Nording Keystones ?

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saint007

Part of the Furniture Now
Dec 22, 2013
630
0
Has anyone used these little stones in their pipes. Do they really make for a drier smoke and can they be reused? Looking at a Nording Royal Queen and thinking of ordering some Keystones as well. I have a Nording Freehand that smokes wet and thinking of trying these.

 

redheadedsmoker

Starting to Get Obsessed
Feb 11, 2014
221
1
Iowa
I haven't used the Keystones personally, but I've used an off brand several years back. Honestly...I found them to be hit or miss. Although I was new to pipe smoking at the time, so that's worth taking note. They helped to absorb the moisture to a certain extent, but also keep the tobacco 'up' a bit on the bottom of the bowl, keeping the tobacco free of any drainage. Again, it was hit or miss and at the time, I never really paid much attention. The knock off was cheap and worth a shot, and I'd most likely try them again if I happened to come across them and think of it, just to see what they could do. I don't believe they were reusable...but I never tried. I suppose if you set them aside afterward and let them dry out...it's possible. However, they are absorbent so could pick up whatever flavorings (good and/or bad) that got into them the previous smoke.

 
I've not used the Nording brand, but I've tried another brand. This is just speculation based on observation, but when you look at any of the Danish styled pipes (bents in particular) they are drilled above the bottom of the chamber. This allows the condensation from the cool stem to drizzle back into the chamber without gurgle. Many of the Petersons or bent Savinellis will have an offset in the stem just inside the mortise to catch the drizzle.

In a Danish pipe, you can just let the drizzle wet the tobacco at the dottle and sacrifice the last little bit of tobacco at the bottom. Or, you can put one of the stones in the bottom of the pipe to raise the tobacco up. Eh, maybe they make the smoke from the top of the chamber a tad dryer, but you can at least smoke the last little bit without it being a steamy nasty mess.
I am not endorsing the stones, as I wasn't remarkably sold on the idea. I can just as well dump the dottle. If we weren't suppose to occasionally smoke to the very bottom, we wouldn't have a name for it, (dottle).

But, like a balsa wood insert, at least try it. You may feel differently.

 

saint007

Part of the Furniture Now
Dec 22, 2013
630
0
I received some Keystones with my last purchase from the Danish Pipe Shop. They have a five box special for $20. I have two pipes that smoke so wet I stopped smoking them, a Big Ben and a Nording Freehand. I would guess that there are about 150 tiny stones per box. Anyway, I place five of the stones in the Freehand and it completely eliminated the gargle and was the first time I actually enjoyed smoking that pipe. The stones are reusable until they turn black, which I was told about five smokes. I am glad I bought them. In regards to the balsa system in the Savinelli, I find they too eliminate a wet pipe and one good reason why they are my most go to pipes other than my meers.

 

mikestanley

Lifer
May 10, 2009
1,698
1,126
Akron area of Ohio
If you have a pipe(s) that is drilled too high, you may want to look into pipe mud. A more permanent solution. There is also a device I have but don't recall ever using to deal with high draft holes (if that is why your pipe is smoking wet that is) It kind of acts as a fireplace grate at the bottom of the bowl. It is metal, has holes in it and sits at the bottom of the bowl.
Mike S.

 

mrdottle

Lurker
Jan 13, 2014
48
0
I have never used the Nording Keystones as I found them pricey. But I did purchase the much less costly (per volume) product generically known as hydroponic expanded clay pellets / pebbles. Hydroton Expanded Clay Pellets is a brand name for one such product and the one I purchased. It is the same stuff.
The keyword is ‘expanded.’ Once expanded (baked?) in the manufacturing process, the pellets have small holes and channels for absorption. For their intended purpose they can be reused. For pipe smoking I would advise against it: different tobaccos impart different flavors and these pellets absorb. As such, the true flavor of a tobacco may be distorted if you mix ‘n match tobaccos with USED pebbles / pellets from other tobacco blends. And if you’re a wet smoker, well…………..
https://www.google.com/#q=hydroponic+hydroton+expanded+clay+pellets
I was not interested in the absorption qualities of the stones, but, yes, they do absorb moisture from ‘fire condensation’ and for wet smokers Rather, I was on a quest to find the solution for the ‘two match pipe,’ i.e., smoking a pipe from beginning to end with no relights. No one ever confused me with Thomas Edison, but I diddled with these pellets for several months in many different pipes and cuts / moisture levels of tobaccos. My thinking was I had a ‘reverse grate‘ system where the fire was on top and the pellets forming a pseudo grate in the bottom of the bowl. I did, however, have to hammer a bunch of them to create halves as the halves worked much better than whole pellets / pebbles. Sometimes the pellets would block the airway in the bowl but this was rare and easily remedied with a pipe cleaner. The pebbles provided only a marginal reduction in the number of relights. I hardly ever use them any longer.
As Thomas Edison said in reference to the incandescent light filament, “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” I was not that ambitious but I, too, did not fail. I found ONE WAY that relights would not be eliminated. Relights are a fact of life for pipe smokers: Live with it; die with it.

 
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