antler bowl pipes

[blacksmithman64]

A few years back I used to make antler pipes that would tuck into a hatband nicely. Well some fellow came along and told me that antler is a bad thing to smoke out of healthwise,(like smoking is good for you in the first place!) so I quit making pipes out of antler.Any thoughts on the use of antler in the making of pipes?

 

[crockett]

That antler is a good idea and I wonder if what we think are clay pipes in some of the artwork were actually antler. If the health aspect is ok antler would be an unbreakable pipe. Could such a pipe be lined with clay?

 

[Darkgael]

Elk Song Pipes....made by Richard Seyfried out in Oregon. Beautiful and expensive.
What he does is fit a briar liner to the antler and add a stem.
Pete

 

[paulvallandigham]

Antlers are basically mineral deposits, and do not absorb much of anything. You have to line them, or coat them with burnt sugar to have something to absorb the tars in tobacco. Bowl Sweetener is used to build up a carbon cake in such bowls to absorb the tars.

Antlers would be a HOT SMOKE as the bowls will warm up rather quickly, and won't dissipate heat very fast. And, since it can't absorb juices or tars as well briar, you get all that into your mouth, making it hot to the taste as well. Lining antler pipes helps them out immensely, but just smoking a briar pipe makes even more sense. Its your money, however.

I don't think there are any more health risks smoking an antler than smoking any other pipe. Mouth cancer is the most common problem, but cancers of the lip, or gum, and sometimes the sinuses can occur in pipe smokers. Tobacco chewers are much more likely to develop these cancers, because the tobacco is held in such close proximity to the flesh of the lips, gums, and tongue, on a regular basis.

 

[blacksmithman64]

Very interesting, Paul. Any thoughts on "seasoning" the bowl without lining, say by charring? :hmm:

and how does this "sugar curing" work exactly?

 

[Swampman]

Deer antler is hair. It stinks to high heaven when it gets hot. The Briar liner eliminates the problem.

 

[paulvallandigham]

The sweetener is liquified sugar, basically. You put it in the bowl and let it air dry. Then pack the bowl with tobacco and smoke it. The heat burns the sugars and leaves char behind. Its the same thing as "charring" the bowl. You build up the char as thick as you can stand it, and still get tobacco into the bowl, and then begin chipping some of it away if it gets too thick. Since it soaks up tars, you are throwing away carbon or "charcoal" that is full of tars. The guys who do this carry their sweetener in their tobacco pouch and are constantly adding sweetener to their bowls. Its part of the neuroses. :rotf:

I tried this early on in my pipe smoking days. Its was a royal PITA! So, I began smoking first a corn cob pipe, and then briar pipes as I learned more about pipes and pipe tobacco. MY corn cob pipes lasted a year or two, before they dried out so much they began cracking, and letting smoke come out the sides of the bowl! Yikes!! Hot-Hot-Hot !!!! Get a new pipe. I was buying them for under $2.00 back then. Today, if you can find one for $5.00, buy it.

They almost all come with a cotton filter stuck in the stem. I get rid of it, as all it seems to do for me is make it much harder to suck the smoke from the bowl. The filter does soak up the tars and nicotine, so you are basically smoking hot air, rather than smoke. I suppose this is better for you, but you end up carrying around a pack of extra filters for the pipe all the time, another PITA as far as I am concerned.

 

[blacksmithman64]

So I figger; not being a chemist and such; that burning the bowl with sugar somehow coats or seals the antler?

 

[nw_hunter]

Actually deer antlers are not carotene (like hair)! Horns and hoofs are carotene. Antlers are a bone substance.Antlers stink when heated, but horns will make you gag... :grin:

 

[paulvallandigham]

Yes, that is how it works. Coating the surface with the sugar is a time honored way to " break in a pipe". Many smokers of briars use the same method with those pipes, claiming it give a superior quality of smoke. I don't believe it, but to each his own lousy taste! :blah: Many briar pipe are sold as being broken in all ready, and they are seen with a blackened bowl on the inside. I think the same thing can be done with a new briar by simply flaming the bowl upside down over a candle or lighter. Use a good pipe tool to clean the bowl or ash and residue, and to keep the stem clear. Use pipe cleaners regularly to remove the tars from the stem and you will have a good smoke- as good as your choice of tabacco allows.

I smoke a vanilla flavored blend of tobacco called Sable Blend, because it is so cool and smooth to the tongue. You can get it at Jon's Tobacco Shop, here in Champaign. 217-344-3459. Its a house blend, so you are not going to find it outside the two Jon's stores, here in Champaign, and the flagship store in St. Louis. The store owner ships tobacco all over the world to customers, and says he ships more Sable Blend than all the rest of his tobaccos combined.

 

[Black Hand]

Actually deer antlers are not carotene (like hair)! Horns and hoofs are carotene.

I think you mean "Keratin", "carotene" is a yellow/orange pigment made by plants. And antlers are more like bone than horn.

 

[ohio ramrod]

I made several and lined the bowl cut out with brass candle holders available at most craft shops for about 25 cents each. Chared the bottom with sugar. Just make sure your stem comes in to the bowl above the bottom of the bowl . You do not want to inhale burning antler!

 

[Darkgael]

A simple way to cure a la sugar is to paste the inside of the bowl with grape jelly. Let it dry, as Paul mentioned. That may take a couple of days.
Smoking carbonizes the layer.
This is a common method for curing/breaking in pipes made from wood other than briar, such as cherrywood. It is also a viable cure for some problems in corn cobs.
Pete

 

[fatboy]

I was told by a fella to use honey on them antler bowls havnt tried it yet myself

 

[Darkgael]

Yeah, honey works. Karo syrup, etc. Any liquidy (is that a word?) sugar that is thick enough so that a thin layer won't pool in the bottom of the pipe and won't take too long to dry.
Pete