clay pipes

[the11]

Okay, so not long ago there was a thread about clay pipes, where a member posted pics of hand rolled clay pipes that he had for sale. And for the life of me, I cannot find it anywhere. Does anyone know who that member might be?

Thanks

 

[Celt5494]

11, I was the one who made a post about the pipes. I bought two from Highorse. They are great smokers, hand rolled and great quality which suits me. Hope that helps? If you want any other info let me know!

 

[Goldhunter]

Where did my post go?

the11, did you get my PM?

 

[Celt5494]

Where did my post go?

the11, did you get my PM?

Hmmm, I don't know? I have noticed that some of my posts or threads get deleted after some time. Maybe the admin does it after folks stop talking about a topic????

 

[the11]

Thanks for the help guys. Email away.

 

[pichou]

Were not supposed to try and sell items in the regular forums. Maybe we over did the advertising? :idunno:

:redface:

 

[LRB]

OK, what is hand rolled, and what is the major difference in the end result? I don't do pipes very much, but would just like to know.

 

[pichou]

OK, no advertising here... :nono:

Almost all of the clay pipes you can buy now are slip cast. They pour runny clay into the mold. Its faster and easier and the pipes are lighter weight.

Hand rolled they knead a bit of pipe clay, and roll it into the basic shape, then press the clay tight in the mold. The pipes are much denser, cooler to smoke, and don't break if you look at them sideways. They do break tho. 18th c. pipes were all rolled.

 

[LRB]

Thanks Pichou. What you describe is kinda what I thought about the stem, but wondered about how the bowl would be done. No. I won't be making pipes. Was merely curious.

 

.... Hand rolled they knead a bit of pipe clay, and roll it into the basic shape, then press the clay tight in the mold. The pipes are much denser, cooler to smoke, and don't break if you look at them sideways. They do break tho. 18th c. pipes were all rolled.

I have original clays dug at various encampments from the F&I War - Rev War - Civil War. a high percentage that you find at old sites are broken as you have said. I have an early clay bull frog Native American pipe that was in excellent condition. We moved to a different state lower elevation, everything was fine, then one day the pipe broke for no reason?

 

[Celt5494]

Any chance you would like to post some pictures of those pipes? I dive wrecks and if I'm really lucky one of these days if I'm in really deep cold water I might just come upon some of those pipes in pristine condition. No luck as of yet so I might just have to resort to diggin some up.

 

[Highhorse]

Here is a link describing the process of making hand rolled clay pipes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G3nuBgnSDI

 

[stubshaft]

Thanks for the link. I've been a pipe smoker for years and always wondered but never got around to researching the method of making a clay pipe. :thumbsup:

 

[Dispatch]

Would you say you get a better smoke from a Clay pipe, or one of wood? :hmm:

 

[paulvallandigham]

If the clay pipe has a long stem, like a church warden's pipe, then, yes, you can get a good smoke. However, char is allowed to build up in pipes to absorb the nicotine, and other undesirable flavors in tobacco. Its much harder to build up char in a clay pipe than in a good briar pipe.

In my Personal experience. the short stemmed clay pipes are HOT to smoke, and I don't enjoy smoking them. Briar pipes dissipate heat much faster than do clay pipes, and that is the primary draw back to smoking a clay pipe. Even the bowl of a clay pipe gets too hot to handle if you smoke it long enough. When you find your fingers moving off the bowl to hold the stem of the pipe, its time to let it burn out, and cool down again. Most clay pipe have small bowls, so that you don't take long to smoke up the small amount of tobacco you can put in them.

 

[Darkgael]

Paul: You don't need a cake on the inside of a clay pipe, that's part of the beauty of smoking them. The clay absorbs the condensates very much the same as a Meerschaum. In fact, allowing a cake to build in a clay, as in a meer, is a good way to crack the pipe.
The small clays do smoke hot if one puffs too fast. I find that if I hold that narrow stem like a cigarette, I don't burn my fingers.
Just received one of the handrolled clays from Highhorse. Very nice.
I am quite fond of meers and clays and smoke them much more than my briars. My favorite pipe, in fact, is a Barling Manx meerschaum with a military stem.
Pete