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I am pretty sure that I cannot improve it. But, does it rattle around inside the pipe?

On eBay, I found a listing once a few years ago for a whole gross of boxes of the old 6mm Savinelli balsa inserts, for a mere pittance. But, I really only have two pipes that use the inserts, and only a few tobaccos that I will use them with inside the pipe, so they will last me a lifetime. The huge box of them for just a few bucks made it way less stressful than making my own, and will last me a lifetime.

You might keep an eye out. After buying my box, I just never looked for them again, but I assume they are still out there occasionally.

Since the primary reason for the filter is to dissipate steam (heat), I would think that standard heat dissipation designs would apply if you want to improve them. i.e. - increase the surface area as much as possible. Look at Savinelli's 9mm filter and you'll see what I mean.

Why on earth would you want it to pass a cleaner if you are using a balsa insert to absorb the moisture?

Why on earth would you want it to pass a cleaner if you are using a balsa insert to absorb the moisture?

Click to expand...

Ha, I didn't even notice that part. Good question, it makes no sense.

Can improve it by not using them!

Just load the bottom half of the bowl with balsa chips.

I use homemade balsas in 6mm pipes myself. They do rattle if you put them in and shake the pipe when they are still dry. I don't gyrate my pipe much while actually smoking, though, and once they catch a bit of moisture they're pretty firmly anchored anyway.

Seems like it would make jogging with your pipe, distracting. ::

I tried to bore a hole through the center of a Savinelli 9mm Balsa with a SMALL drill bit.I cut the end flat with a razor blade first.The balsa began to shred as soon as the bit started in.

If you could just get a hole all the way through,it would improve the draw,and expose more surface area to the smoke,but the balsa is not very forgiving.

The square balsa stock I use in 6mm pipes has a cross-sectional area much smaller than 6mm. Voila- no draw restriction.

I cut my filters like that. I noticed that a center of balsa square stock looks more spongy than outer layers, so I decided to open up the center as much as possible


for 6mm
for 9mm I just put 2 pieces together

Great efforts on your filter design!
For anyone using balsa and wanting to improve on the Savinelli design...you owe it to yourself to try these. They can be found on Amazon under the Aldo Velani OR Gasparini brand names...but as of today, it appears that supplies are rather low from those sellers. Most recently, I discovered that our friends over at www.aristocob.com began carrying them recently, so I snagged a few packs at at good price. However for some reason, I'm not seeing them at the Aristocob site today.
Don't judge me on my draftsmanship...but here is my rendering of what the tip of this filter looks like as compared to a Savinelli.

The darker grey represents the end of the filter. As you can see, there are 6 points which touch the inside of your tenon...thus creating 6 separate passages for air to get through, and a total of 10 flat surfaces for moisture to be absorbed by. In my own smoking experience...when I do smoke a 6mm pipe of any kind, I use these, and find them to absorb more than Savinelli filters. Flow / draft is just fine.