Gurgling - What is the Culprit?

bannyc9 · Apr 18, 2018

In your opinion, does the treaded gurgling come from moisture in tobacco, incorrect packing, to small of a draft hole, or a mixture of all three? The last two pipes I have enjoyed, about half way down the bowl, I started to hear gurgling during the inhale. I also noticed it was harder to keep lit at this point so I am guessing it is moisture in the tobacco, although the Aged Burley Flake didn't seem to wet at all - but the Dark Strong Kentucky today may have been to moist.

panamacharlie · Apr 18, 2018

I think most of the gurgling probably comes from the tobacco, but I sometimes find that saliva can enter the stem when I am clenching. I have several pipes that never gurgle, two Petersons with the reservoir, three Savinelli Dry Systems, and a gourd calabash.

cosmicfolklore · Apr 18, 2018

It is an imprecise out of balance that occurs because of all that you've listed. The fix is to dry your tobacco to crispy, smoke slower, inside with the heat on, and never buy bent pipes, and then crush the damned pipe under the heal of your boot.
We've discussed this one to death over the years. I know you're new, so forgive me. But we have had more pseudo-scientific drivel splat our shoes over this topic than any other. Yes, dry tobacco helps, but water is the natural by product of all combustion. Bent pipes, like coiled tubing in an air conditioner compressor, creates turbulence and condenses the moisture out of the smoke inside the pipe. Sure, not all bent pipes do this, but look inside of a Danish high end bent pipe, and they do not drill dead center, dead bottom. They always leave somewhere for the drip of water to flow to, thus eliminating that snotty suck nose sound of a gurgle. Dead center, dead bottom drilling on a bent is just asking for a congestive wheeze of a smoke.
also, smoke slower. That's just a given, everyone should always smoke slower, all of the time.
Packing, eh... I think newbies worry more about that. Maybe, maybe not. I think all of the above has more of an impact on the gurgs.

curl · Apr 18, 2018

I did not know that about Danish pipes.

I've been coveting a bent Johs I found online, and you just put another tick mark under the buy side of the ledger.

Are you sure?
Plus your comment about the hole in the bowl not being at the bottom is another reason to heart MM cob pipes. I always thought that the spaces at the bottom of these pipes were there just to torment me.

cosmicfolklore · Apr 18, 2018

the spaces at the bottom of these pipes were there just to torment me.

If you have a nice pipe shop in your area check out the bottoms of the chambers of the high end pipes. I live close to the Briary, so this was pointed out to me by Skip. If there is a space below where the draft meets the chamber, the droplet of water that may form there won't just set there and gurg, if it has somewhere fro gravity to pull it.

I know, I know, we have quite a few who believe with fervent ecclesiastical conviction that the drilling must meet dead bottom, dead center of the chamber, but there are several reasons that this is an inferior drilling, but for the sake of the OP, I'll just say that it gives the drop a place to drip.
And, by nature, a bent pipe is more likely condense moisture, especially if it is cool where you are smoking. But, not all bent pipes gurgle, because some are designed with somewhere for the gurg to drip. : puffy

:

warren · Apr 18, 2018

When you favor bents, as I do, a gurgle is simply ignored or quickly fixed with a cleaner or a sling. It's not a distraction to me.

perdurabo · Apr 18, 2018

As Warren said a cleaner or a sling. Also you can lightly blow through the stem to stop it, which (I believe) also helps your Meerschaum to color faster. If you have a bent Meer.

cosmicfolklore · Apr 18, 2018

+1 Warren and perdurabo, of course, just sling it or a pipe cleaner or blow gently. But, I was just paraphrasing the whole why, what, whens...

jpmcwjr · Apr 18, 2018

The majority of gurgling is moisture in tobacco, followed by smoking too fast/hot, then by poor packing. I've never experienced saliva going back down the stem, but others may have.
None of my ca. 90 pipes is itself a gurgler, so that eliminates the possibility of gaps in the mortise-tenon connection or a less than polished airway as a root cause of it. However, if the tobacco is moist enough to precipitate out water, that's a key area where it'll be noticed big time.

luigi · Apr 18, 2018

As "veterans" say. Maybe you're a wet smoker (drooling excessively). I'm not sure how many percent of pipe smokers have issues with redundant saliva but I surely do. That means having a few pipe cleaners in the pocket all the time when using non filtered pipes, not clenching at all and drying tobacco to almost crispy. Quite a hefty price though.

