Here’s the condensed story, read on below for the entire story if you are bored and have time…
I have a pipe with a stem that has an extreme bend, almost a 90 which has caused two stems to develop “break through” holes due to the cleaner hitting at the bend and scraping against the interior draft hole and wearing away that same spot after repeated insertions. The stem has an almost 90 degree bend (an extreme downward bend) just past the button. The pipe fits into a case so there's no choice about the stem angle it has to have this bend to be able to fit inside the protective case. I am now 2 stems down, granted over 32 years of smoking/cleaning it. I had the stem replaced and it has happened again. I sent the damaged stem to our own, ssjones, (Al, Thank you!!!) who repaired the hole beyond being able to detect it, a miracle worker, he is!
I have a few ideas about how to deal with this but thought I’d ask how you would handle cleaning the stem after smoking the pipe.
Any ideas would be appreciated. As I said I have a few ideas from the easy to the more complicated but would love to know if anyone ever dealt with this before and what you did.
Lou
Here’s the back story and the history…
I have a wonderful meerschaum, my favorite, a carved Viking figural by Yunus Ege. I purchased the pipe at a local Arnold’s Tobacconist in Queens, NYC in 1985 and being a MN, Vikings fan, albeit from NYC, I have smoked it multiple times during the Vikings game on Sundays – for years.
Here’s the problem… Seems like a probable design flaw but the stem has an almost 90 degree bend (an extreme downward bend) just past the button. The pipe fits into a case so there's no choice about the stem angle it has to have this bend to be able to fit inside the protective case.
In 2013, a hole developed (popped through from inside) where the pipe cleaner continually hits the interior of the stem at the point just at the bend. The wire from the cleaner gauged a hole over time of repetitive insertions. BTW, the cleaner never passes completely through due to the fitting screwed inside from the tenon end of the stem. This causes me to clean the stem by inserting the cleaner from both the button end and the tenon end.
Long story short, I’ve had a replacement stem, actually two of them made, with the the help of Beth from SMS Meerschaum and Dave Wolf who collaborated on the stem, and now the replacement that I have been using just developed a hole in the same spot. By having two stems made at that time gives me a brand new stem, never used as a replacement but I had hoped that I never had to use it. I still don’t as I sent the damaged stem to our own, ssjones, (Al, Thank you!!!) who repaired the hole beyond being able to detect the issue, a miracle worker, he is!
I have a few ideas about how to deal with this but thought I’d ask how you would handle cleaning the stem after smoking the pipe.
Any ideas would be appreciated. As I said I have a few ideas from the easy to the more complicated but would love to know if anyone ever dealt with this before and what you did.
Lou
I have a pipe with a stem that has an extreme bend, almost a 90 which has caused two stems to develop “break through” holes due to the cleaner hitting at the bend and scraping against the interior draft hole and wearing away that same spot after repeated insertions. The stem has an almost 90 degree bend (an extreme downward bend) just past the button. The pipe fits into a case so there's no choice about the stem angle it has to have this bend to be able to fit inside the protective case. I am now 2 stems down, granted over 32 years of smoking/cleaning it. I had the stem replaced and it has happened again. I sent the damaged stem to our own, ssjones, (Al, Thank you!!!) who repaired the hole beyond being able to detect it, a miracle worker, he is!
I have a few ideas about how to deal with this but thought I’d ask how you would handle cleaning the stem after smoking the pipe.
Any ideas would be appreciated. As I said I have a few ideas from the easy to the more complicated but would love to know if anyone ever dealt with this before and what you did.
Lou
Here’s the back story and the history…
I have a wonderful meerschaum, my favorite, a carved Viking figural by Yunus Ege. I purchased the pipe at a local Arnold’s Tobacconist in Queens, NYC in 1985 and being a MN, Vikings fan, albeit from NYC, I have smoked it multiple times during the Vikings game on Sundays – for years.
Here’s the problem… Seems like a probable design flaw but the stem has an almost 90 degree bend (an extreme downward bend) just past the button. The pipe fits into a case so there's no choice about the stem angle it has to have this bend to be able to fit inside the protective case.
In 2013, a hole developed (popped through from inside) where the pipe cleaner continually hits the interior of the stem at the point just at the bend. The wire from the cleaner gauged a hole over time of repetitive insertions. BTW, the cleaner never passes completely through due to the fitting screwed inside from the tenon end of the stem. This causes me to clean the stem by inserting the cleaner from both the button end and the tenon end.
Long story short, I’ve had a replacement stem, actually two of them made, with the the help of Beth from SMS Meerschaum and Dave Wolf who collaborated on the stem, and now the replacement that I have been using just developed a hole in the same spot. By having two stems made at that time gives me a brand new stem, never used as a replacement but I had hoped that I never had to use it. I still don’t as I sent the damaged stem to our own, ssjones, (Al, Thank you!!!) who repaired the hole beyond being able to detect the issue, a miracle worker, he is!
I have a few ideas about how to deal with this but thought I’d ask how you would handle cleaning the stem after smoking the pipe.
Any ideas would be appreciated. As I said I have a few ideas from the easy to the more complicated but would love to know if anyone ever dealt with this before and what you did.
Lou