How to make and use Pipe Mortar 

Just discovered and tried this in March 2024. Works great! A Vauen "starter pipe" (which I suspect was sold before the wood was fully dry) burned out, so I applied this concoction. It even allowed me to restore the charred airway. The first few smokes had a plaster-like taste, but the pipe was headed for the trash anyway. However, the taste is steadily improving. Hopefully, other damaged pipes of mine will do as well. Thanks for this great idea.

You shall henceforth be known as the savior of pipes. I have a feeling that you just gave a secret weapon to pipe resellers everywhere. If you mission was to save pipes, I think you may have achieved your legacy buddy!

Excellent demonstration of how to make the perfect pipe mortar 👌

I’ve been using almost the same recipe for 25 years with great success.

Just wanted to comment that I've had great success using your recipe to restore a Kaywoodie from the mid to late 40's that was extremely over-reamed. I basically created an entirely new chamber (3mm of mortar wall thickness) almost like a meerschaum lining as there was not much wood left at all. I first tried traditional pipe mud, but the chamber was so widened out all through the bowl that it just smoked terribly. Basically unsmokeable. I was ready to just chalk it up as experience until I inquired on Pipes Magazine forum and someone directed me to this video. Time will tell, but as of right now this is one of my best, if not the best smoking pipe I have with this mortar lined bowl. It's incredible and I really almost can't believe it. It's effortless to smoke, stays well lit, and smokes very cool. Anyway, I'm in the process of building a cake layer over the mortar. I'll keep you posted after smoking it for a while. If there's another thread on this somewhere that you could direct me to I would gladly post pictures and updates if it would be helpful to anyone. We'll see how it goes but I am super happy I was able to save this pipe from extinction! Thanks so much for not only making the recipe, but producing the video!

I've done this to four MM cobs and two briars and It works great! It absolutely makes for a better smoking experience in the cobs by eliminating that wood stem burning in the bottom of the bowl and trapping dottle. Hats off to you!

I recently made some pipe mud aka pipe cement out of wood ash from my log burner. Like this, it sets fast and hard without all the faff of measuring small amounts.

I love the pipe community on youtube. Everyone seems so calm and friendly! I bought my first pipe a few weeks ago and I'm really enjoying it so far

This was well worth the wait! Thanks, Mike!

When you put the mud in get a pencil with a rubber on the end tap it on a wet damp paper towel will help you smooth out the bottom

I work at a cement plant. You are 100 percent right. Gypsum is an additive we use!

Bravo Mike. Thanks for sharing this.

I ruined two corn cob pipes using the old activated-charcoal-and-cigar-ash-and-water technique to round out the chamber bottom. It never fully solidified and flaked off with each smoke. So I trashed those pipes, got 2 new ones, and used this mortar recipe. It worked REALLY well, and dried in half the time! Thank you CaneRodPiper for a wonderful recipe and technique.

That's really informative, thanks for sharing this recipe, can't wait to use it

Really interesting! I'm certainly gonna try it. Thanks for sharing!

You Sir are a true gent!

This method works great used it on two of my corncob. Thank you

Thank you CaneRodPiper! Love your channel and your chill ways! A great watch and smoke! Looking forward to trying the mortar on a couple cobs. Peaceful smokes to you and all!

Thank you for sharing the information. Nice to have a goto plan for repairing a cherished pipe.

Thank you for all your efforts to make our piping endeavors better! I plan on giving this a try.

Thanks for sharing this! I am attempting a repair with this tomorrow.

This is great, thanks for the video. I use this carbon for repairing stems, so I'm good to go!

This is an excellent resource and truly outstanding video. Well done Sir.

This seems a promising approach that I will no doubt try in due course. Many many thanks Mike

Ill be sure to try it! I make pipes from several materials from briar olive morta and now cherry and maybe some other hard woods but i think it will do good to coat the cherry wood bowls with the mortar

Works great. It's now my got-to means of repair and cob mod.

I’ve been looking for a good way to fill the bottom of my cobs so I don’t have a lot of wasted tobacco at the end of my smokes, glad I found this video. Thank you so much for this, I plan to try it out as soon as I can assembly the necessary ingredients.

