The Perils of Food-based Bowl Coatings

Few topics are so controversial among pipe-smokers as is the coating of bowls. Developed to accelerate cake formation and to protect pipes from burning out, bowl coatings are used by many of the biggest names in pipedom. However, there are those who dislike them intensely, and these people have yet another reason to avoid them.

Extreme close-up of mold.Humidity spikes in a room with little air movement can cause mold to grow on bowl coatings, especially food-based bowl-coatings. (Artisans’ recipes for bowl coatings tend to be proprietary, but food-based coatings are often comprised of substances like sour cream, yogurt, and dietary charcoal.) In the case of one fellow pipe man and reader here, the mold grew on a couple of unsmoked pipes in addition to smoked estates. Unbelievable.

After discovering mold growing inside the tobacco chambers, Tony C. wrote and asked if I knew anyone who could effectively deal with the problem. Tony contacted Adam Davidson who suggested junking the pipes. Sadly, a couple of Comoy Blue Ribands were among the casualties, and so were a couple of pipes from North American artisans who confirmed the use of food-based bowl coating recipes. (I am withholding their names because these two pipemakers are just two of many who use food-based coatings.)

Tony eventually got in touch with Premal Chheda who indicated that he believed the pipes could be salvaged so long as all the mold and bowl coatings were scraped out of the pipes.

Clearly, bowl coatings are not the only substances upon which mold can grow or mold would not have taken hold inside Tony’s Blue Riband chambers. It seems we have another good argument to make sure that all tobacco residue, especially moist dottle, is removed from a pipe, and it is given good air circulation so that the pipe can dry out.

Mold can be deadly. Accidentally smoking a pipe with mold in the chamber could result in grave consequences. Personally, I’m going to start inspecting the chambers of my pipes carefully before loading them with tobacco. I have a number of pipes with food-based bowl coatings in them. I’m not taking any chances, especially since I live here in a very humid Metro-Washington, DC.

Comments

[Riff Raff]

That is a little scary. I wonder if the ozone treatment Walker Briar does to remove tobacco ghosts would be effective in removing any mold spores?

[Countrygent]

Maybe I live dangerously, but I would have thought a good scrape and wipe through with alcohol would fix the problem. And I wonder how much mold is incorporated in the tobacco we smoke in any event, from field to warehouse, made inert in processing, still there, like the bird droppings and insect parts and rodent urine and all the rest of the things we unknowingly ingest daily. Anybody out there considering junking pipes on account of mold ... consider my mailbox your garbage can - I'll pay the postage and give you an iron-clad indemnity and release!

I grew up with a thrifty Mom who considered mold removable from almost anything. We only got violently ill now and again and lived by the adage what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger. Actually, we did get sick like everybody did more often in those days than today, I guess food handling, refrigeration and general sanitary standards are better. Living in Quebec as I did, any trip to the country was an adventure in drinking water too - the days before bottled water. You fully expected what was colloquially called the green apple two-step at the beginning of a country vacation.

Gee, Neill, next thing I know you're going to warn me off my fabulous home-cut Fugu fish and ancient roquefort sandwiches.

But like they say in the Marines, glad you got my back, brother.

[JP Pipe]

Only some mold can kill a person -- so that comment about how deadly it is seems a little dramatic, at least to me. After all penicillin was discovered from mold.

I've had some teeny dots of mold show up in pipes that reside in our humid summer house, typically they show up in the off-season, if at all. The solution?? load the pipe and smoke it!! The heat kills most anything and I've never had an issue. The pipes are put away as dry as can be, but may never fully dry out in the climate where they stay.

I suppose now I'll swab out the stems with alcohol, but for the most part I've never had any issues. I guess it all depends on the degree of mold.

Each of us likely has their own tolerance to this.

Thanks for the articles, they certainly make one think.

[kcghost]

Mold in a pipe, who knew? I guess the news of this is important, but it isn't really hitting my radar. For whatever reason I really dislike uncoated bowls. A friend of mine is the exact opposite and wants nothing to do with coated bowls. His aversion is not health oriented at all. He believes that coatings set up a barrier between the tobacco and the briar.

