Draft hole too high

[clickklick]

Did you use cigar ash? How much water?
I've used it with much success and short of the very last part of the first bowl it did not impart a flavor. Although I agree, it mixes and dries and smells like an ashtray until after the first smoke.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Some have used fireplace mortar with great success as well.

 

[zack24]

...if it's a straight artisan pipe, the drilling should be perfectly at the bottom. Bents tend to come in a hair higher on the curve of the chamber...Haven't see much difference in the way those two smoke...when the draft hole is below the bottom of the chamber- it's a problem...I'm personally convinced most gurgle is from smoking too hot on a restricted airway...

 

[aldecaker]

@click- I did use cigar ash. I am no cigar aficianado, so I went to my local B&M with a tin of Old Dublin. I let the clerk smell it, and he said he had just what I was looking for. He came out of the humidor with a $12.50 stick, so I assume it wasn't a White Owl. Since I was having a guest over for dinner who does like cigars, I bought two. I thought it was a delicious smoke, and my cigar-educated friend agreed. That was the ash I used. It was, as I said, enough to convince me that the pipe was drilled perfectly.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Why cigar ash over pipe ash?

 

[Chasing Embers]

Cigar ash is finer, and easier to work with.

 

[lestrout]

Yo jp - cigar ash has less residue from unburned tobacco than pipe ash.
hp

les

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

I think the "perfectly centered draft hole" is more a matter of the maker's pride than of function. Really if the tobacco is burning and the smoke is getting to your mouth that's all that matters.

Gurgle is a funny thing. Sometimes my pipes with large draft holes do gurgle and sometimes the pipes with tiny draft holes don't gurgle. Sometimes the straights and sometimes the bents. I'm just about done looking for patterns.

 

[hawke]

Well some may cringe here but Ive used JB Weld for these kinds of issues before. Filled up a burn hole in the bottom of a cob one time. No problems I saw or tasted.

 

[aldecaker]

Yessir, you called that one right. I am in fact cringing!

 

[cosmicfolklore]

The whole draft hole thing is mostly just speculation and comes from years of pipe shops feeding guys a load of bull to make them feel confident about buying a pipe that they cannot smoke till they've paid for it. IMO.
In my experience, the location of the draft hole has no bearing on the way the pipes smokes, the alignment of the stars, or anything. Unless of course the two holes don't line up at all, so that the pipe doesn't work at all. ::

 

[derfargin]

Holy Shit!! JB Weld for pipe mud?!?! This guy is gettin it done.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Back to the OP-

Help me to understand this. The moisture building up is not caused by the location of the draft hole but the moisture content in the tobacco and the way I smoke. In my experience smoking too fast and too hot increases moisture. The difference is that with a regular draft hole the juice will end up in my mouth whereas in the the one with the hole too high it will accumulate at the bottom. The only difference is, that, with that pipe I will never be able to smoke that last bit, which I never do anyway. Or am I missing something?

I think you have this exactly right, and your not missing a trick.

 

[warren]

I think you have this exactly right, and your not missing a trick.

Absolutely except for

whereas in the the one with the hole too high

. By and large, there are mistakes made and sometimes less than stellar workmanship, the hole is where the maker wants it. It is neither too high nor too low, it is where the manufacturer deems it best for the product.
Now, as to whether the new owner likes the placement of the hole, well that's a 0personal choice.

 

[jpmcwjr]

No one has answered my question on pokers- where is the draft hole on those styles, or is that all wood below shank junction?

 

[disinformatique]

I recently found a really big Wally Frank bent brandy bowl and the draft hole is off center and also high from the bottom. It smokes perfectly, the only con being the last bit of tobacco doesnt burn.
Dont worry about it and keep puffing.

 

[wcannoy]

To quote myself from an earlier thread:

A draft hole drilled a little high should smoke fine, but maybe leave a little tobacco unburned in the bottom. A draft hole drilled too low, below the dead bottom of the chamber, is likely to gurgle and/or whistle.
Most importantly, a draft hole drilled perfectly is a sign of quality, high standards, and attention to detail.

Now, all this BS about drilling too high on purpose? Yeah, I've heard that excuse before, and it's always good for a chuckle amongst serious pipemakers.

