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Curing: Difference between revisions
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So now we have these blocks of wood, all in sacks according to first grading. What happens then? The wood, sack by sack, is boiled. Although the wood is dead it still has all kinds of nasty stuff in it that would turn the mouth of a pipe smoker inside out if this step wasn’t taken first. You see, boiling removes most of the sap and other impurities and replaces it with water. | So now we have these blocks of wood, all in sacks according to first grading. What happens then? The wood, sack by sack, is boiled. Although the wood is dead it still has all kinds of nasty stuff in it that would turn the mouth of a pipe smoker inside out if this step wasn’t taken first. You see, boiling removes most of the sap and other impurities and replaces it with water. | ||
After boiling the blocks are spread, each in their own grade area, to surface dry after which time they are re-graded. Grading is very subjective because no one knows what is in the block. At the present moment plateau is considered very high quality whereas in the 1920s one famous pipe manufacturer claimed that “The centre of the root yields the most perfect pipe that can be obtained.” | After boiling the blocks are spread, each in their own grade area, to surface dry after which time they are re-graded. Grading is very subjective because no one knows what is in the block. At the present moment plateau is considered very high quality whereas in the 1920s one famous pipe manufacturer claimed that “The centre of the root yields the most perfect pipe that can be obtained.”<ref>About Smoke, an encyclopaedia of smoking. Alfred Dunhill Ltd. 1928.</ref> | ||
After the second grading the blocks are supposed to continue to dry for an additional eighteen months before they are ready for selection. Actually this doesn’t always happen- depending on the need of the pipe maker(s) in question or on how badly the sawmill needs cash. | After the second grading the blocks are supposed to continue to dry for an additional eighteen months before they are ready for selection. Actually this doesn’t always happen- depending on the need of the pipe maker(s) in question or on how badly the sawmill needs cash. | ||
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So there you have it. A heck of a lot of time, effort, and money in order to insure a really pleasant smoking experience. As I said before these guys are “artistes”; they are perfectionists. They want the stuff they make to be as perfect as humanly possible. And while no one can guarantee that a properly cured pipe will smoke wonderfully (because that is up to nature herself) the craftsmen who make these goods have tried to warrant just that. | So there you have it. A heck of a lot of time, effort, and money in order to insure a really pleasant smoking experience. As I said before these guys are “artistes”; they are perfectionists. They want the stuff they make to be as perfect as humanly possible. And while no one can guarantee that a properly cured pipe will smoke wonderfully (because that is up to nature herself) the craftsmen who make these goods have tried to warrant just that. | ||
== References == | |||
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