Brylon Pipes

[Ray Mackessy]

I just found two Yellow Bole pipes I've had hidden away in the attic for how long I can't remember. They have only been smoked maybe twice. They are made of Brylon and this material I know is made from a mixture of briar dust and resin. I want to start smoking them again and I'm just wondering if any of you can help me.

1. Do I built a cake like I would in a briar pipe?

2. Should I rest the pipe between smokes like I would a briar or is
Brylon like meerschaum and needs very little rest?

3. What care and maintenance do I need to do.

I've been smoking pipes for over 26 yrs and I can't believe I don't know a thing about Brylon.

[Drifter]

Ray..if memory serves, Brylon is a mixture of briar dust from pipe carving and acrylic resin, a resin much like that used in "The Pipe". I had one once that was pretty bad, smoked hot as could be. More recently, I got one that has a small bowl and just on a lark, gave it a try with some black twist. Handles that fine, without the need for an asbestos glove! Clean it just like I do my briars, with pipe cleaners soaked in Everclear. I've not smoked it long enough yet to see if any cake even develops.

[Ray Mackessy]

Drifter, I'm on a mission to get a good dime size cake built up in these two pipes smoking Carter Hall and Price Albert. I bought these two pipes back in the late 80's and don't have the heart to get rid of them. I know the history about Brylon pipes being poor smokers, but I'm out to prove that they can be fine smokers.

[martin_j001]

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I just picked up a Kaywoodie Impulse estate from one of my local shops. Very hot to the touch indeed. Don't know much about brylon pipes either, though, so I plan to smoke it and treat it like the cheapie estate pipe it is.

[Ray Mackessy]

Martin, if you build a good cake in your brylon pipe, like I did on the two I have, you'll find that they don't get as hot as before the cake was formed. Since posting this thread back in September 2009 I've worked very hard in building a cake in my two Brylons. I have only smoked PA in the pipes and have smoked them very slow. Each pipe got smoked 3 times in a day for 7 days and I rested them for 1 week. I find the cake is a soft cake and not a hard cake. I haven't reamed them yet, but do use a soft pipe cleaner in the bowl before I rest them. I would have gotten rid of them, but they are some of the oldest pipes I own and hold a sentimental value.

[martin_j001]

Good to know, thanks Ray! Will continue to work on building a good cake in it.

[strongirish]

If you get them to smoke good, you are a tougher guy than me! I really can't smoke a Brlon, they just smoke to hot for me. They do get better with a cake in them, and as far as cleaning, you can put them in the dishwasher as they are indestructable. I much rather smoke a briar or a cob.