cosmicfolklore · Apr 18, 2018

From chemestry 101, which I was just an average achiever in, water is the natural result of combustion. As you know, I prefer bone dry tobaccos and smoking slow, so I’ve rarely had an issue with gurgling, except in just rare situations. But, I can say that even packed bone dry, my dottle will be sort of wet when emptied. And, knowing that speed of the smoke through a cool surfaced stem with some turbulence caused from a bend condenses, it just makes sense that some pipes with no design for allowing the droplet that forms to move away from the draft will/might gurgle. Thus, one might want a plan to move the droplet from that one spot in the chamber that will/might cause a gurgle. Whereas, for most of us, gently sipping our pipes doesn’t cause as much turbulence or else the droplet has somewhere to move to.

9mmpuffer · Apr 18, 2018

In my opinion, all gurgling is caused by poor engineering. Like Cosmic stated above about Danish pipes, if the engineering is thought out and done properly, not even the wettest poorly packed tobacco will cause a gurgle. I'm never had a gurgle in my Scand pipes. I do have one pipe that gurgles not matter what tobacco is in it, guess what, it's a half bent with the draft hole right at the bottom of the bowl... not ideal.

tonypuff · Apr 18, 2018

like others have already noted, dry out your 'baccy a little more or shove a pipe cleaner down the stem and keep on puffin! life is too short to worry about the gurgle.

artificialme · Apr 18, 2018

life is too short to worry about the gurgle.

Yups, as there was so many ways to deal with it just like everybody said before. Nothing to be worry and puff away :puffpipe:

thomasw · Apr 18, 2018

I agree with jpm. Dry thoroughly. Pack properly to get the right resistance. Use a pipe cleaner or sling as needed. These steps handle safeguard and mitigate any gurgling.

mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast · Apr 18, 2018

Gurgling is caused by a number of things. A pipes engineering can be a cause of gurgling, but I have owned well engineered pipes that gurgled (not real common though). Tobacco moisture, cadence, pipe shape, heat, steam, moisture, etc... All these things contribute to gurgling. My ongoing issue is turbulence created by condensation. This is why I use pipe cleaners to keep my pipes dry as I smoke them, but they also work for gurgling. Blowing into a pipe always ends badly for me so I don't do it, but some do. I used to just hold the button against my jeans until the moisture would run out the stem and leave a couple wet marks on my leg, but I don't do that anymore. Long story short... I smoke straight pipes that just happened to also be well engineered and use pipe cleaners... gurgling problem solved and turbulence controlled.

foggymountain · May 1, 2018

It is moisture from the tobacco. Just use a pipecleaner as often as needed during the smoke.

saltedplug · May 1, 2018

I had gurgle early on and then more at the end. At the latter I was clenching for long periods of time with the pipe pointing down. The cause was easily discernible and remedied by a cleaner

slowroll · May 2, 2018

Always an interesting topic, because everyone has it to some degree and there's several reasons and approaches to mitigate it. I believe most of tHe moisture comes from the tobacco, the air, and you. I Notice that gurgle is more likely in the humid summer, hardly at all in the dry, heated house in winter. I don't think any comes from the combustion. As I recall chemistry, the equation for a reaction must balance just like algebra -- whatever chemicals are present before the reaction are present after but rearranged. Water is only a product of combustion if there is hydrogen present as or in one of the reactants. There isn't any hydrogen in tobacco that I'm aware off, so there's no hydrogen to combine under heat to form water as a gas/diesel or propane combustion forms water. So all the water is ambient. Puffing hard just pulls more air in so more moisture comes in with it and the tobac gets hotter so steams it out and it's own moisture. Poor design then causes it to condense somewhere. Pardon the pedantic exposition here, hopefully some of you will find it interesting; but I'm an engineer and tinkerer, So I can't resist...

yaddy306 · May 2, 2018

There isn't any hydrogen in tobacco that I'm aware off, so there's no hydrogen to combine under heat to form water as a gas/diesel or propane combustion forms water.

There's tons of hydrogen in tobacco. Cellulose, for example, is C6H10O5, which gives you carbon (cake?) and water as the byproduct of combustion. I've read that 6 percent of dry plant matter is hydrogen, by mass. When you think of how light hydrogen is, that's a lot of hydrogen.
I would say that most water in the pipe is a byproduct of combustion, followed by moisture in the tobacco, followed by moisture from the smoker's breath (if you exhale into the stem either consciously or unconsciously).

Gurgling - What is the Culprit?

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