cake or no cake that is my question

[bigkev77]

I clean my briar bowl after every smoke so I won't develope cake. I read it gives you a "clean smoke". What are your opinions, pros or cons, on CAKE.

[SR Mike]

Originally Posted by bigkev77

I clean my bowl after every smoke so i won't develope cake. I read it gives you a "clean smoke". What are your opinions, pros or cons, on CAKE.

What type of bowl are you using? What type of tobacco you smoking in it? With meerschaum pipes, you want as little cake as possible. With briar, you want cake. It will help keep the bowl from over heating, cracking, and end up burning through the bowl. It will also help dry out the tobacco while smoking as it absorbs the moisture. Cake build up will help retain the flavors in the particular tobacco you are smoking in that bowl, so aromatics remain sweeter and english will remain english.

Just make sure you do not have too much cake in the pipe.

[Davetopay]

I prefer minimal, but noticeable cake. Just enough to cover the walls of the bowl smoothly. Every now and then I will gently reduce the cake buildup with a gentle cleaning session using my pipe tool. I have never had need for a reamer.

[uncballzer]

Definitely want cake on the briar. It makes it burn smoother, and will allow better distinction of the tastes IMO. Just don't mix aromatics/non-aromatics in the same pipe, and some even go further than that.

If you don't want cake, go for a meer! It also gives a great smoke without the need for cake.

[wharfrathoss]

definately build cake in a briar-no cake in a meer or cob-many people keep it no thicker than a dime or nickel, if it gets to be too much it can crack briar-i think the biggest benefit is protecting the inside of your bowl from burning

[dogsplayinpoker]

Originally Posted by uncballzer

Definitely want cake on the briar. It makes it burn smoother, and will allow better distinction of the tastes IMO. Just don't mix aromatics/non-aromatics in the same pipe, and some even go further than that.

If you don't want cake, go for a meer! It also gives a great smoke without the need for cake.

I agree. Especially with the aromatic statement. That is why many pipe smokers have specific pipes for aromatic tobaccos and different ones for non-aromatics. My main fear has always been cracking a bowl through overheating of a flaw in the briar. A dime-thick cake will help protect against small problems getting worse.

[Mad Hatter]

I definitely appreciate cake. It makes for an smooth, easy and cool burn.

[paperairplane]

Minimal to no cake.... I think cake is overrated in most discussions. I think there is minimal benefit to smoking and very little benefit to the pipe, flavor, heat of the smoke.

I have gone from little to no cleaning to regular cleaning of my briars and prefer them very clean and with no real cake.