Hey friends, I recently bought a restored estate Savinelli Capri Root Briar 130 bent stack. It's a real looker (photos below) and it's also my first Savinelli, for reasons that are too boring and nebulous to explain but mostly involving my predilection for vulcanite.
I regret to say that it's a real whistler. Running a pipe cleaner through it after my first smoke (probably should have done that first), I found that the airway closest to the button is so constricted that the cleaner only barely passes, and only with maximum pressure. My first few cleaners just bent double trying to pass through. [Very likely this tiny, possibly obstructed airway is the source of my whistle.]
On close inspection, there is not the slightest tooth indentation on the bit. It is perfectly smooth and streamlined, and though it is very flat, I wouldn't gauge it as over-buffed to the naked eye.
But I don't think Savinellis are known for having particularly narrow airways, right? I thought the opposite. And in no way do I cast aspersions on the maker or the restorer.
But what are we thinking here? That the mouthpiece was crushed at some point by a clencher and all signs of said crunchage effectively eliminated by buffing?
And can anything be done? It's so tight as it is, and with the bend in the stem I am extremely wary of taking any sort of drill to it.
Thanks for any ideas.
I regret to say that it's a real whistler. Running a pipe cleaner through it after my first smoke (probably should have done that first), I found that the airway closest to the button is so constricted that the cleaner only barely passes, and only with maximum pressure. My first few cleaners just bent double trying to pass through. [Very likely this tiny, possibly obstructed airway is the source of my whistle.]
On close inspection, there is not the slightest tooth indentation on the bit. It is perfectly smooth and streamlined, and though it is very flat, I wouldn't gauge it as over-buffed to the naked eye.
But I don't think Savinellis are known for having particularly narrow airways, right? I thought the opposite. And in no way do I cast aspersions on the maker or the restorer.
But what are we thinking here? That the mouthpiece was crushed at some point by a clencher and all signs of said crunchage effectively eliminated by buffing?
And can anything be done? It's so tight as it is, and with the bend in the stem I am extremely wary of taking any sort of drill to it.
Thanks for any ideas.