Butz-Choquin 1309 Regate Geante Conversion

[MartyA]

I recently bought this estate (OK, used,) Butz-Choquin 1309 Regate Geante pipe off ebay. I'm very happy with it, but since I smoke churchwardens pretty much exclusively, I converted it to a long "reading pipe." I haven't smoked it yet, since it's still drying out from a salt alcohol treatment, but I'm looking forward to trying it out, partly because of what leads me a question:

Question: Did the Butz-Choquin 1309 Regate Geante have some kind of a drainage system, much like a cavalier? I ask, because cleaning it out I ran into the pictured slightly confusing situation... I at first couldn't get a pipe cleaner through it, but I was running it down the large, "dead end" hole directly in line with the stem. The actual hole that goes through to the bowl is the smaller one to the top.
If this is the case, I'm REALLY looking forward to smoking this thing, because my cavaliers smoke delightfully dry. Any gurgle simply goes away.

I'm attaching pics of the holes, the auction picture, and my conversion.

 

[MartyA]

And no, the smell of cutting and drilling vulcanite doesn't make one's wife happy...

 

[jhowell]

I recently bought this estate (OK, used,) Butz-Choquin 1309 Regate Geante pipe off ebay. I'm very happy with it, but since I smoke churchwardens pretty much exclusively, I converted it to a long "reading pipe." I haven't smoked it yet, since it's still drying out from a salt alcohol treatment, but I'm looking forward to trying it out, partly because of what leads me a question:

Question: Did the Butz-Choquin 1309 Regate Geante have some kind of a drainage system, much like a cavalier? I ask, because cleaning it out I ran into the pictured slightly confusing situation... I at first couldn't get a pipe cleaner through it, but I was running it down the large, "dead end" hole directly in line with the stem. The actual hole that goes through to the bowl is the smaller one to the top.
If this is the case, I'm REALLY looking forward to smoking this thing, because my cavaliers smoke delightfully dry. Any gurgle simply goes away.

I'm attaching pics of the holes, the auction picture, and my conversion.

Not so much a system as the demands of geometry. I have several meers drilled like this - one large drilling for the mortis and an angled drilling to get to the bowl. Nice conversion BTW!

 

[dingdong]

I think this is condensation chamber a la Peterson, and other similar full bent pipes. Could be intentional, or inadvertent as you need to drill extra space/rathole for the tenon. let the smoke draw thru smaller draw hole from the bowl, into a chamber, expand and cool down, before drawn up into the stem..providing a cooled, dry smoke