I make a point to warm the headpiece of my metal whistles before playing to cut down on the condensation.
Does warming the rest of the instrument have any bearing on playability, tone, etc?
In my experience, only if you have just walked to wherever you are playing and it is absolutely freezing cold !!!
That way my fingers don’t stick to the whistle when I start playing.
A
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Cold? That means like… what, anything below 70 degrees?
Heck yeah, here in Florida we put our whistles in the oven to warm 'em when it gets that cold! 
Loren
<Glowering darkly at anyone who didn’t have to scrape frost off their windows this morning>
My non-tunable soprano D Overton is made from aluminum and it goes cold very quickly. When it is cold it goes flat. So when I am playing with others, I find myself constantly holding it, rubbing it, blowing into it, when I am not playing. (When I am playing, too, actually, except for the rubbing.)
You’ve seen me, Tiggy. 
hey tygress,
i hold my left fingers over the top three holes and cover the fipple wind hole with my right fore finger so nothing will sound and gently blow into the whistle. seems to make a big difference especially on the lower notes and cuts down own surprise sounds when one must began playing at an important moment such as when waiting to come in on a tune i usually do this to keep the whistle ready.
cheers,tansy
I am told that the tone of alloy
whistles is affected by the warmth
of the metal–they are sweeter when
warmer. So I warm them with my
hands, the whole whistle–why not?
My brass Burke most definitely needs to be warmed up. I’ve checked it with a tuner. After playing for a few minutes it needs to be retuned. As an experiment I tried an aluminum and a tin whistle with the tuner. I found the brass the most sensitive to temperature, but there was a difference in all.
Steve
The speed of sound, which is directly linked with the frequency of a tone, is affected by temperature. So if you play a whistle with a cold tube, which of course has cold air inside, then greater pressure is required to achieve an in tune instrument. As the instrument warms up then less pressure is required to achieve the same frequency (sweeter sound). When the instrument was made the maker most likely tuned it in a warm state because thats eventually where it will end up due to contact with ones warm breath and hands. The buzzing that usually shows up when it is cold is due to this overblowing because it is not tuned to that amount of pressure.
Bottom line---- warm that beauty up before you tune or put any moist breath into the airway and you will have an instrument that plays the way the maker intended, and the way you would like it to play. And everybody is happy.
Ronaldo
During the winter here is West River Dakota, I have to warm my whistle up before I even attempt to play it. I’ll walk uptown from the rodeo grounds, and until I take off my mittens and warm the tube by rubbing it, and blowing through it, and even running it under warm water while I defrost my fingers, I’m in trouble, because the sounds it produces when cold are terrible! Another caution is this: Don’t lick the whistle in the middle of s South Dakota blizzard, or you’ll end up with a sore tongue!
I think Mr. Reyburn puts it pretty clearly. I have an Overton Low D thats quite a beast to play when its cold - extra high breath pressures required for a decent tone. However if its properly warmed up (holding the mouthpiece and blowing into it lots) the breath requirements drop and playing it is a joy. The notes just flow out of that thing after its warmed.
Shucks! I thought this thread was going to be about favorite hot toddy recipes…
John
my Hoover narrow D, (which doubles as a drinking straw if I finger all the holes), seems to clog much less from condensation if I warm the entire whistle. Maybe that’s just because then it stays warm longer. (I blow out all the chocolate milk first–JK) Anyway, I can’t get through a tune unless I warm up the Hoover first (then I don’t have to suck half way through a tune–now I know why it’s called a Hoover–and I say this very affectionately because this is my FAVORITE whistle!)
I have gotten in the habit of holding my Overton Low-D’s windway area in my hand befor playing; even if I just played it two sets earlier.
Why? My moisture laden breath is 90+ degrees. My whistle at room temperature is somewhere around 70 degrees. When warmer moist air hits the cooler surface, condensation occurs; ie. clogging. If I keep my hands rapped around the mouth piece, then the metal warms up to 80+ degress, and I get less condensation, less clogging, and more control over the octave jump.
I guess if I were playing on a hot brightly lit stage, it wouldn’t be neccessary but even there it doesn’t hurt. Making a habit of warming the mouth piece, means I do it without thinking; therefor, I’m more free to think about the music and enjoying the comradery.
I’m still not good enough with a regular D to play with other, but I’ve come to enjoy breaking out the Long “O” to play and air or two during breaks. Warming it in my hands also gives me something to do with my hands while I’m getting up the nerve to give it a go.