Peterson Irish Army Pipes and Gurgle

I own 3 Pete's. A 107, XL15 and a Rosslare royal Irish 221. No army ones but all 3 of them gurgle at some point during a smoke.
They are the only pipes I own that do. Make of that what you will.

I have two Peterson army pipes,and are both fantastic. However I do have a Rosslare that was a guggle champ. I tried every trick in the book..The old standby like dry the tobacco, smoke slower, try different tobacco. Nothing worked. Then I started trying different things on my own and found good tricks. First opened the draft hole to 5/32, inside the shank where you stick the stem try putting either a small cut piece of pipe cleaner,a cut piece of a Savinelli balsa filter, or a Nording keystone. All of these seemed to stop the gurgle and actually make the smoke more enjoyable for me.

While it seemly bottom popular to bash Peterson pipes. Perhaps others have horrible Peterson pipes, I am not sure. But I have 5 Peteserson pipes bought online in the last four years. A 68 Spigot, 2 68 Dracula, 1 XL02 Donegal, and 1 Deluxe and 1 Premier System pipes. None gurgle. The first Drac gurgled at first. Took me a bit to figure out I was drawing too hard and fast which produced the gurgle. Once I figured it out and slowed down, no gurgle anymore. As that was my first Peterson and it taught me to slow down, perhaps that is why none of the follow-on Peterson pipes gurgle for me. I have found, for me, that every pipe I own smokes with it's own personality. I change how I smoke dependent on that personality. My pipes talk to me and I listen. Every pipe I have owned I can get to gurgle, some it is harder to get to gurgle but I can do it. For me, it comes back to the basics, drying time, pack, and cadence. When I follow the three basics and adjust those as needed to a pipes personality I find pleasure and relaxing smokes. When I don't do that I pay with frustrating smokes.
This is a post about myself and my pipes. Your experience may be completely different. Which is one of the puzzling fun things about pipes. There are many roads to Nirvana!! Happy smokes!!

Ford is just covering for the company, because he works here. Everyone who owns a Pete knows they all gurgle. :wink:
No, if you don't want to run a pipecleaner down the pipe while smoking it, then try putting a finger over the bowl and slinging the water out. But, for God's sake, don't do it on the carpet. Believe me, I know from experience. It pisses women off to no end. ::

Oh I LOVE my Peterson pipes...LOVE THEM..In fact that one pipe is one of my favorites. I have 14 Peterson pipes, and that one pipe was the only one that ever had gurgle.

Actually, water happens inside lots of pipes, but you rarely know it, because of how the draft hole meets the bottom of the chamber. The gurgle happens when a drop of water gets trapped at the draft to chamber meeting and sets there and gurgles with every draw of the pipe. If the water droplet has somewhere to go, it won't even let you know there's water in there. This is why most bent pipes have a chamber lower than where the draft meets, so that the water drop can just move on down into the chamber and evaporate.
But, even better than that is to have a fantastically drilled straight pipe, no extra turbulence causers inside the draft, and a the insides polished. You'll hardly ever see that in a Pete though.

I have eight Pete Army/Spigot Mounts (straight & bent stems) and each will occasionally gurgle but usually because I was impatient and didn't let the tobacco dry before packing or smoked at a fast cadence. As a rule it doesn't happen except under those two circumstances. Inserting a pipe cleaner at the end of the smoke helps absorb excess moisture. You may find that helpful. Given use on alternate days you might not be getting enough drying time in between smokes. The cleaner trick helps because there is a lot of head space between the stem end and the draft hole on Army Mount pipes. A condition that often results in condensation.

LOL, cosmic I so wish you were correct!! I would have hell of a lot more Peterson pipes if I did!! Ohhhhhhhh now you got me fantasizing about how awesome it would be working there! One of every size and shape Spigot, Same for Royal Irish, and all three of the Sherlock series in Briar and Meerschaum and (slap, slap) damit Ford get real, your fricking out there like fricking Pluto!! Sorry chaps (hehe) lost it for a moment. But it is all cosmic's fault! LMAO!! :rofl:

I don't let the occasional gurgle bother me. Of course I don't smoke a pipe simply to smoke a pipe. I don't concentrate on the pipe, it's simply something I do when working or reading or whatever. I consider the occasional gurgle as something that happens now and then.
A persistent gurgle can get my attention. I gently blow back into the pipe and if it continues, run a cleaner through it. Nine times out of ten the problem is fixed. And, yes, I am a Peterson aficionado.

I've got 7 Peterson's of different types and love them all. However, I have a straight stemmed billiard ebony system pipe also with a military bit and it always gurgles; way before the half way point of the smoke. I thought because it was a straight stem it prevented the trap in the bottom of the bowl from doing its job properly - tip the pipe slightly upward and the accumulated juice runs up into the stem. In spite of this, once it was broken in (Petersons take the longest to break in for me) it turned out to be a good smoker. Like Warren, if it becomes too bothersome I run a pipe cleaner through the stem and problem solved.

I don't have a gurgle issue. But I wish Pete would stop the dunk staining that requires bowl sanding etc. upon receipt of a new pipe.
Buddy

And I could have all the Mark Twain pipes and the Iceburg collection, followed by every Churchwarden shape, and a shape 68 in every finish, and the River collection, Dang it Ford ( slap, slap, backhand slap) snap out of it! Come back, run from the light, that's it ease back into reality! Whew, the fantasies came again! Damn you Cosmic, your to blame!! LMAO!!

Out of all my petes, only one gurgles. A lovely little tankard, or it would be if it didn't gurgle like a bitch every time I try to smoke it. It was such an annoyance I put it aside & forgot about it, till I read this thread. Think I'll have a go at her with the drill this weekend.

Oh Ford, you're doing a great job at denying it, ha ha. Keep it up. :wink: