Pipe smells wet

[ncrobb]

I have a smaller pipe that I bought new and remember now why I don’t smoke it often. It smells very strong and damp for days and days afterwards. I’ve smoked it probably 20 times and cleaned the airway several times. I don’t smoke it hot and I run a pipe cleaner thru it several times while I’m smoking. It’s just starting to show a little cake building. Could it be I’ve just not smoked the new off it? I like the pipe; it’s handmade and a great little smoker.

[Tsal]

20 smokes is still practically new especially if your just now seeing cake develop. It also could be the type of briar, I've had Italian briar that took ages to break in. .

[ncrobb]

10-4. I shall “endeavor to persevere”.

[ncrobb]

Thinking more about this, I suppose my rotation is split about 50/50 between Pipes I bought new and estates. This is the only one I can remember being this way out of the ones I smoke.

[Houtenziel]

...I run a pipe cleaner thru it several times while I’m smoking.

Is it smoking on the moist side? When I normally have a pipe that smells bad, it's usually because it's accumulated a lot of shank moisture during the smoke. This seems pretty common for newer pipes that haven't quite hit their stride.

I'd check after a smoke and the pipe has cooled - pull the stem out and swab around the perimeter of the draft-hole side of the mortise(I usually bend a pipe cleaner over so it fits snug in the mortise, and I will swab it out). The draft may be clear and dry, but If it's super funky in the mortise gap it's still gonna reek.

[Mr Beardsley]

I've had one that started out as a wet smoker but it went away fairly quickly. Sometimes briar can be finicky and act like it wasn't as dry as it should have been when carved

[Mr Beardsley]

I posted my last reply before I was actually finished.

On the pipe I mentioned it was a bit wet and a bit stinky. I gave it fairly long rests between smokes and was smoking really dry tobacco in it and it just kind of stopped doing it and acted like a normal pipe. When dealing with a new pipe or one I'm breaking in I never swab out the chamber. It will get a pipe cleaner down the stem and draft but I stir up the ash in the chamber, cover it with a thumb or two fingers and give it a shake before I dump it

[Thelonious monkfish]

20 smokes is still practically new especially if your just now seeing cake develop. It also could be the type of briar, I've had Italian briar that took ages to break in. .

Yeah, less than 100 smokes is a brand new pipe to me, maybe it's poorly cured Briar, or some engineering snafu, or it might be cursed. If you like the pipe enough keep plowing until it comes into it's own, which it might not. If it's still soaked and smells funky afterwards I would consider filling it with activated charcoal or setting it in a container of rice, just because it couldn't hurt.

[Tsal]

20 smokes is still practically new especially if your just now seeing cake develop. It also could be the type of briar, I've had Italian briar that took ages to break in. .

Yeah, less than 100 smokes is a brand new pipe to me, maybe it's poorly cured Briar, or some engineering snafu, or it might be cursed. If you like the pipe enough keep plowing until it comes into it's own, which it might not. If it's still soaked and smells funky afterwards I would consider filling it with activated charcoal or setting it in a container of rice, just because it couldn't hurt.

It very well could be green brisr.

[ncrobb]

I just lit it up with ODF RR. It’s been since Monday since I smoked. I like the pipe; wife says it fits me.