I spoke with a local and well respected pipemaker about this. He also intentionally raises the draft hole to reduce gurgling and as he put it "who wants to smoke the last crumbs of a bowl"?

There's a right way, and a wrong way to reduce gurgle. The wrong way is to "treat the symptoms", like drilling the draft hole too high, or making "system" pipes with a sump. To use the car analogies that I am growing fond of: Let's say a car company makes a crappy engine that makes a lot of noise when it is running. As a solution to all of the noise, they decide to build earplugs into the seat's headrest rather than fix the engine. Sounds a bit silly, right?
Folks, the goal of a pipemaker should not be to trap, sump, or absorb moisture build-up. The goal should be to not allow the build-up of moisture to happen in the first place!
The build-up of moisture negatively impacts the smoking experience by more than just the nuisance of gurgling. Consider the mechanisms involved in the two most important senses that we use to enjoy our pipes; Taste and smell. Both taste and smell are entirely dependent on our bodies interacting with compounds carried by molecules of moisture. Take dehydrated... well, dehydrated anything. What does it smell like? Nothing much? Stir water into your dehydrated whatever... Can you smell it now? You bet! It works the same with taste, but you have to dry off your tongue very well for the control test. Fortunately, when we eat dry goods, the moisture is supplied by our own mouths so that we can taste it!
So, when you smoke your pipe, the taste (which also involves the sense of smell) of the tobacco is largely, dare I say entirely, dependent on the flavor carried in moisture molecules in the smoke.
And so it follows; What happens to the flavor of your smoke when you, intentionally or unintentionally, start to remove moisture from it? The flavor begins to diminish. If your pipe is gurgling, you're missing out on flavor!
This is why many makers go above and beyond to ensure their pipes are designed and built properly. This is why so many makers prefer to use the term "engineering" to encompass the description of all of the tiny details that must go into a "performance" airway from bowl to button. This is why high-grade pipemakers do not incorporate stingers and *filters into their work. And this is why pipemakers roll their eyes when someone suggests that "it's just two holes in a piece of wood". All of this effort is put in to try to make sure that a minimum amount of moisture gets left behind in the pipe.All of this effort is put in to make your smoke more enjoyable!

Help me to understand this. The moisture building up is not caused by the location of the draft hole but the moisture content in the tobacco and the way I smoke. In my experience smoking too fast and too hot increases moisture.

In my experience, smoking the exact same tobacco at the exact same pace, once in a properly built pipe, and once in a poorly made pipe, will result in one cool, dry smoke, and one hot, steamy, bland, gurgly mess. (Although, yes, you can ruin a smoke in a good pipe by smoking too fast.)
*A word about filters:
If you do not smoke filter pipes, and if you do not smoke aromatics, I suggest you try the two together at least once! Get a good quality aromatic, built on a good quality tobacco base. Some of my favorites include C&D Autumn Evening, and SGT/WO Larsen 2014/2015. I smoke these in a Savinelli balsa filter pipe. The filter mutes the trace chemical flavors in the casing, and allows only the bolder aromas of the flavoring to come through. It's a good thing.

 

[wcannoy]

No one has answered my question on pokers- where is the draft hole on those styles, or is that all wood below shank junction?

Yes, it's all wood below the junction... Or, at least, it should be.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

All due respect to the pipemaking community here in the US, but the Danish high-end pipemakers tend to be cranking out draft holes set high on bent pipes for a very long time. I have went through the selections at The Briary and every damned one is drilled high. And, in talking to Nording he told me that this was done to prevent gurgling. Now, either American pipemakers are better, ha(and excluding you, Walt, I would say are mediocre at best in comparison to the Danish), or This is just a myth amongst American pipemakers.
The draft set high tends to be more prevalent in bent pipes, whereas most straight pipes seem to be fairly flush in all of the pipes that I have seen from the Danes and even most high end Italians.
Nording even sells a stone for his pipes that are drilled high to allow the smoker to smoke the whole dottle and dry the smoke a tad.
I may have just pissed off most American pipemakers, but so be it. Outside of Walt and a few stragglers, they do enough stone throwing and chest beating that a little criticism shouldn't be a big deal. ::

 

[disinformatique]

Lol Micheal.