What's the purpose of a stinger?
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I always figured it was to help with condensation. I think the metal attracts the moisture due to temperature change and takes it out of the smoke in order to make a dryer smoking experience. I'm no expert, though!
Lightmybriar, that's exactly what they're for. During the 1920's and 1930's there was an arms race to design and patent the perfect stinger.
The purpose of a stinger is the f*&% up a good draw and ruin an otherwise decent pipe. (IMHO) See: Kaywoodie.
Some are very easy to remove, other are integral to keeping the pipe together and others are glued into the stem and next to impossible to remove. It's just depends on the pipe and maker.
Aldecaker and Pitchfork, my older Kaywoodies (1924-1938) and Sasieni One-Dot have a stinger that doesn't impede anything. Yes, cleaning takes a second or two more, but no too bad. The kaywoodies and Comoy that were produced from roughly the 50's on have stingers that are real shit-shows.
Yeah, my one Kaywoodie (a really pretty Matched Grain apple) was from late 40s or 50s and had a fairly restricted draw. It's really too bad that Kaywoodie used integral stingers during their heyday, because the quality of their pipes was otherwise pretty good. Great briar in many cases -- much better than Dunhill, for instance.
Most stingers pull right out. I save them with an i.d. of the pipe they came with, on the remote chance that I'd sell the pipe and want to offer it. I have one "mandatory" stinger in a Kaywoodie Drinkless, and actually it smokes well, no noticeable restricted draw, and just a few extra seconds to unscrew and clean it off. Stingers don't seem to do much. They were big in the Twentieth Century when pipe smoking was at its peak, offered as a competitive edge. System pipes, the Magic Inch, various types of filters, and other variations were offered as irresistible features to snare pipe buyers. I recently bought a SP estate pipe, an English Plymouth, that had a stinger, easily removed.
I'm no expert, but have been around the Chemical and refining industry, it does 2 things, slow the Flow and heavier materials condense thereby making supposedly dryer and lighter smoke.We had towers that had condensing tabs, in towers 50 ft in diameter, so they were like Big Stingers, one thing I know, they reduce the flow.
Yes, there was a period a long time ago (60+ years?) when many makers went wild and crazy with all sorts of "improvements", including stingers. One I removed only with the aid of a hacksaw.
Deniz, The "Dry-Smoke" insert sounds more involved than a simple "stinger."
Jaytex969, Many stingers are no problem at all. As Ashdigger says, on old Sasienis and Kaywoodies they are no problem at all. Heck, with Kaywoodie's threaded stinger setup you can disassemble the pipe hot for a quick cleaning and then drop it in your shirt pocket without being worried about any mess. They are like an army mount pipe in terms of convenience, but without the risk that the pipe comes apart unexpectedly.
Jaytex969, Many stingers are no problem at all. As Ashdigger says, on old Sasienis and Kaywoodies they are no problem at all. Heck, with Kaywoodie's threaded stinger setup you can disassemble the pipe hot for a quick cleaning and then drop it in your shirt pocket without being worried about any mess. They are like an army mount pipe in terms of convenience, but without the risk that the pipe comes apart unexpectedly.
I have a Kaywoodie Standard Lovat that has a stinger and I can't get that sucker to smoke right for anything. It goes from cool to the touch to burnin-ass, freakin hot as shit, in seconds. I even make an effort to sip on it, but it just continues to do the same thing. The stinger is an integral link from the stem to the shank, so I can't remove it. It's to bad too, because it's a super comfortable pipe and a good clencher.
As far as this pipe is concerned, stingers are a pain in the ass.
As far as this pipe is concerned, stingers are a pain in the ass.
The give you something to do with that new hacksaw your purchased at the tool store. They are not a new invention as the earlier version was a duck quill glued into a recessed spot on the bone tenion before it screwed into the shank. Total crap traps and I get rid of them whenever I have encountered one although I think I have posted pictures of them here in the past because some weirdo was interested to see one!.
I found with 4 hole kaywoodies, it was a good trainer on how to smoke. Sucking smoke hard enough for it to be impeded by the stinger and hole size, meant I was drawing to hard. So another use is a sip teacher.
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