Bravo, (Pipe) Maestro!! Fantastic instructional video!!!!

You're a very smart guy, Mike. Thx!

Enjoyed the video. Will try on my next restoration and let you know how it works. I’ve learned so much from your videos and have recommended them to my son, a new pipe smoker and long time woodworker. Thank you again for unselfishly sharing your skills and knowledge.

Cane Rod Piper ! The man, the myth, the legend! Plus really cool guy! Very educational video my friend. Pipe restorers will be glad with this video!

Just tried this recipe a few days ago, excellent results. Thanks a million 🤠👍

I’m going to try this out. Thanks.

First time to see your video, instant subscription! The way you present material is really good! ps i've been scientist myself)

Ill give it a try, thanks for sharing!!

Thanks for the video. Plan to try this on my cobs.

Sincere thanks for such detailed explanations, you're so fascinating! Love from Israel

Forstner bit, why didn’t I think of that! 🤦‍♂️ this seems like a great concoction, I will give it a try. Thanks for the video

Very interesting! I have made a few repairs and this looks promising. Don't have a pipe to try out at the moment but I will keep it in mind. Cheers

Very neat trixk, hop I don't need to use this but definitely great information.

I am giving this a try using Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty. It is a limestone and clay mixture that uses a dextrin (a plant-based material) as a binder. No VOCs or acrylics. Good heat resistance and also maintains the ability to absorb moisture after it cures. I think this is going to be a winner.

Excellent video! Thank you!

Excellent tutorial...thanks. 😎

Enjoyed! Keep the videos coming.

Thanks Mr.CRP, I figured it should be done prior to staining/diamond buff/carnuba wax, just wanted to ask, after I follow your percise directions for the mortar and allowcuring time, I will give you a detailed write up on what my thoughts are on the mortar, thanks, scott

I used this on a small morgan cob to test before I use it in other cobs. I doubled the batch and let it set for four days. I just had my first smoke with the new mortar and it seems to be awesome and much better than the pipe mud I previously used. The mortar set hard and I couldn't scratch any off when cleaning the bowl after the smoke. The mortar is great so far. Thanks for the recipe!

Thanks for showing how you do your mudding.

Fantastic process! I’ll definitely give this a whirl and see what happens. That activated charcoal is no joke, I took the lid off my jug a little too fast one day and the kitchen looked like Mount St. Helens was prepping for a sequel. 😂 I really appreciate the effort that goes in to all you do! All too often “research” is just slang for clicking the first result in a Google search and skimming the page. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and putting in all the time required to get to the point that you’re ready to share!

This was an incredible video. I mixed exactly as stated and used an infrared light to slightly harden the mortar before clearing the draft hole. The edges are defined and it worked like a charm. The mortar dried solid by the next morning. I will smoke tomorrow. Thank you for the information!

Pretty good idea, this is also mostly tasteless and the salt helps a bit whith pipefunk!

I am not a RU-vidr, ...but I'm very glad that you are. I make amateur hand-carved Osage pipes and have had a couple blanks that turned out to have internal faults in the wood. Most of these are not too big and I have been able to work around them. I hate to throw away a promising piece of wood I seasoned for a couple years for a small flaw. On three pipes now I have followed your recipe but modified it by using Sodium Silicate (water glass) in place of the water to blend the mortar paste. It has been very effective for me so far though I don't smoke so often as to really intensely test the stuff. My smoking habit is only about one or two bowls per week, ...sometimes even less. I also tried using food grade diatomaceous earth in place of the plaster of Paris. It worked, as well, but the texture was not as smooth.

Great idea!

Thank you for sharing the information. Up here in the northen part of europe (Sweden), corn cob pipes can be somewhat hard to find. Of course i can get them from internet but always with crazy shipping costs. This method will for sure increase the lifespan of my corn cob pipes. I must say it is fantastic how passionate the ytpc are over our common hobby and how generusly people are sharing their trix and fix. Big Thanks! and all the best to all of you in the ytpc.

