A pipe

Independent of its shape, consists of the following parts

Pipes come in many different shapes and sizes. The following is a guide collected by the alt.smokers.pipes newsgroup. There may be other shapes but the ones from the link are the common ones.

Breaking in your Pipe

When you get a new pipe you'll have to `break it in`. Breaking your pipe in is the process of adding a layer of carbon to the inside of the pipe chamber. The reason is to protect the wood from burning. Some pipe manufactures add a layer of carbon to their new pipes. I do not!

I personally do not like the taste of these layers, and if I buy a pipe with a layer I'll remove it prior to breaking in my new pipe. There are several ways to break in a pipe. One of the most common ones is to only fill half of the the tobacco chamber and then smoke from the middle to the bottom.

The rationale behind this is to ensure that the bottom of the pipe is carbonized first. Some may not be able to smoke the whole bowl at once. Breaking in a new pipe can taste a lot of burning wood. Therefore, some smoke only half the bowl.

Personally I fill the whole chamber, as this is how you'd normally smoke the pipe. But the first 4-6 times I really take my time smoking each bowl. Ensuring that the bowl does not get warm. This process requires some relights and some tamps. Sometimes you'll have to sit the pipe down and relax. That's ok. Simply pick up the pipe and relight it once it has cooled down.

I prefer a break in tobacco of the 'english' type, as this type of tobacco usually dosen't have any taste enhancers. Some times I use a tobacco with a little latakia. As latakia can take some of the taste of wood. But latakia also leaves a taste in the bowl that you'll have to remove later with a new type of tobacco. In my experience it takes 3-5 smokes for a particular tobacco to set its taste in the bowl.

I recommend you to break in my pipes using the 'normal' smoke method. Use a mild tobacco with minimun tongue bite, such as MacBarens first choice. Very mild and often sold with a 'beginners' pipe kit.

But as purchasing a handmade pipe is not a beginners thing, I doubt that you're a pipe beginner and therefor you probably already have your own way of breaking in pipes. In this case do as you do. I'm sure you can handle my pipes as well. If you're still in doubt read this pipedia.org article.