New Pipe Break-in

I would recommend smoking a few quarter-filled bowls to get a cake started on the bottom. After every smoke, instead of dumping out the ashes immediately, let them cool, stick your thumb over the bowl, and shake. This will (hopefully) coat the inside of the bowl with an even layer of ash. Repeat for the first 10 bowls or so.

 Also, when cleaning out afterwards, go gently in the bowl, and try not to scrape off your baby-cake that is starting.

This is deffinitely one of those areas that has as many answers as there are stars in the sky...so I'll start off by saying that this is all one opinion and should be taken into account with others and you need to decide what feels best for you.  
For me, the first part of the break in process is chosing what tyope of tobacco I want to smoke in the pipe that I am contemplating.  after I decide that, I usually smoke 5 or 6 half bowls and then go on to full bowls after that.  For the first 5 or six bowls, I give my pipe a good long rest.  I don't know how many pipes you have in your rotation, but theoretically I would like for these pipes to have at least 7 days rest (some might call it overkill, but pipes don't dry out very fast where I live).  Also with these first bowls, I am careful to take it too slow if anything. I am not worried about having to relight etc.  I assume that this will happen several times, as I am always smoking a pipe for break in just at the edge of going out.  after I go through that first series and make it onto full bowls, it usually takes another ten or so smokes before the pipe goes into my regular rotation.  
By the way...if you don't have enough pipes to fill out a rotation, cobs and the silly maple pipes (both of whiich you can buy from Frenchy at www.frenchyspipes.co...) make a great filler. At roughly $4 a piece you really cant beat it.
Cheers,
Josh

I've broken in dozens of pipes(some costing more than my first car:) the same way.Don't use honey as a bowl coating!If the pipe has a thick bowl coating,I scrape most of it out.. DO smoke slowly and avoid puffing overly hard till at least the 8-10th smoke.I'm a firm believer that a pipe is'nt TRULY broken in til about 50 smokes...

Best,

D.Perry

The Sherlock Holmes Pipe Club of Boston... "Keeping The Smoking Lamp Lit Since 1991" www.shpcboston.org

I have heard folks say that the best way to break in a pipe is to do the 1/4 bowl then 1/2 bowl idea and I agree that this is probably the best way, BUT.  I have almost always started my pipes out with whole bowls of tobacco and just smoked them all the way down.  If one uses a good VA (like Full VA Flake) or a good burley, just pack the tobacco fairly loosely and smoke it.

I never try to coat the bowl with anything as this results in a cake that can flake off in time.

Jay 

I wouldn't worry too much about it if I were you. I have been given all the well-meaning advice when I started out and I tried them all. At the end of the day, it seemed redundant to do anything other than loading the sucker up and smoking it slowly. If you keep it from overheating, you're doing it right.

I'm sure many will object to it, but I'm one of those guys that will adjust the TV set on it's stand to see if that makes reception better, so I can honestly say that I've tried it all :-)

As far as the TV goes, it was the cable ...

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Lars Wiberg aka slartie
http://southend.dk/