Big Ben pipe. Is this a stinger?

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scloyd

Lifer
May 23, 2018
5,953
12,083
No such thing as a stupid question, right? :D I purchased a Big Ben pipe and it arrived with this metal piece in the stem. Is this a stinger? Is its purpose to cut down on moisture? Can I remove it?

Thanks!
img_20180620_171632-edited.jpg


 

jaytex1969

Lifer
Jun 6, 2017
9,520
50,598
Here
On one hand, it interferes with passing a pipe cleaner, so maybe you should remove it.
On the other hand, it can serve as a weapon if someone tries to jack your precious stash of unobtainium, so maybe you should keep it.
I personally remove all of them that I can.
jay-roger.jpg


 

tobaccojoe

Starting to Get Obsessed
May 30, 2016
220
0
USA
I have one that needs the stinger removed for sure. Any sage advice? Just use heavy wire/metal cutters?

 

aldecaker

Lifer
Feb 13, 2015
4,407
42
"Pipe smoking is so personal, just look at the great filter debates."
There's actually debate about that? I always thought those other people were slyly, tongue-in-cheek agreeing with me!

 

scloyd

Lifer
May 23, 2018
5,953
12,083
Thanks everyone. It's easily removed...just pulls out. I'm going to smoke it today with and then smoke it in a couple of days without. I'm going to smoke some Sutliff Molto Dolce in it. That stuff is pretty moist and I really like it.

 

ignaciojn

Starting to Get Obsessed
Aug 19, 2016
204
1
At least we all agree that it is in fact a stinger. Or could be a drill bit. :P

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,459
When stingers are easy to remove and not a part of fastening the stem to the shank, I take them off and carefully label them and keep them with the others. This way I have them in the unlikely event that I sell the pipe (with original equipment). The one stinger I do use, part of a Drinkless Kaywoodie with a screw-in stem, smokes fine and is quick to clean. I think it is odd that some new pipes still have them now that the trend is long gone.

 

jaytex1969

Lifer
Jun 6, 2017
9,520
50,598
Here
I think it is odd that some new pipes still have them now that the trend is long gone.
We hang on to traditions for odd reasons, some times for no reason...
From Zig Ziglar, an amazing motivational speaker of yesteryear:
"In this respect, they are as bad as “this old boy down home.” His wife sent him to the store for a ham. After he bought it, she asked him why he didn’t have the butcher cut off the end of the ham. “This old boy” asked his wife why she wanted the end cut off. She replied that her mother had always done it that way and that was reason enough for her. Since the wife’s mother was visiting, they asked her why she always cut off the end of the ham. Mother replied that this was the way her mother did it; Mother, daughter and “this old boy” then decided to call grandmother and solve this three-generation mystery. Grandmother promptly replied that she cut the end of the ham because her roaster was too small to cook it in one piece."
jay-roger.jpg


 

bnichols23

Lifer
Mar 13, 2018
4,131
9,554
SC Piedmont
Perzactl, Jay. Another of Bill's Mantras™ is #5A: "Change is often either necessary or desirable. Change for its own sake is never either." And the same goes for *not* changing.

 
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