But unless you’re a travelling pro, most of your playing is probably going to be done in pretty much the same place - at home, maybe at the local for a session, or perhaps at the odd wedding or party or such.
Why would you bother keeping all that humidity around when the easiest and most practical thing to do is ACCLIMATE your pipes to where they will most often be?
I’m with Brian on this one. Do what you can to acclimate your reed(s) to play where you’ll be most often. And LEARN HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN! I can’t begin to express how much srtress it relieves to know you’ve got several spares to fall back on that didn’t cost you an arm and a leg to get. They may not be perfect, but if 9 of our absolute beginner pipers here could manage to bash out working reeds within one or two trys, it’s worth a shot huh? And each one you make brings you that much closer to the “perfect” reed everytime.
As for the hygrometer thing, they’re a lot like radar detectors. Unless you spend a lot of money, most of the readings you get will be pretty off, if not outright wrong altogether. And, also much like the detector beeping as the officer is giving you a ticket, the hygrometer isn’t likely to tell you what you need to do in time to really save the playability of a given reed - only that it just went south on you…assuming you get an accurate model with a lightning fast response time. (the old analog dials are pretty useless)
The only place a hygrometer belongs is in a cigar humidor!
But is moisture really the answer in COLD dry weather? I mean, it was below freezing out there sometimes, and I’m afraid that letting moisture seep into the wood like that…well those minute amounts would freeze in no time, expand, and CRRRRRRAAAAACK, right?
Where are the pipes being stored? Certainly not in the cargo hold of a jet aircraft, attics or basements. Keep them in living quarters away from radiators, furnaces or dry heat sources.
Two words: Neatsfoot Oil !
There used to be a good article by MacHarg on this but the link is dead. Anybody have that reference?
There are pros and cons to using oils but for here in the Great White North this method has worked well for me.
Cons:
Makes the reed a bit sticky so fluff can accumulate inside.
(This requires a re-dunking to clear any gunk.)
You don’t want any to get on the winding or it can stay oily.
Some say it dulls the tone (but I have not found this).
Pros:
Keeps a reed playing in the dead of winter.
Keeps a reed playing in the dead of winter.
Keeps a reed playing in the dead of winter.
Paul
Paul,
If memory serves me correctly (and it rarely does these days)… wasn’t the neatsfoot treatment part of making a “dry-weather” reed? Or a ‘universal’ reed?
And Joey, you’re worried about your reeds FREEZING? Great googley-moogley, son! WHERE are you storing your pipes?
i try not to mess with the reed. three days a week i am on a sailboat where the humidity is 95% most mornings droping to 50% by 2 PM. then at home which is around 40% in the winter, 70% in the summer. this is a steady change it goes through every week. the reed is 3 years old and needs only slight seasonal tweeks, maybe its age, but i think that some- how all the changes have made it steady.
humidity seems to be higher on th floor than up high, so keep yer pipes low. just some ramblin’ observations 
the pipes always sound best on the boat!
merry christmass to all of you pipers
tansy
That would be a most excellent thing to experience, IMHO.
No no, guys, I’m not talking about STORING my pipes in cold weather…heavens, they sleep right next to my bed every night.
What I’m talking about it gigging outside on a winter night. I play outdoors on weekend evenings around here, and lately it’s been getting cold enough that my electronics (laptop for recording live, then play-back so I can add a harmony part…live layering) froze in all senses of the word last weekend. So anyways, it’s been below freezing out when I play. If it’s cold enough to freeze my equipment in two hours… I’m just imagining whipping out a set of pipes that’ve been stored in a warm humidified environment and playing 'em for a few hours in <30 degree (F) weather… YIKES.
I like the idea of a cold weather reed. I’d thought of that before, but haven’t had the pause to give up my chanter for a few weeks…
Looks like I’ll have to keep fine-tuning my keyboard to match my pipes as they go flat in the cold…
I don’t know of ANY reed that will play well in the climate conditions you mention Joey. Frankly, I can’t think of any piper who would either for that matter! 
I’d say put the pipes up in these cases, and play indoors or at least wait till you hit a heat wave of solid 50’s or so…
“YIKES” is right!
I’d give up that gig.
I’ve been in parades with a GHB band when it was near-blizzard conditions, and the reeds would freeze up pretty quickly, and do all sorts of squirrely-things. (Of course, that’s a ‘wet’ reed, so freezing was probably quicker).
I’d give up the <30 degrees F outside gig. No way. These are supposed to be INDOOR pipes!
My $0.02.
i never let my pipes or guitar get any colder than 45 F ,and my fingers don’t move well below 50 F
YES! Are you serious Joel? You play them outdoors in freezing conditions? No gig is worth that!
PD.
Don’t they know you’re just a kid!?!
NOT TO WORRY!!!
They generously supplied me with a small space heater.
However, since I have only one extension cord powering my keyboard, two speakers plus one monitor, laptop, mic, and clip lamp, plugging it in kept tripping the circuit breaker. So for the first two weekends it was just something nice to look at.
GOOD NEWS! I got more power last weekend (a second cord)! Bad news: it was so cold that all my electronics froze and I had to sacrifice heating myself for blasting heat over my computer to keep it working.
Great times. If you could SEE the area I was playing in, though, I think you all would have done it regardless…
-Joey
Hey Joey,
I would strongly recommend not playing the pipes in these situations, especially as you can play all these other instruments. You’ll end up ruining them permanently. The wood is under huge stress in these conditions… am I getting my point across?
Patrick.
My Dad once told me that in the 1960s he used to have a classical guitar hanging on the wall of his Detroit apartment. He went out of town for Christmas and returned to find that the pilot light had gone out on the furnace and the temperatures were in the twenties. He described the guitar as being “split in half”.