There have been stories about some excellent pipes being able to keep tobacco smouldering for 5 or even 10 minutes when you leave them sitting on the table. I have never been so lucky to see that. How do you pros make a pipe that can do that? Is it airway design and working? Quality of wood? Or magic? Or the whole legend being a lie?
I agree with Todd's just-make-a-pipe-dude solution to most basic problems in pipe-making. But as far as the 10-minute mystery is concerned, there is cerntainly much more to it.
I hope this question is not peeping into your most closely guarded alchemy tricks.
It can happen, packed the right way and properly lit. Some of it might embellishment, but I would imagine that under the right circumstances any well-crafted pipe could do the same. Especially in a breeze.
It's happened to me on one of my self-crafted pipes, and it is a full-bent with 5/32" airway. An imperceptable breeze and lucky pipe placement made it possible. It helps to have an nice open airway and slot and good "flow" dynamics. And Kurt is right on about proper packing and tobacco moisture is also key.
I assume you are refering to Rick Newcombe's fable of a perfectly crafted Ivarsson pipe with his aftermarket WIDE open airway. The truth is that there is no magic. Just drill a 3/16" to 1/4" airhole in your pipe and place the button towards a slight draft. Even Rick's company of Danish pipe makers had to laugh and attributed the smoldering to the outdoor breeze.
I've heard that a pipe has to be boiled in Mike Butera's saliva and then cured with oil before it will do that. This may be a myth, but I do it anyway just in case.
I soak my briar in cat urine. Todd, maybe you can mail me some saliva instead?
I have a number of pipes that darn near smoke themselves. The only factor they have in common is a very deep bowl, around 2", a relatively skinny (to the depth) bore, between 3/4 and 7/8, and very thick walls of at least 5/16". I think you have to have a lot of tobacco burning and a lot of airflow, and a fair amount of heat retention in a large chunk of briar.
Interestingly, puffing hard to get a pipe to do this has no effect - the times I've done it have been times I've had to put the pipe down and deal with some or other thing, or times I've gone into a store and just carried the pipe while I made purchases, and then jumped back into the truck and found that the pipe was still smouldering.
ToddJohnson wrote:I've heard that a pipe has to be boiled in Mike Butera's saliva and then cured with oil before it will do that. This may be a myth, but I do it anyway just in case.
Todd
Where would one come across that quantity of saliva (can you reveal your source)? And at what temperature does it boil? Do you fully submerge the pipe or just the bowl. What a fascinating tip!
ToddJohnson wrote:I've heard that a pipe has to be boiled in Mike Butera's saliva and then cured with oil before it will do that. This may be a myth, but I do it anyway just in case.
Todd
Where would one come across that quantity of saliva (can you reveal your source)? And at what temperature does it boil? Do you fully submerge the pipe or just the bowl. What a fascinating tip!
Thanks. You guys on this forum invariably give superstition-busting advice. That's part of my motive for asking the question in the first place. But only PART, I have to say. Yet the other part is always there, tickling many amateur pipe tinkers like me: seeking the magic thing. To quote the movie Prestige: people want to be fooled. I look forward to seeing whether that little fantasy is still there when I have made my hundredth pipe, in remote future, of course.
ToddJohnson wrote:
I'm sorry, but this is all proprietary.
TJ
Dang Todd, you should write a book! Boiling Points: Mike Butera's Spit Secrets Revealed! You could make money blowing the lid off of this super secret pipe making secret!
Of course, then Mike Butera would be a hunted man...everyone would be trying to harvest his spittle. Ewww....
"It is noble to be good; it is still nobler to teach others to be good - and less trouble."
