Straightening Out A Bent Stem...

...then re bending it. That is my plan. I have this neat little no name Italian pipe. I bought it for 15 bucks when I first started smoking. I love it. I want to open up the draw on it. Opened up a few straight pipes quite successfully. I never tried a bent stem. This stem is vucanite or ebonite. I'm thinking to heat up the stem to allow it to straighten out, drill it through with a t handle type hand drill with an extra long tapered bit and then re bend it. I'm stuck on the re bend. If I drill it and heat it up again, when I put the bend back, might the hole (and all my hard work) collapse? If it kinks up I'm going to be miffed. Should I fill it with some sand and then heat it up to bend it? Any guidance will be appreciated. Here's a pic

Fixed thread title, please see rule number 9. Pertinent portion: Please capitalize words in the thread titles. Thank you, Robert.

... Not sure if the pic worked. Here is the link
http://s1381.photobucket.com/user/petekestatepipes/media/Mobile%20Uploads/0218161446_zpsvab8a5br.jpg.html

There is no restricted draw in the pipe. I just want to drill the whole thing out to 5/32 because I like smoking latikia through an easy draw. I don't want the hole to collapse when I heat up the stem again to re bend it.

Dr. W, I don't know why I didn't think of pipe cleaners myself. It's an obvious solution. I will try that. Why no success with a saddle bit? Was it just the stem material itself or the fact of the stem material being not as thick, then caving in when it was heated and bent? Please explain. I'm intrigued. I've been restoring pipes for only about a year now. I love information that is new to me.

I thought that might have been the case dr. I wanted to check to see if my head was going in the right direction. I'm trying this stuff out on cheapie pipes in case things go awry. So far I've destroyed an old Parker bulldog and a Royal Lancer. The Parker is still smokable and it smokes great for that matter. Parker was one of my first attempts at buffing. I rounded out the stem by polishing the sharp edges. The Lancer, I tried to open up the draw on it to 5/32 also. My drill bit busted right through that one. Lancer was also my first feeble attempt at topping a pipe. Really terrible job I did. I learned from both pipes. But it's a shame to see a pipe at any cost to to waste. Especially the older ones. I'll tell you, a lot of you on here are just such a wealth of information on this stuff. A lot more pipes would be destroyed by my hands if it wasn't for you fine folks on here. My heartfelt gratitude to all of you seasoned restorers for helping the new guy out!