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This:
Non-destructive and you can do it at the shop (I'm assuming a shop owner would frown about putting a pipe on display in one's mouth).
Differentiating Vulcanite from Acrylic?
- Thread starter JohnMosesBrowning
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This:
Non-destructive and you can do it at the shop (I'm assuming a shop owner would frown about putting a pipe on display in one's mouth).
Is a brindle stem made of vulcanite? The one I've got definitely feels softer than all the stems on my other acrylic pipes.
Yes. Vulcanite can be colored. Brindle is a combination of different colored vulcanites. There is fellow in Indonesia who makes ridiculously complex patterned vulcanite: Anton Wewecz Soedibjo on Instagram: “Finally done” - https://www.instagram.com/p/CX202pQh2_r/.
The only acrylic stem in my collection is the first pipe I purchased. It was a Savinelli Linea Pui 5 with a silver band it is is a great smoker if you are into an English ghost and an acrylic stem. It smokes cool and dry I will smoke it again one day when I get the ghost out.
I will only buy Ebonite or Vulcanite stems as acrylic hurts my teeth. It is very easy to tell which is which. It takes a few years of steady 3-5 pipes a day every day and then you too will feel the difference, but once you get the feeling you never forget them.
I should also mention that clenching with acrylic is much different than clenching ebonite and vulcanite. SMS is considered the high end German product as cheap vulcanite stinks like rotten eggs. way too much sulfur. A lot of the older makers used it. I had a few Upshalls over the years that had that stink.
I will only buy Ebonite or Vulcanite stems as acrylic hurts my teeth. It is very easy to tell which is which. It takes a few years of steady 3-5 pipes a day every day and then you too will feel the difference, but once you get the feeling you never forget them.
I should also mention that clenching with acrylic is much different than clenching ebonite and vulcanite. SMS is considered the high end German product as cheap vulcanite stinks like rotten eggs. way too much sulfur. A lot of the older makers used it. I had a few Upshalls over the years that had that stink.
Thanks for this thread, I was wondering the same thing last week.
I’m not sure if I’m doing it correctly, but if I am, even my cheapest Adsorba basket pipe has a vulcanite stem. With the thumb-rub test you get a distinct rubbery smell, which the MM cob stem doesn’t, which I’m fairly sure is not vulcanite.
It’s a pity I don’t have my Savinelli dry system anymore to test that one as from what I read here, it should have an acrylic stem. I do remember it being shinier than my other pipes but I always figured it was because it was newer and I took greater pains in caring for it.
I’m not sure if I’m doing it correctly, but if I am, even my cheapest Adsorba basket pipe has a vulcanite stem. With the thumb-rub test you get a distinct rubbery smell, which the MM cob stem doesn’t, which I’m fairly sure is not vulcanite.
It’s a pity I don’t have my Savinelli dry system anymore to test that one as from what I read here, it should have an acrylic stem. I do remember it being shinier than my other pipes but I always figured it was because it was newer and I took greater pains in caring for it.
I was unaware of the fact it had an acrylic bit. And who else was I supposed to complain...Joe Biden?! You are a patronizing idiot.I've not had occasion to e-mail since they became an American company. But, always had prompt, 48 hours, replies to my inquiries prior to that.
Why would you buy a pipe with such a bit if you think they feel cheap and tacky? Just curious. And, why complain to Peterson? Jockeying for a free replacement?
And no smart arse...I was not 'jockying' for a replacement. I know Petersons, and they'd rather chew their right arm off before they did that.
As some have said, after a while, you can tell pretty immediately.
Vulcanite can have a sort of "grain", especially as it gets used. Chatter and teeth marks have a more "round" or "soft" appearance. Chatter has to be more pronounced to be visible than with acrylic, and also has to be more pronounced to be tactile on a small scale. The material also has some give.
Acrylic, on the other hand, will show chatter and teeth marks on a much smaller micro-scale. It also can be felt. Acrylic can develop burrs or hard edges with the right manipulation.
Acrylic is hard enough that a scratch with a hard item, or a fingernail, does next to, or exactly, nothing. It's also shiny as some have said.
With vulcanite, you can see a little streaking or discoloration more readily, and again, you can feel the more rubber-like nature of vulcanite.
Vulcanite will also change color slightly when wet versus dry, while acrylic does not as readily.
Dunno if any of that helps.
Vulcanite can have a sort of "grain", especially as it gets used. Chatter and teeth marks have a more "round" or "soft" appearance. Chatter has to be more pronounced to be visible than with acrylic, and also has to be more pronounced to be tactile on a small scale. The material also has some give.
Acrylic, on the other hand, will show chatter and teeth marks on a much smaller micro-scale. It also can be felt. Acrylic can develop burrs or hard edges with the right manipulation.
Acrylic is hard enough that a scratch with a hard item, or a fingernail, does next to, or exactly, nothing. It's also shiny as some have said.
With vulcanite, you can see a little streaking or discoloration more readily, and again, you can feel the more rubber-like nature of vulcanite.
Vulcanite will also change color slightly when wet versus dry, while acrylic does not as readily.
Dunno if any of that helps.
Shine a black light on it. Acrylic won't look any different; vulcanite (even a shiny black stem with no oxidation) will look brown. UV light is supposed to promote oxidation on vulcanite stems, but that's long-term exposure, i.e. leaving it sitting in the sun. A quick once over with a UV flashlight won't do any harm.
But that's to say that a brindle stem COULD be vulcanite, but it doesn't mean that it is simply by fact that it's brindle. In another thread we discussed the Roma Lucite line by Savinelli. Or is there a difference that I'm confusing between brindle and that type of swirl? Someone please correct me if I'm conflating two different things here.
"Brindle" is the original name for the swirly looking material made of vulcanite. It's also called "cumberland" because Dunhill used it for its Cumberland line of pipes. There are modern acrylic approximations, but I don't usually hear them called "brindle" or "cumberland." I personally don't find the acrylic approximations very convincing or as attractive as the rubber originals.
The Roma Lucite stems look like facsimiles of natural horn rather then brindle.
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There are for sure acrylic rods made to look like brindle/cumberland ebonite. But they are much "mushier" in the swirl pattern.
That's acrylic.
If you zoom in on this you see a lot of individual streaks, not so much melted together as the acrylic. This is good vulcanite brindle.
That's acrylic.
If you zoom in on this you see a lot of individual streaks, not so much melted together as the acrylic. This is good vulcanite brindle.