Why do you rest a pipe?

[Crazy_Llama]

Ok so I figured that is was time to finaly get a new topic in here.


So why the heck are you suposed to let a pipe rest for a couple days after smoking it?

I can understand letting the pipe rest or cool down before packing a new bowl (smoked 2 lightly packed ones in a row tonite and the second was deffinatly not as good as the first, it was a little warmer)

So I can understand letting the pipe cool but letting it rest for a few days just maked me ask the question Why do it??

Hopefully someone around here knows why Just wanting to know why I am doing the thing that I am doing.

 

[tedski]

The practice of letting your briar pipe "rest" for a while between smokes is just to provide some additional protection. You are after all, burning some dried vegetation inside a small wooden bowl and creating lots of heat in the process. Briar is a dense wood, but constant heating can cause problems over time (cracks, burnout, etc.)

Many old time smokers did not really follow this practice though. They smoked the same pipe all day long. Of course they only paid a few dollars for their pipe - and if it cracked, they just pitched it in the trash and bought another. These days, with pipes costing hundreds and even thousands of dollars, many want their investment to last for a long time.

 

[Poni]

thousand bucks for a pipe!!!!!

couldn't they just punch a hole in a beer can, or use an apple ...... oh wait, wrong pipe!

:smokingbo

 

[Crazy_Llama]

Oh ok makes sense. That would probably explain why a few of the pipes that my great grandfather had have cracks around or down the bowl. But it sounds like i can just smoke the crap out of a 3 dollar corn cob from a smoke shop and use a briar one every few days (if im smoking every day).

 

[sgresso]

its also helps the moisture that the briar absorbs to evaporate out.
This helps prevents the tars and oils from makeing the pipe smoke bad.
It can get a sour taste even when you let it rest.
Thats why many ppl get a rotation going so the pipes have a few days or weeks to rest.
I am on a monthly rotation on my pipes.
I also have some that I only smoke for special occasions like my aniversy pipe and Fathers day pipe.

 

[IHT]

that's why most pipe smokers have a "rotation" of pipes...
tedski already answered though, so i won't say anything more.