Why did Screw Stems Fall From Favor?

[Briar Lee]

Kaywoodie earned a patent on their screw on and off stem they marketed as the Syncro Stem. After the war Lee improved the screw stem slightly, by making it invisible, and adding threads on both ends, so it really could be synchronized (or clocked) using a pair of pliers. A 1955 patent of the Adustomatic stem used on Dr Grabow and some Kaywoodie pipes was likely the ultimate screw stem. On those, you can twist the stem by strong hand pressure to line up.

There are advantages to the screw stem. The stem never gets loose, or gets stuck. It can be removed hot, even while smoking. I’m not a pipe maker, but it seems to me a screw stem would minimize hand fitting in serial production, with no need to fit precise push fit stems.

But screw stem pipes have fallen from fashion. The last Lee pipes were push stem. I understand Kaywoodie pipes have been push stem for years. I can’t name one new pipe today that uses a screw stem.

My thought why, is that the prestigious English brands never used them, and the screw stem never was popular with artisan makers, either.

The screw stem became something associated with cheap factory pipes, and abandoned.

And it is more difficult to make a filter screw stem pipe, which also hurt their use. The metal stinger also seems to have been abandoned in favor of filters.

Any ideas why, if there are still new screw stem pipes there aren’t very many?

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I’m fairly sure everyone loves to screw. I mean, I can’t say for certain… but, I’d assume, ha ha, know what they say about assume, makes an ass out of yourself, which isn’t always a bad thing. :::cough cough::: but, when push comes to shove, and wink wink…. Know what I mean, screw stems! Screw them all.
They probably fell out of favor, when screwing became old fashion. No one has time these days. A watse of time. Kids are all too serious these days, all getting pushy, push stems. Shove them in, and go, none of that screwy nonsense.
In all serious…. it’s just in out in out, and all of that.
Silly just silly!!

 

[burleybreath]

Any ideas why, if there are still new screw stem pipes there aren’t very many?

To me, they are a perfect example of a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. I've tried to like, say, Kaywoodies, but I always end up cutting off the stinger and wishing the pipe had a simple push/pull. Apparently I'm not alone. But do whatever works for you.

 

[shanez]

I'm still trying to figure out when they were in favor.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Because they suck. If they were made of plastic, they developed a little play in them over time. Now things no longer line up.

 

[burleybreath]

Because they suck.

Damn. I was going to say that.

 

[mso489]

The last American (U.S.) pipe to have a screw-in stem that I know of was the Kaywoodie Drinkless series which ended production about three or four years ago. They just didn't sell, I deduce. The series continues under the same name with push bits. I have one of the old screw-in stems, and it is easy to clean and smokes well, but it's just a detail that has had its day. They're fine but they don't add anything. The pipe itself, a Ruff-Tone carved with grooves, was matte and kind of meh looking, but in the last year it has developed a reddish sheen and a depth of polish, with no wax or other product.

 

[sablebrush52]

In the 19th century, screw in stems were common. They were made from either bone, or metal, often sterling silver if part of a sterling mount. The bone tenons were the weakest point in the joinery and were prone to snapping. In the early 20th century, screw in stems gave way to stems with push tenons.

The reintroduction of screw in stems coincided with the rise of the use of condensers, often called stingers after their appearance, and Kaywoodie's introduction of the Synchrostem around 1928 was an attempt to provide a stable line up. The problem with this system lay in the way the threaded collar inside the shank was connected. The inner collar was glued in, and the glue would soften due to the heat created by smoking. Were the pipe to be allowed to fully cool down before disassembly the glue would harden again and the stem would retain it's clocking. But too many smokers lacked the patience to wait, so many of these stems lost their clocking, though it could be restored by heating the shank till the glue softened and then rotating the stem until it was once again clocked. Kaywoodie recognized this problem and sold their pipes with the stem slightly underclocked so that they would gradually rotate into a clocked position before continuing their orbit and become overclocked.

Even at the height of the acceptance of stingers, Kaywoodie offered pipes with push tenons and no stingers. A lot sf smokers didn't like the constriction that accompanied the use of stingers and stingers began to fall out of favor.

As the demand for stingers fell, less and less screw in stems were made. It never caught on with British makers. To the extent that they used stingers they were either attached to the stem at the end of a push tenon, and were removable, or were just loose tubes inserted in the airway.

Once the use of synchronized mounts lost favor, the use of screw in tenons went the way of the dodo. Push tenons work well and are long lasting, provided smokers don't abuse their pipes.

