Hello all, just a general question here about the proper fit between a mortise and a tenon here. Should a tenon be able to go into the mortise far enough so that the face of the tenon touches the bottom of the mortise? The first pipe I bought has a mortise about 1" deep, yet the length of the tenon is roughly a half inch. I'm no expert on pipe making but my first attempt at a freehand resulted in a flush contact between the face of the tenon and the bottom of the mortise. It smokes light years drier than my first pipe. Is this massive void causing condensation to form and drip back into the bowl? I'd gladly do some work on it if this is a problem that needs to be fixed. For reference, the pipe is a lathe turned billiard style John Aylesbury Nielson.
Poorly fit tenon causing a wet smoke?
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Nowadays, we expect the tenon to completely fill up the mortise, but thirty years or so ago, they were just cranking out pipes. So, the fit on older pipes is more random. Yes, this large void inside the pipe causes turbulence, which causes the water to condolence. Try smoking it slower. The harder the draw, the more significant the reduction. Also, keep pipe cleaners on hand to run down the draft to get the moisture out.
I've been slowing my smoke down quite a bit since I've started, but I just can't seem to get it dry. Virginias and aromatics alike just pool up at the bottom. I'd find myself going through a dozen pipe cleaners on average for a one hour smoke. Is it crazy to simply shave off part of the shank so that the tenon fits deeper in?
Try a simple fix first.If the tenon end is not funneled, get a small (1/4") counter sink bit and funnel it by hand. It may reduce the turbulence enough to help.
I believe you'll get quicker and more relief by drying down your tobacco before loading. And taking a q-tip to swab out the mortise every few smokes. And altering the tenon-mortise fit you can do later.
Enjoy1
Enjoy1
Interestingly enough, after shortening the shank of the pipe, such that the tenon fit flush to the end of the mortise, the pipe smokes miraculously dry now. Truly a night and day difference. I know I'm a fairly quick smoker but this just didn't seem right to me. I'm not sure if this is definitely a solution to wet smoking pipes, but it seemed to work very well for my pipe. I should also add that I previously opened the draft hole up to a 5/32 from the initial 1/8 hoping to get a drier smoke, but it didn't seem to have any effect.
Cosmic, what did you mean by "which causes the water to condolence." ? Is this a new Americanism that I am unfamiliar with?
Regards,
Jay.
Regards,
Jay.
A short tenon will cause condensation. I had one that collected moisture in the mortise and it would wick up the tenon and drip off the stem/shank connection. I fabricated a plug to bring up the mortise bottom to the tenon. Problem solved.
This subject creates all manner of angst and strife because examples can be found which support every position.
Sometimes the mortise / tenon floor gap means absolutely nothing; sometimes as little as a sixteenth of an inch makes the difference between an unsmokable slurp-monster and perfection. I have seen both cases personally.
There are deep and dark magick fizziks at work here, and the variables are too many to make figuring it out a realistic possibility.
Sometimes the mortise / tenon floor gap means absolutely nothing; sometimes as little as a sixteenth of an inch makes the difference between an unsmokable slurp-monster and perfection. I have seen both cases personally.
There are deep and dark magick fizziks at work here, and the variables are too many to make figuring it out a realistic possibility.
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