Going back thru your old videos here. It's great to see your progression in the YTPC. Congrats on your weight loss I admire you very much. Amazing how the old standards of the community value your info also. Noticed like you have the attention of the likes of Matches860 and Muttnchop. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 💨💨

Really cool, thanks Mike. 👍🏻👏🏻 I had a feeling since the bing's favorite video and how well that went with the burnout fix this video would make it's debut soon. I think I might try this on a maple pipe that I have with the beginning of a burnout. I'll let you know how things progress. Take care and stay warm.

Fascinating!

I have used activated charcoal and pipe mud mixed together. I will give this a try. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you Mike l will try this.

Thank You, thank you and thank you. This is 100% the thing I was looking for. I purchased at a low price a beautiful pipe. It had a small flaw in the side of the bowl. A small hole all the way thru. This enabled me to fix the hole and since the panel where the hole is is rustic you cannot even see the repair. All natural safe ingredients and easy and inexpensive. Could not ask for anything better. I have subscribed and liked this episode and am looking forward to your other videos.

Thanks a lot, Mike. I've been waiting for this ever since you mentioned it on your restoration videos. I have a poorly drilled basket pipe that will be a great subject for trying out your pipe mortar on. Too bad I don't have access to a scale so the proportions will have to be eyeballed. Will let you know how that turns out. Thanks again. Cheers! Dan

Fantastic video Mike. Great advice on burnout repair. I have an estate that might get the treatment

thank you

Thanks so much!

oh this is perfect i had a corncob burn out once in right wen i becan to smoking pipe. had i known this i would have made a repair on my pipe. well now i know how to do it and if its broken you cannot make it more broken so just try to repair it. Thank You :D Greetings,, Kitty.

great video I will use for my cob, also I broke a meerschuam and I might try to stick it back with this stuff

Thanks for the info!!!

I've found it useful to mix a large batch of mortar, carefully maintaining CRP's proportions. That way when you need it, it's premixed so you can spoon out whatever amount you need.

I tend to smoke to far down the bowl and have burnt out the draft hole on a couple of my pipes. The bent pipes are more susceptible to damage in this way because of the wedge that exists between the chamber wall and the angled draft hole. One pipe has a bad crack from the draft hole up the chamber wall. I've struggled with trying to make pipe mud work, but like you said it only lasts so long before it starts to crumble away. I look forward to trying this method and reaching a more permanent solution. My Savinelli and I thank you very much for this video!

Thank You Mike ,this was very useful information especially for the undersigned who is master at overheating chamber walls,I have had few pretty pricey refurbished estate pipes with naked chambers and even when was trying to break them smoking slow I managed to get inside chambers having some slight indications of burns out and tiny cracks on inside walls which I eventually had to sand down and proceeding from there further with some honey application in order to get cake to build up faster, nonetheless at the same time sugars do increase heat as well so I do assume there are more appropriate ways to go, Best Greets , and Thank you for Your time for sharing Your knowledge,paul

Hey, Mike, great presentation. Thank you. Before I put the mud in I use a spray bottle on the finest mist setting and holding it about five or so inches from the bowl, give it one pump. It provides a bit of moisture to the cob and allows for a bit better adhesion. And I use a very small screw driver to shape the bottom of the bowl whilst the mortar is still pliable. I'm very surprised that, after modifying two Legends, how incredibly well they smoke! Here we've got a six dollar pipe smoking just as well, IMO, as any pipe on the market. Anyway, thanks again, Mike. I really appreciate good tuition.

Thank you so much for this! I am trying this on a beautiful Amphora pipe that has odd gouges in the bowl. I'll let you know how it goes. Cheers

I've just given this a go today, I couldn't find carbon powder so had to use a fine grit and grind it down. so i'll come back and let you know how it goes.

