes with a pre-coated tobacco hole. One of the main characteristics of any kind of wood is: it is inflammable, and briar is in no way an exception. To break in a pipe means nothing but to get the briar accustomed to the heat of glowing tobacco in the bowl. This is mainly achieved by gradually building up a carbon layer composed of tobacco ashes and tars which provides a rather effective protection to the briar. Still, burning the surface of the wood inside the bowl to some extent is inevitable. To keep this erosive process at a lowest possible level it is most important to puff and drag most carefully and gently during the first ten of fifteen fills.
In accordance with the important contemporary pipe producers we recommend to smoke a new pipe with the bowl three quarters or completely full. The tobacco should be filled in loosely and only be gently stuffed before being lit. During the course of smoking the ashes on top should only be very gently pressed down (more like stroking) to keep the tobacco burning evenly. It is certainly not wrong to break in pipes "in the traditional way" with the bowl at first only quarter full, then half and finally full. but this old method requires much more caution and bears risks not to be played down. In a bowl only sparsely full, the heat tends to spread out unevenly which causes increasing tensions in the wood between the bool top and the hot bottom part of the bowl. This might result in the hairline cracks which might later become a starting point for more severe burns. Small quantities of tobacco are less easy to light and they required more intense and permanent puffing to keep the tobacco burning, which again means fanning the glowing ashes.
Should your pipe be overheated (it hurts when you hold the bowl to the back of your hand) you best put it aside and let it cool down completely. You can then relight it and carefully continue smoking. Any nastily bitter taste or smell coming up definitely indicates that you have begun to severely burn in the wood. In this case, stop at once, let the pipe go out and allow it to cool down. Then gently ream out ashes and tobacco (take care not to scrape too hard into the sides of the bowl) and check the interior of the bowl for possible burns. If noticed in time and not neglected these mostly superficial burns can effectively be mended and the pipe can then be used again without any negative effects on its smoking qualities or taste. Anyone who tortures his pipe by constant hard puffing (for gear to let the fire go out) will risk deep burns and even fatal damage.
Always smoke the tobacco as far down as possible still avoiding to tease the pipe in order to turn to ashes even the last tiny crumb of tobacco. But remember: a pipe constantly being smoked only half way down and/or too often in too short periods of time will soon accumulate lots of moist and tars in the bottom part of the bowl and in the stem. The briar will become soaking wet and the pipe will finally create its own special smell and stench that reminds us less of nice tobacco than of sun-exposed garbage cans (which will the be the best place for it).
Filter pipes require even more attention during their breaking-in period, as the filter down not only obstruct the pipe's draught to a certain extent but also suppresses some of the tobacco's aroma, especially the more bitter components. This, of course means that also clues of burning wood can no longer be easily detected by taste. Thus heat control by periodically grasping the bowl firmly with your hand is even more important with filter pipes.
Last, but not least the consistency of your tobacco is of quite some important. If too damp, it is hard to be set alight and requires excessive puffing to be kept burning, if too dry it will burn down too fast. In both cases the result is the same: the pipe will overhear, the smoker has no real control of his pipe and will risk damage.
[ 轉載自 www.danpipe.com ]
[ 原連結 www.danpipe.com/break-in.html ] |
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