New peterson stem whistles

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littlebubba

Lurker
Jun 12, 2015
26
0
Maple Ridge, BC
Hi all,
Bought a beautiful peterson poker Mark Twain a few months back. Love the pipe but the stem whitsles on the draw, not too loudly but enough to bug me a little. It's clean, nothing stuck in it, just whistles slightly. Can I bore out the stem....ever so slightly or do I just need to deal with it.
I also polished it with stem polish and it's now LESS shiny than before, what did I do wrong?
It's still a great pipe, am I being too picky?
Steeve

 

warren

Lifer
Sep 13, 2013
11,699
16,205
Foothills of the Chugach Range, AK
Any particular tune? Or just random notes?
Seriously, I'd closely examine the fit of the bit, air is being disturbed somewhere and I'd guess either the shape of either hole or a tiny bit of material in line with the draw. If the pipe was used, you didn't say, perhaps the button area has been distorted inside. Just ideas, it has to be something logical.

 

andrew

Lifer
Feb 13, 2013
3,042
400
My Peterson has a bit of a whistle too, it's from where the draft hole is in the bowl, if I ever get around to it I'll just drill the hole bigger, but overall it doesn't bother that much. The thing is it's a roughly 250$ peterson so you'd expect some better craftmanship, but this is the problem with peterson's apparantly. Of course I got it brand new for 65$ so it doesn't bother me too much.

 
Mar 1, 2014
3,646
4,916
I'm still confused as to what makes a stem whistle. I can make a non-whistling stem whistle pretty easily by rounding out the insides of the slot too much. It's kind of ironic but it seems like the constriction on most stems helps prevent whistling.

I doubt that's the problem here, but if the air passage is clean I'm not so sure whether or not whistling is actually terribly detrimental.

 

bigpond

Lifer
Oct 14, 2014
2,019
13
The easiest way to stop a pipe from whistling is to load the the bowl. If the pipe smokes well all is good. Nearly every pipe I have with a 1/8" airway (seems to be standard size, anecdotally) will whistle if I pull hard enough on an empty bowl, including a Peterson that smokes without issue.

 

seacaptain

Lifer
Apr 24, 2015
1,829
7
Apologies to the OP. I can't help but find this slightly funny. Drill a few holes in the top of the stem and you got yourself a flute. :)

 

littlebubba

Lurker
Jun 12, 2015
26
0
Maple Ridge, BC
You guys are a blast!
The pipe was new, whistles with stem in or out of the pipe, so it is just the stem, nothing stuck inside, cleaned it VERY well and it did whistle when I bought it. It does smoke well so I think I'll leave it alone. Maybe I should just turn up the music while I smoke, or have the wife join me on the deck, both should drown out the noise enough!!
Thanks for the chuckles guys

Steeve

 

johnnyreb

Lifer
Aug 21, 2014
1,961
612
My apologies to the OP as well.
But no matter what your nationality or your heritage might be if this song doesn't put a lump in your throat, then nothing will.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8XtNTJhyEYo
I know in my bones, I've been here before

The ground feels the same though the land's been torn

I've a long way to go the stars tell me so

On this road that will take me home
Lyrics found here

 

seacaptain

Lifer
Apr 24, 2015
1,829
7
I love that movie and opening song. I've read Robertson's biography on Stonewall Jackson. The movie portrayed him very accurately using many known quotes. I was surprised at how accurately he was portrayed considering Hollywood's disdain for Christians and Southerners.
Sorry to hijack the thread OP. Please feel free to describe the whistling pipe in more detail. :)

 

johnnyreb

Lifer
Aug 21, 2014
1,961
612
I love that movie and opening song.
I as well, Seacaptain. I suspect we have Mr. Ted Turner to thank for seeing that movie made at some personal expense, I imagine. I would like to see him finance the production of "The Last Full Measure" so the Shaara trilogy would be complete but I fear we will just have to be content with the novels.

 

rcstan

Lifer
Mar 7, 2012
1,466
8
Sunset Beach NC
In all seriousness, if there's one small burr in the airway, or, more often, the draft is not exactly center on the slot, the pipe will whistle. Once upon a time I had a non-whistling Dunhill I decided to try smoking with an inner tube in the stem. Somehow I managed to scratch the inside of the stem airway because it whistles at random times now, but only on empty, never with a full bowl or whilst smoking. Interestingly enough, if I don't get anal about running cleaners through the stem after smoking, the whistle seems to go away. Perhaps the scratch gets filled in with tobacco juice or something of the sort?

 

rcstan

Lifer
Mar 7, 2012
1,466
8
Sunset Beach NC
As for the dull stem, a lot of new pipes have a coating of some sort of wax or are polished with a certain compound to make them shiny like glass. If you take that off, then it'll be a duller shade.

 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,565
27,066
Carmel Valley, CA
Apologies, too:
Are you finding yourself whistling in the wind? Whistling in the dark? Wetting your whistle a lot? Whistling Dixie? Etc. Etc.
OK, OK, one possible thought: Does it happen when you draw slowly when smoking? (Ear buds with favorite loud music can fix any auditory problems!)

 

georged

Lifer
Mar 7, 2013
5,491
13,920
It's just physics doing its thang:
http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/sound/Lesson-5/Open-End-Air-Columns
The only harm it does to pipe smoking is psychological. Doesn't affect anything to do with the smoke, draw, or etc.
Psychological effects, though, CAN have physical manifestations. The Placebo Effect is the most widely known positive one:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo#Placebo_effect_and_the_brain
And stress-induced states like anxiety and depression are the most widely known negative ones. (In short, your body/brain's chemistry changes when something stresses you out, and your perceptions/sensations are correspondingly altered. Because it's an evolutionary thing related to survival, those alterations in perception are skewed toward the unpleasant (to get you to take action) rather than the pleasant (which would reward inaction).
In short, imaginary degradation of the smoking experience caused by a whistling pipe stem causes the degradation to be real for many smokers.
It's a strange world, innit? :lol:

 

numbersix

Lifer
Jul 27, 2012
5,449
53
I had a Pete that whistled. I got it for a great price and realized why after I bought it. However, I was able to fix it after doing a search. Turns out it was the stem button. All I had to do was smooth down the inside edge of the button and viola, no more whistle. Get yourself a very small file or sharp knife and be careful. Good luck.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
My theory: A whistle is created by air passing through or over a sharp edge, where the stem joins the shank, or where the airway joins the bowl. The edge is acting something like the reed on a clarinet or saxophone vibrating to make that whistle or wheeze. You don't have to remove much material, just that little vibrating edge, so some light sanding or filing should do the trick. Very few pipes will whistle no matter what, or whenever they get moist, but most will cease once these edges are sanded or filed down just a bit. It's worth a try. If you can't make it go away, you could try a pipe repair person. You might not get some pipes to be completely quiet, but perhaps enough to make them pleasant to smoke. Also, try a beverage, wine or whiskey, which will put your mind somewhere else.

 
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