Absolutely fascinating. I love the way you think about these things and then apply your research. I think there is a way to Market this. What you would do excel the components separately in little bags of the properly measured components. You could actually design the bags with a perforation between bags. In other words like plastic trash can bags will individually come off a long roll, put three bags together with perforations in between them. Sell it in a pack of 10, 20 or whatever. And place the package in a little box like seven Ellie Balsa filters for instance. This would save somebody like me the hassle applying a scale measuring the powder Etc. I for one don't have the patience to do that plus I would spill it all over the place. Call the product, "LET'S GET PLASTERED" and underneath say pipe mortar for repairing yada yada yada. Just a few ideas if you ever want to do it let's talk about hooking up. Love your stuff and support you 1000% my friend. God bless you talk to you later

I am brand new to this so please forgive my ignorance. I am trying to make my own pipe out of cherry wood or some other fruit wood. The first one turned out great and I learned a lot. 1. I make the bowl opening way to big 2. I made the walls too thin. Having said that it did develop cracks through the side. I have been searching for a way to seal the cracks through the side. What I know, concrete and steel have the same expansion contraction rate which is what allows concrete to be reinforced with rebar and thus skyscrapers and reinforced concrete is a thing. WIthout that physical property it would crack apart from temperature oscillation. Having given that example, and the fact you've developed this mortar and used it successfully for some time, I would "assume" through simple use as proof that the expansion and contraction of your mortar is close enough if not identical to the wood and or is flexible enough not to crack or disintegrate. If any of you have a blown out bottom or cracks through the side, I wonder if you can use this as a filler to restore the pipe? If so, I think it would be awesome to restore really really broken pipes, the more cracked and broken the better. What I would do is restore it with this putty and then gold leaf ONLY the morter once I've fixed, sanded and gotten to the polish final stage before oil. This is why it would be so beautiful in the end the more repairs that were done. All the natural shapes of the repaired cracks would be gold....like lightning zigging through it. Maybe im overly imaginative, but if it worked, old broken pipes could be very very valuable and collectable/ usable again with this mortar if it works as well as I hope it does. Anyway, I would LOVE comments telling me why this won't work and or if you think it will, if yo uall could try what im saying and then maybe post videos? I gave away the pipe I made. It was a replica from lord of the rings and I gave it away as a "non functioning" gift prop piece. THanks all that read this far!

Very good video, and I think a very promising technique. I will actually try this in the next days on a few different candidates. I was wondering if it is worth it to try and add some pumice. Its volcanic, safe, cheap and a good heat insulator. Of course you still need gipsum as a binder.

I gave it a shot on two pipes so far, and it is a solid fix. I would not however use a reamer, or recommend it on a pipe that has been fixed this way. I would suggest to anyone that does this, or gets a pipe like this to just gently remove cake with sandpaper after it is build up, and be careful around the rim. There is no reason a pipe fixed this way cannot be smoked many more times. The best part is that there needs to be no worry about chemicals when smoking. The pipe mortar is also a good way I think to coat the inside of a bowl after you have fixed a cracked pipe. It builds a nice wall in between whatever you used to bond the cracks. I am going to give it a shot on a GBD that has come my way with 5 cracks goong from the rim down to the middle.

Very interesting

Thank you for this video. I restore pipes and I've been experimenting trying to find the best way to fill burn outs and spider webbing. I've used JB Weld, but it doesn't breathe. Pipe mud takes a long time to dry/cure and is brittle. I am eager to try this!

This video is total ASMR

Well done man! I would also like to add I did sculpture for a long time, and we used a lot of plaster. If we wanted it to harden slower we would mix it with cold water. If we wanted to speed up the process we would mix it with warmer to hot water, depending on how much time we needed to work with it. As a restoration guy you just saved a Bertram, a Savinelli, and a handful of others I have in bins. Thanks!

Easiest most effective way without doing all this is just make a cigar or cigarette ash mud add a few drops of sodium silicate and mix it in the mud. Perfectly safe and it basically makes glossy gray black glass and it dries fast

Just used pipe mortar and this really worked, instead of plaster of Paris, I use hydrocal, which is used for model railroading, it is a gypsum powder and is very easy to use with activated charcoal and salt

👍👍👍👍 Thanks for sharing.

Hey there! I wanted to let you know that I bought a small digital scale and I tried the mix. I made my very first pipe stummel and, while learning, I accidentally got past the airway hole in the chamber. I wanted to fix it so I used the mortar to bring the bottom of the bowl up. I have not yet smoked it as I have to make the stem, but when I complete it ill let you know if it smokes will with it. BUT!!! It definitely worked!! as far as filling up that gap. And it is SOLID (after drying) and it adhered great to the briar.

