Do any of you do your own pipe repairs?
I usually don't, but recently I purchased a nice smallish Peterson pipe pouch from Boswell's pipe shop, that has a storage space underneath the tobacco pouch for two small pipes, just to have handy when I want to go somewhere.
I chose two of my smaller pipes, and everything fit extremely well. The only thing was that one of the pipes was a little frustrating to smoke. It was one that I picked up off Ebay, and whoever drilled the air hole through the shank had misdrilled once before correcting, and dilling through to the tobacco chamber. In other words, there was a small air chamber right underneath the proper airway, right as it enters the bowl.
This always prevented a pipe cleaner from entering the tobacco chamber when there was an obstruction, and a pick just didn't do the job, SO I decided to handle this little matter myself. I thought that if I could just connect the two airways, everything would work out.
Taking a drill, and several drill bits of different sizes, I proceeded to have at it.
First I started drilling from the shank, and didn't seem to be getting anywhere.
So then I changed to a larger drill bit, and went at it from the top of the tobacco chamber. After looking at the all the briar dust around me, I peeked into the bowl, and that old admonition about "keeping motorized tools out of the hands of fools", flashed through my mind.
There was a nice channel from the end of the shank to the middle of the bowl. Damn!
Now I did it. Oh well, I thought. I can't make it any worse, so I kept at it until the whole groove was at least smooth.
I was certain that I would have to throw this pipe into my shoe box of ugly, distressed and beyond repair pipes, but figured I would fill 'er up, and give her a try anyway. To my dismay, the damn thing smoked great!
It requires keeping the tobacco dampened tight, and smoking slower than usual, but it really smokes just fine. Possibly better that it did before. I'm not Irish, but their luck certainly seemed to be with me this morning. I don't think I will take a drill to another pipe though. I will leave that to someone who knows what they're doing from now on.
I usually don't, but recently I purchased a nice smallish Peterson pipe pouch from Boswell's pipe shop, that has a storage space underneath the tobacco pouch for two small pipes, just to have handy when I want to go somewhere.
I chose two of my smaller pipes, and everything fit extremely well. The only thing was that one of the pipes was a little frustrating to smoke. It was one that I picked up off Ebay, and whoever drilled the air hole through the shank had misdrilled once before correcting, and dilling through to the tobacco chamber. In other words, there was a small air chamber right underneath the proper airway, right as it enters the bowl.
This always prevented a pipe cleaner from entering the tobacco chamber when there was an obstruction, and a pick just didn't do the job, SO I decided to handle this little matter myself. I thought that if I could just connect the two airways, everything would work out.
Taking a drill, and several drill bits of different sizes, I proceeded to have at it.
First I started drilling from the shank, and didn't seem to be getting anywhere.
So then I changed to a larger drill bit, and went at it from the top of the tobacco chamber. After looking at the all the briar dust around me, I peeked into the bowl, and that old admonition about "keeping motorized tools out of the hands of fools", flashed through my mind.
There was a nice channel from the end of the shank to the middle of the bowl. Damn!
Now I did it. Oh well, I thought. I can't make it any worse, so I kept at it until the whole groove was at least smooth.
I was certain that I would have to throw this pipe into my shoe box of ugly, distressed and beyond repair pipes, but figured I would fill 'er up, and give her a try anyway. To my dismay, the damn thing smoked great!
It requires keeping the tobacco dampened tight, and smoking slower than usual, but it really smokes just fine. Possibly better that it did before. I'm not Irish, but their luck certainly seemed to be with me this morning. I don't think I will take a drill to another pipe though. I will leave that to someone who knows what they're doing from now on.
