An Unusual Crack

[cosmicfolklore]

First off, I’m not pissed, just confused. It’s not an expensive pipe, just an ebay find of a shape I collect. I did put a band on it, but it can be salvaged.

I’ve smoked the pipe probably 600+ times. There’s no cake. And, it hasn’t been dropped, or banged on.

I packed it this morning, and started smoking it when I heard sounds of tinging pinging. Looked at it, and…



I was outside? Where it’s a cold 68F, so…

The crack goes almost all the way around. :::sigh::: oh well. Just another shit happens day, ha ha.

Anyone else see a crack like this?

 

[Speak Easy]

 

[Sea Lord]

Holy sh*&, no never seen this, not to this extent!

 

[Alejo R.]

No, I’ve never seen that happen.
The cracks I’ve seen on pipes usually run parallel to the grain, not across it, where I’d assume more force is needed. They also tend to start at the rim of the bowl or at the shank’s edge — not in the middle of the pipe.
The only explanation I can think of is a temperature difference between the top and bottom of the pipe, maybe caused by the height of the bowl. It reminds me of that trick where you cut a glass bottle using a flaming string.

 

[anotherbob]

a crack like that yes. A crack like that in a pipe? No. Actually there was one time. The person tapped their pipes out on bricks and rocks. I know you didn't do that, but the previous owner might have.

 

[Speak Easy]

I’m no silversmith, but I always thought it would look cool to clamp the crack and inlay it back together with with silver kind of like this.

 

[sablebrush52]

Yeah, I’ve seen cracks like this. Some years ago I bought a Sixten pipe on eBay that looked good in the pictures but had a crack like this when the pipe arrived. Heartbreaking.

On examination it was clear that the former owner had smoked the pipe hot.

The damage was probably started before you bought it and further use finished the job. Possibly there was a preexisting weakness in the block. Who knows for sure, but a crack that extends across grain like this suggests to me that the pipe was repeatedly smoked hot at some point in time.

 

[Waning Embers]

I had that happen to one that hadn't been smoked for a very long time. The wood was completely dried out and the heat cracked it.

 

[ThermionicScott]

Looks like it doesn't want to be a "flake pipe" anymore.

 

[Brad H]

It one of Jim’s stories he said he had a pipe explode while he was smoking it.
But cold weather had played a factor according go his story.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Looks like it doesn't want to be a "flake pipe" anymore.

I didn’t think of that. Maybe it wanted to identify as a crack pipe? Ha ha

 

[didimauw]

I’m no silversmith, but I always thought it would look cool to clamp the crack and inlay it back together with with silver kind of like this. View attachment 432944

I second this. I know you can do it Cosmic.....

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I second this. I know you can do it Cosmic.....

Is it called Wabi Sabi? Maybe I could fill the crack with gold. Ha ha

Or is that the green stuff that burns your tongue like hydrochloric acid?

 

[mortonbriar]

Yeah that is odd! Maybe buy a lottery ticket today?

 

[Briarcutter]

Bust off the rest, polish the top a bit and you have a nice XXX rope pipe.

 

[Brad H]

If you are in SS25 you could always gift that pipe to the next luck sob, if you missed out there is always next year SS. It could be the yearly fruit cake that just gets mailed around.

 

[Sig]

I’m no silversmith, but I always thought it would look cool to clamp the crack and inlay it back together with with silver kind of like this. View attachment 432944

Bow ties are a very popular method in woodworking. Not sure about the repeated heating and cooling though.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

No, this is one of many Hilsons of this shape that I own. It is the only smooth with some really nice grain that I own. But, with the pinging as the threads of grain were breaking, tells me that there is a lot of force pushing this pipe out of shape. If I compressed it and joined the crack, it would eventually sling those bowties out, and I'm not sure I would want a sterling spikey thing flinging towards my face. But, I'll think about it. Maybe do it for a display pipe.

 

[huntertrw]

That is an unusual crack; most are vertical :

 

[Papamique]

I DID have something similar happen. On closer inspection it had an “invisible repair” as they say when I bought it and it just gave out.

I have another pipe with this “invisible repair” thing going on. It has a cracked shank that was repaired. But I didn’t notice it until months after I bought it. Very unfair to try to hide a repair IMO.

Not sure if that is what happened to yours but I immediately thought about my experience when I read your post.