[Riff Raff]

Actually molds are quite heat resistant, which can be a problem in the food service industry. While I would suspect a bowl of smoldering tobacco would kill any mold spores, why then does mold grow in the bowl during periods of disuse?
I'm still not sure I would discard a pipe with mold in the bowl, particularly a collectible like a Blue Riband, etc.

[anom]

I would not be so quick as to jump to the conclusion it is food based coatings as the cause. Coated or uncoated pipes stored under conditions that may promote mold may grow mold.

[Neill Archer Roan]

The Rad Davis pipes in the room - which were uncoated - had no mold on them. I should have put this in the post, I suppose.

[Dave]

" I wonder if the ozone treatment Walker Briar does to remove tobacco ghosts would be effective in removing any mold spores? "

Yes. Ozone is used in mold remediation to kill residual mold spores that embed themselves into hard to reach areas after the mold-infested area has been surface scrubbed. Any mold residing in a pipe that is treated in an ozone chamber would be killed (but you should still clean out any pipe suspected of harboring mold, because even dead mold spores can be harmful if inhaled)

[cakeanddottle]

I definitely prefer to see naked briar in the chambers of new pipes. I understand why artisans use coatings, but I also think it's a lowest common denominator cop out on their part. Simply put, if you don't know how to break in a pipe you have no business smoking anything that breaks the $100 mark. Put a flyer with instructions for break-in and a disclaimer stating the maker assumes no responsibility for burn out in every pipe box and caveat emptor I say.

Coatings are not a dealbreaker for me, but my preference would be for no coating. That way there is no question whether the coating is having an adverse effect on flavor.

[Rick Newcombe]

I don't care about bowl coatings one way or another.

As for mold inside a bowl, I have never seen that. But I would think a gentle sanding, followed by cleaning with denatured alcohol solvent, followed by letting the pipe dry and then smoking a bowlful of tobacco would do the trick. I'm sure of it.

Just make sure you use the denatured alcohol solvent outside or in an open-spaced area like a garage with the door open -- and try to keep it off the pipe's surface.

[Alan]

I recently restored a pipe for a client who was complaining of ghosting in an estate pipe he had bought. When I smelt the bowl, it did smell fusty. Then I noticed mould inside the bowl.

This was not cased by any food related bowl coating though. The pipe was a 1914 Barling, and the mould was in the cake.Fully reaming out the bowl and a few alcohol treatments later and the old pipe was smoking as sweet as a nut. The owner requested I try it out and it was a pleasure to smoke. The fact I am still here to tell the story means no harm was incurred. :)

This leads me to believe that if conditions are right for mould to grow, it will, regardless of the make up of the inside of the pipe. Bowl coatings are not going to go away - even Dunhill use them now.

I have always been wary of using diary products though as I feel that it is easier for such products to spoil and sour.

[pbbender]

I've been smoking pipes for 50 years (and am still alive, by golly!) with never a hint of mold. I've broken in non coated pipes as well as coated pipes with the only difference being that the natural bowls took longer to mellow out. I'm a Charatan fan (that's short for fanatic) and have had both new pipes coated and not. One virgin Upshall was the devil's own misery for the first 5 bowls until Heaven came to earth on the 6th bowl when fully caked. I've always made a point of thoroughly cleaning the stem and shank with a pipe cleaner the day after smoking the pipe along with swabbing out the shank with a tissue to get the residue that a pipe cleaner wont. Never had a problem. It gets hot and sticky in Chicago during the summer and cold with much snow during the winter so there's always moisture in the air.

I have to wonder if the instances of mold found by some may be caused by the environment particular to the house where the pipes are kept. Perhaps there's excessive humidity or a great deal of frying of food that puts organic spores in the air. On those rare occasions when I feel the need to sanitize a pipe, I only use food grade alcohol (cheap vodka) and try my best to keep it off of the finish. As far as sanitizing the bowl, fill it with rock salt and add a few drops of food grade alcohol to activate the salt. This will remove most lingering "ghost" aromas from previous tobaccos and should also kill anything evil living in the bowl.