Concern on Drilling of New Pipe

[northernneil]

I just received my new Sebastien Beo pipe from Smoking Pipes. After close inspection of the pipe before my christening bowl, I noticed a minor flaw in the drilling of the air hole.

Now, as you can see the mortise is not perfectly round due to an off center drilling attempt. The actual air hole is drilled perfectly, and the tenon and mortise are perfect lengths with a tight seal. So until you take the pipe apart, you would have no idea there was a problem. This is leading me to believe that the pipe will smoke just fine. However, I wanted to seek a little advise before putting fire to it.
What do you think... is this a problem worth worrying about?

 

[pitchfork]

If you're referring to the little notch at the bottom edge of the mortise, that's standard for a lot of bent pipes. Without that notch, the straight drill bit may not have hit the bottom of the bowl properly. (Are we talking about the same thing, here?)

 

[pitchfork]

In order to avoid making a notch, the airway would have to go through the top of the face of the mortise -- not ideal for airflow, but that's how Dunhill does it.
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/defective-dunhil

 

[cosmicfolklore]

If you are concerned, assemble it, put your finger over the bowl and suck. If air enters the stem, it is most likely through this area. However, I've seen several of the cheaper pipes done like this. But, I have no idea how they smoke. It's obviously on purpose, because it'd be hard to miss that on the QC.

 

[northernneil]

The pipe has a tight seal, no worries there.

I have another Beo pipe in this shape and it did not need the notch. So I do think it was technically a mistake. And I'm pretty sure that the minor mistake will not affect the smoking quality because everything else lines up perfectly and there are no leaks.

Nonetheless, I just wanted to see if someone may have had a similar situation and what they did.

 

[pitchfork]

I have another Beo pipe in this shape and it did not need the notch. So I do think it was technically a mistake. And I'm pretty sure that the minor mistake will not affect the smoking quality because everything else lines up perfectly and there are no leaks.

Ha! I wonder which one smokes better?

 

[blendtobac]

That "keyhole" won't affect the pipe because the tenon will cover the notch. I've owned a number of pipes that have a drilling like that and never had a problem with any of them.
Russ

 

[northernneil]

Thanks for the response Russ. That was what I was hoping!

 

[wayneteipen]

As pitchfork and russ have stated, the notch is fine and standard practice in pipe making with bent pipes. Some bent pipes present drilling challenges for the pipe maker. Ideally, you want the airway to be centered at the bottom of the mortise and end bottom center of the tobacco chamber. A lot of bent pipe designs have to have compromises that stray from the ideal. If you want the airway to be dead center of the bottom of the mortise without altering your design, you often have to leave a notch like your pipe. Drilling a larger mortise can sometimes minimize the notch. The alternative is to drill the airway high in the mortise like in the Dunhill example pitchfork posted. Pipes drilled like this can sometimes be problematic if the tenon obscures the airway even a little bit because it restricts airflow and causes turbulence and hence moisture problems. A better solution that most skilled artisans use is to ramp the airway to bring it back to the center of the bottom of the mortise. How a maker does it often depends on the shape and sometimes pipemaker preference.

 

[owen]

Great response from all you guys. Open one thread learn something well worth it.

 

[northernneil]

Thanks for all the responses guys. I was pretty sure it was not a big issue, but once you put fire to the pipe it is yours. So I figured is was a good idea to seek some additional advise from you fine gentlemen. And as expected you guys delivered.

 

[mso489]

This is the kind of knowledge I'd never learn anywhere else. I'd probably be oblivious to it for life. But

it's worth knowing, so when you notice this detail on your bent pipes, you don't have to be puzzled.

Thanks!

 

[zack24]

No problems with that drilling...You should have a nice smooth path for the smoke and a pipecleaner...In cases where there's just a tiny notch nicked in the edge, it's easy to chamfer the edge of the mortise so the notch disappears- wouldn't work in this case- too big a notch.