Clenching Style

[eggrollpiper]

For those who clench, always or sometimes, do you clench tight and keep the button and mouthpiece straight or at a right angle, or do you hook the button on your teeth and let it dangle?

Do stem materials, shape, size and weight determine clenchability?

Or do you refrain from clenching altogether?

 

[pianopuffer]

It depends. If it’s a light pipe I often clench, heavier then I dangle it. I find that the width of the stem is also a factor for me. Briarworks saddle stems are wider even though they aren’t very thick. They seem to be more difficult for me than other brands with saddle stems.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I clench as loosely as possible. Normally with the bit half way back on teeth. When driving, occasionally dangling.
Weight and shape are most important to me; stem shaping and material doesn't count for much- for me.

 

[eaglewriter1]

Normaly I apply as little pressure as possible. Its just more comfortable that way, often using teeth only as a hinge for the pipe button.

 

[warren]

Somewhat dependent on the pipe but, generally jaw relaxed, bit resting between the molars.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

How hard to do you grip the steering wheel while driving? a bag of groceries while carrying then to the car? Or, a bucket? It’s hard to say, but I think that clenching it just enough to keep it from falling would be about right. I keep the button just behind the teeth. But, really the key to enjoying the clenching style is to forget about everything. Maybe take a long walk with the pipe just hanging in your clench. Don’t think about smoking, puffing, or holding the pipe. Think about the flowers, the leaves on the trees, the potholes in the road, anything else but smoking. It’ll all come to you. It’s way easier than you'd think.

 

[eggrollpiper]

Oh molars, that's a dimension I forgot to include. I always feel like that's too far over, stretching the corner of my mouth. I think I go just past the canines towards the rear. In the middle is another option. So y'all can add teeth of clenching/hanging choice to the peppering of questions...

 

[scloyd]

I clench a little to the right of the front of my mouth with the button just behind my teeth. I don't clench my heavier pipes...seems to generate more saliva and is not comfortable.

 

[jpmcwjr]

It's a fair idea to not clench in the same spot all the time. I have to actively try to remember this. Being right handed, the pipe just goes by itself to just behind the canines.

 

[eggrollpiper]

Cosmic, maybe I shouldn't have put this in the newbie question section but I wasn't looking for instruction per say, but more of a curiosity and comparison. If more people smoked in public this thing would just be quietly observed.

Also I do like to forget about everything but that's when my cadence starts building up and before I know it I'm a steamer and have third degree burns on my hand (not a big clencher, but sometimes). So ussually if no want to smoke with reckless abandon, because that's what it means for me to not focus,I smoke a cigar, or even another plant altogether..

 

[eggrollpiper]

Also I alternate hands, sides of mouth, angle of insertion, orifices..

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Sorry, I didn’t mean to come across as criticizing your post. I was just trying to explain that it probably doesn’t matter. In looking at estate pipes, a lot of guys must clench tighter than me, leaving marks on their stems. Maybe it works for some guys to do that. I can’t say, since I don’t.

Hmmm, on the steam engine thing... do you exert yourself? Maybe cadence is related to your normal passive breathing cadence, and maybe yours is fast and shallow? Just a guess.
Yeh, gone are the days of men gathered on the steps of the general store steps, smoking, chewing, and talking about corn and tractors. We should all make an effort to get out and smoke in public more.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Orifices??? 8O

 

[warren]

I usually have the pipe stem in the same place every time, molars. I do have a couple of pipes which ride best on the canines and number three upper, there is a memory hole in each bit, very comfortable with those two pipes only. I have a bit of an overbite. I presume comfort is dependent on jaw shape, health of teeth, size of bit, pipe shape and weight. I can converse, if unavoidable, holding pipes more to the rear and off center a bit.
All of my pipes are bent to some degree or another as I find them easiest to clench. Years ago, any straights went right to the rearmost molars.

 

[eggrollpiper]

Yeah, excessive bite pressure could be due to nerves I think. When I'm smoking and something angers me (rarely) I find I'm biting down hard for me but still barely leaving a mark. Some people must have jaws like a pit bull, given some of those estates..

By steam engine I mean like a chimney, excessively puffing. So I try to focus and make it like a Zen thing.. I rarely exert myself given a multiplicity of ailments and only smoke while seated.

Orifices was a joke, I think some forum member would like to see me switch orifices, you can use your imagination on which one...

 

[johnbrownspipe]

I seem to let most of my bent pipes "dangle" with the button just behind a tooth. Which tooth isn't a forethought ever, just wherever it goes. My straights I seem to clench on more of the mouthpiece as I don't like how they feel hanging. Sometime's I'll even hold a bend pipe like my Savinelli 606 a little further into my mouth and let the button rest on the roof of my mouth right behind a top tooth. The smoke rolls over my mouth and down, kinda how I imagine a P-lip would be. I think whatever is comfortable to you is the best way.

 

[eggrollpiper]

Yes yes, I imagine angling upwards is like a p-lip also, my thoughts precisely.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Not all pipes were meant to clench, but those in my collection that are I just hook the button over my lower teeth and let the pipe dangle. Very little pressure needed.

 

[workman]

As little pressure as possible, depending on the pipe. I am moving towards lighter pipes for this reason only. Usually the pipe will sit right behind the left canines.

 

[thehappypiper]

I never clench anymore. I lost a tooth because of it! It cracked all the way to the root. Total agony. My dentist said she'd never seen anything like it. I told my dad, who used to smoke the pipe very heavily, and he lost the exact same tooth for the exact same reason!