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Hi Guys,

I was wondering if anybody had the experience of stain leaking from the outside of the bowl to the inside chamber. I have two pipes with this problem and it seems that the wood is very porous and allowed this to happen. It is very difficult to remove the stain from the inside. Does this effect the integrity of the pipe and does anyone have sugestions as to how to remove it?

Thanks

Progcat@msn.com

You can try to sand it out. What I usually try to do to avoid this, is take a wooden dowel that is about a 1/4 inch smaller than the tobacco chamber. I shape down one end to a conical shape. I then wrap that end with a paper towel or two and then tape the ends of the paper towel to the dowel. I then put this snug, into the tobacco chamber. With the end of the paper towels being taped to the dowel, they should not hang down on the pipe and get in the way of staining.

This has worked pretty well for me. I have still had a little stain get into the chamber a time or two, but nothing that a little sand paper did not take off quickly.

Hi Progcat,

If stain is seeping into the chamber from the outside, there's nothing you can do to remove it. It is all the way though the wood. As long as it's not a flaw that goes all the way through or really thin bowl walls, the pipe is fine.

If you are smoking it yourself, even a flaw that goes all the way through will usually not affect the smokability of the pipe, as long as you seal the flaw somehow. I have several of those that I smoke regularly.

Extra porous wood is indicated if there are little pin prick blooms of stain showing up inside on the bowl walls. If there is one large spot, you may have a hidden flaw.


Tever Talbert wrote somewhere that extra porous wood is just one of the reasons that he decided to pre-carbon coat all of his pipes.

Hope this helps.

Rad

Hey Progcat,


Please disregard my post. After reading Rad's post I went back and re-read your original post and realized I had failed to absorb a very important part of your question. Duh....

I am having a lot of Duh moments for a Friday...I think I need to go home! :thumb:

Anyways, sorry about that.

I'll echo what Rad said. If it's just a bunch of tiny spots on the inside of the bowl, it's not even close to a problem. In my opinion, porous wood like that is preferable, I like the way pipes made with porous wood behave when smoked. If you don't like the looks of it, coat the interior of the bowl with a carbon-based coating to hide them.

What Kurt and Rad said. Plus, using a bowl coating has the added benefit of making the bowl of all of your pipes look the same.

There are posts somewhere around here on bowl coating ingredients, and I have been using activated charcoal powder, buttermilk, and sour cream, mixed in equal portions (or you can adjust to suit your needs).

Even though I can't taste the bowl coating when breaking in a new pipe, it is my customers that count, and I recently asked one if he detected a flavor note from the bowl coating in the pipe he just bought. He said he did not.

Good luck on your bowl coating experiment, should you decide to proceed in that direction.

HI Mark,

I use the waterglass/charcoal coating, and I can't detect a taste either.

Have had no compaints.

I've been meaning to try the buttermilk/sour cream mix, but haven't done it yet.

Rad

Rad

What is the waterglass/charcoal coating?

It's sodium silicate (waterglass) mixed with powdered charcoal.

There's a thread about the benefits/drawbacks of both mixtures on here somewhere.

Rad

RadDavis wrote:HI Mark,

I use the waterglass/charcoal coating, and I can't detect a taste either.

Have had no compaints.

I've been meaning to try the buttermilk/sour cream mix, but haven't done it yet.

Rad

I've used it as well, and I have smoked pipes where I know the maker used it. I agree with you Rad, no taste with that mixture. One of the things I like about the buttermilk and sour cream mixture is that if the pipe sits on the shelf for a while prior to being sold/smoked, it will not turn white/gray like the waterglass mixture.

One of the things I like about the buttermilk and sour cream mixture is that if the pipe sits on the shelf for a while prior to being sold/smoked, it will not turn white/gray like the waterglass mixture.

That's one reason I've been meaning to try it.

Rad

Thanks Guys,

Sorry it took so long to reply but my computer went crazy for a couple of days. The leakage problem I have is just very tiny specks that seeped in from the outside of the briar, not the typical stainage you get near the top of the bowl when staining. It sounds like its not a big deal and does not represent a serious flaw in the pipe. Thanks Again

Progcat