 

[Briar Lee]

I'm still trying to figure out when they were in favor.

They had their day.

When Lord (soon to be Baron) Inverchapel with his smoking hot and shockingly young Argentine wife was scouring the country for English pipes in 1946, every Kaywoodie and Lee, and a lot of Dr. Grabow and cheaper American factory pipes had screw on and off stems and, a metal stinger.

They were never in favor on artisan pipes and prestigious British pipes.

Their primary disadvantage was, that the bits had to be “clocked” slightly left of center, so that the stem would eventually line up as the pipe wore. It could go past center, as well.

And perhaps it was more expensive to make the little metal screw fittings than pay a craftsman to properly fit the stem to tenon joint.

But Lee pipes lost gold inlaid stars first, and the screw stem was the last to go, but the removable stinger still remained until the last Lee.

Kaywoodie’s fitting had a built in ball stinger, and eventually they dropped it and went to push stem.

The Adjustomatic was dropped by Dr Grabow, and they are all push fit for maybe fifty years now.

I wonder if any repair center can replace any screw stem today, because of lack of parts.

With the push stem, all that’s needed is briar and vulcanite and skill.

A few days ago I repaired the only Lee I’ve seen that had the front fitting come out. It was a beautifully threaded fitting, that I just used super glue and screwed all the way back in. The front Lee fitting doesn’t have a metal ring that shows, it’s recessed.

 

[samuelgawith01]

Too many moving parts for the assembly people to deal with and get aligned correctly. I have a screw stem Dr Grabow, and two modern Grabows......big difference. The modern ones don't require an accurately threaded and orientated mortice and tenon joint.Just buy one,you'll see.I like the old ones better. I'm still glad Grabows are around.Remember,just my opinion. ?

 

[wayneteipen]

Rube Goldberg

 

[OzPiper]

Overclocking with wear which will happen eventually with ALL screw tenons.

A slight misalignment is not really problematic, but to someone with OCD it can end up annoying them no end (speaking from personal experience)

Thank goodness for plumbing silicon tape today. Which was NOT available in the 1800s to early 1900s which was the heydays of screw tenons.

 

[warren]

When Lord (soon to be Baron) Inverchapel with his smoking hot and shockingly young Argentine wife was scouring the country for English pipes in 1946, every Kaywoodie and Lee, and a lot of Dr. Grabow and cheaper American factory pipes had screw on and off stems and, a metal stinger.

Peers have their idiosyncrasies. One of the reasons we in the US don't abide them except in "scndel sheets" and "fan magazines". But, our self-appointed (anointed?) wannabes sure do defer to them,

 

[mso489]

sable' advised me on my undercocked Kaywoodie stem, and I took a hair dryer and heated up the shank and eased the stem into proper position.

 

[anotherbob]

added expense and no clear benefit.

 

[mortonbriar]

Great rumination!

I think it makes sense that push stems took over, for all the reasons cited above, but I really like my couple of old Dr Grabow's with their screw stems, maybe just because that makes them a novelty on the pipe stand...I do get annoyed when they overclock, but easy enough to fix.
When push comes to shove though, its a push over screw.

 

[condorlover1]

Every pipe I own is 'screw in' with the dreaded bone tenon. Once set up and if you don't f*ck with it they tend to give a life time of excellent service. My advice has always been clean the bowl, run a pipe cleaner through the stem and don't dismantle older pipes and everything will be fine.

 

[Hovannes]

I had a Jobey Fawn, with thier prorietary screw- in Jobey Link (not like the good Dr G, but it is a screw in after all.)
Fawn was an excellent smoker, but after 10 years the "link" unlinked.
I went to a tobacconist to buy a new link but the tobacconist informed me
that that size link was out of production. A year later Jobey went away (though I understand they are now being made again) sealing my sad Fawn's fate.

 

[Searock Fan]

Haven't read this whole thread, but here goes. I think it's for two reasons. First: in time they can get out of alinement. Second: the metal can cause condensation... which is never good.

 

[mso489]

I also have a meer with a screw-in stem that over-clocks, so I am looking for a washer-like ring to pad it and stop it in the correct place. The aforementioned Kaywoodie Drinkless with screw-in stem smokes well and is quick and easy to clean. It's a pretty good pipe, and kind of a novelty with this antiquated screw-in stem stinger. All of my removable stingers I have removed and saved, to reinstall if I sell or trade the pipe. I've never detected any benefit of stingers; I don't seem to have much of a moisture problem despite N.C. humidity. A few outdated throwbacks add a historical dimension, like reed stems on cobs.