Recently purchased a pipe off eBay. Couldn't tell it in the pictures. Upon receipt burn out with through cracks. I plan to give this a try. Once I do I'll leave my results

Well I tried Pipe Mortar on several pipes now cobs and briars following the recipe in the video and I found the results disappointing at best…not only is it a bit messy and more time consuming to apply compared to muddying with cigar ash but it simply does not hold up as well…after allowing several days for the pipe mortar to dry in the pipe bowl my smoked pipes returned it to its wetted stage and when it had time again to dry out produced a powdery dust-like residue that had to be shaken out of the bowl before smoking again. All things being equal I am of the opinion that muddying with cigar ash remains a better and simpler way to go. Not perfect but superior to pipe mortar as addressed in this video.

🤙

An excellent, excellent video, Thank you so much. As a long time cigar ash mudder I am excited to know there may be a better option. Does it also alleviate or lesson pipe gurgling issues? I primarily work with cobs - renovations and aesthetic enhancements.

I will leave feedback on the mortar of what I think about it, in a detail write up of what I like and what I think is lacking if anything is lacking about it

I'd like to extend my gratitude on behalf of all amateur pipe enthusiasts for this amazing video. I as hoping you could help me with a little issue that I have following your instructions. The pipe mortar mixture that I have mixed (according to the proportions given by you) is not setting even after 4-6 hours.. This is the second time I tried it.. I left some of it outside and saw that it was leaking water.. Is this because of the salt? Can I omit it? Is there another way to fix it?

Looking for a good low cost briar. Lowest Rossi I’m seeing is $58. At this price, cobs seem like a great deal at the $18 you mentioned

Hello again, another great video and I've already ordered the charcoal powder to get started but was hoping you could let me know how it's held up long term? Particularly In cobs I plan on doing it to all my cobs to protect the bottoms. Thanks in advance.

Great video mike . I'v got several estate pipes I will try this on. At what point should a pipe be considered a candidate for, pipe Mortar, when it comes to the distance of the draft hole and bottom of bowl ? For example a straight pipe where the draft hole is basically on the side wall of the bowl but the bottom of the draft hole is dead even with the bottom of the bowl; VS a straight pipe where the bottom of the bowl has been reamed below the draft hole by lets say 1/8th" or more? No burn out. Cheers

I just made this for the first time and made it sloppy wet. Hopefully it’ll set up and dry out without ruining the pipe.

Hey Mr. CRP, this worked well on a restoration I have done, can you use this technique on a brand new unsmoked pipe to protect the wood and stimulated carbon cake formation safely and quickly, thanks Scott

Great vid Mike. Question: Would this be a good solution for raising the base of a pipe bowl which has the draft hole drilled in too high, resulting in too much unburned dottle when smoked? I have a pipe like this, and am always throwing away more tobacco than I'd like to do, since the draft hole doesn't get any "draft" to it, so it doesn't combust. Also, do you know a better solution to this problem? Love to hear your opinion. Thanks!

Hi Mr.CRP, I'm restoring an old pipe, I have stripped the finish with ISP BATH, removed the old stain with acetone and multiple grits of sand paper, I made a retort by your instruction, it has been retorted, carefully filled the sand pits with briar dust and CA glue, re sanded, re acetoned, now should I do my stain and over stain, diamond buff and carnuba wax, then apply the mortar or should I do the mortar prior to the final restoration of staining/buffing/waxing, which do you suggest, as part of the pre retort I dremeled the inside of the bowl with a sand stone, acetone/ISP wash then multiple grit sand paper, so it is properly prepped for mortar, thanks Scott

Has the recipe evolved over time, Mike?

Hi, I realize this is is an old video, but a couple of questions you could maybe answer for me. If I were to coat the bowl of a cob in the mortar, would this affect permeability? One of my favorite things about smoking cobs is how they breathe and watching them color over time. And, do you think this mortar would dry hard enough to be able to be used to reset a loose cob shank, or do you think that's better left to the Elmer's glue? Thanks

Just came across your old video in stead of salt use baking soda powder