Falcon Pipes

[PaulRVA]

I love my Falcons.
I didn’t think I would but they smoke great are extremely lightweight and easy to pocket.
It’s nice to preload a 1/2 dozen of them and smoke away.

 

[JoburgB2]

Thanks for the responses. I know many of you like them. I was just curious if there are others like me that did not. It seems only two of us do not, and the rest, about a dozen, favour them.

 

[ziv]

Thanks for the responses. I know many of you like them. I was just curious if there are others like me that did not. It seems only two of us do not, and the rest, about a dozen, favour them.

Well, I'm certainly not a fan of the looks, and would not buy one without knowing about them.
But having read what others had to say, I might budge.

 

[burleybreath]

They aren't my tempo, but I'd make an exception for this one of Banjo's.

 

[BayouGhost]

I am looking to buy one for taking along when I am paddling around in my kayak or canoe. I have been caught in some rainstorms before and got dunked by a boat wake once and my briar swelled up and the stem wouldn't fit until I dried it all out for several days with salt in the bowl and stem. I have also had a cob ruined before in a downpour. Trying to avoid that in the future when I will be around water.

 

[Manawydan]

I have two bowls and two stems (one int'l filtered stem, and one twisted metal). They smoke well for me, and I make my own filters with fluffy pipe cleaners wrapped around a pen and cut. Works very well.

The economy appeals to me -- they are my 'I want to try this blend that I don't want to ghost my nice briars' pipes.

 

[rotate]

I‘ve four straight and eight bowels and have smoked Falcons for more than fifty years during which time I’ve tried a wide variety of tobaccos of all types without any problems at all provided the aluminium stem and base bowl are kept clean and as dry as is possible. If you are a wet smoker I would advise using the absorbent Falcon rings that sit between the briar bowl and the aluminium base inserting the wire tag of the pipe cleaner type material into the bore of the stem to stop the ring turning as the briar bowl is screwed into it‘s aluminium base. The airtight seal fitted to the briar bowl needs to be cared for and all I do is to wipe it clean along with the base of the briar bowl with a paper towel. Pay attention to screw threads in the aluminium and on the briar bowl keeping them clean and never over tighten when screwing the briar bowl into its aluminium base, if its tight stop remove the bowl and inspect all the threads for damage or obstruction. Cleaning the pipe bore, you can purchase the thinner Falcon pipe cleaners for this although normal pipe cleaners will do the job and I use a pair of small long nose pliers to fish out the first quarter inch or so of the pipe cleaner from the aluminium bowl base and pull the fatter pipe cleaners all the way through the bore as I prefer that to getting wet tobacco dottle on my fingers and under my finger nails. I‘ve never yet removed a stem/mouthpiece from a Falcon and i understand from those who have its better not to as refitting them can be a devil of a job.

Invented by an American engineer who subsequently sold his invention to a British company they were when I was much younger a firm favourite with workers in British engineering industries as aluminium is pretty much impervious to the oils that are used which will destroy an all briar pipe. In the aircraft maintenance industry that I worked in earlier in life the Falcon had the advantage of being able to be attached by string or thin Bowden cable to the overalls of the pipe smoker as the last thing anyone would want to discover was the pipe missing from a pocket after buttoning up a job on an aircraft, the travelling public would be surprised and horrified at the number of times something has happened like that! I still use the string method of attachment to my fishing vest as diving into the cold murky depths of a lake or river to search for a missing pipe doesn't appeal to me in the least.

Falcon pipes were the great levellers in engineering as their use was universal with both mechanics/fitters and senior managers smoking them and I can quite vividly remember god himself the chief engineer of the airline I worked for coming into the hangars/workshops to clean his Falcon pipe using a small component degreaser exactly as all the rest of us did then blowing it through using a compressed air hose gun, not to be recommended as a flying falcon can do serious damage to anything it hits should the owner lose grip of it under high air pressure. Compressed air and chemical cleaning agents need to be treated with the greatest respect as both are dangerous

My biggest regret about Falcon pipes is that I have mislaid my one and only Bantam pipe which was the shorter version of the Falcon and which are no longer made by the company although I and perhaps others wish they were.

 

[lika]

Love my Falcon, smokes great. Would make a good starter pipe . Have a straight stem like Jack Hargreaves,apple Dublin and Hyperbole bowls.
Certainly smokes better than my Peterson small pokers that are blocked up and in the drawer .

 

[tobakenist]

I have a few from my mountaineering and rock climbing days, they do not weigh much so ideal for saving weight, I also have a few Alco's, these were budget Falcons, cheaper but even lighter than a Falcon, still smoke them occasionally, not a bad smoke with English and Lakeland tobacco's, I used to put a wire loop on them so I could hang them from a carabiner on my tool belt when rock climbing, ideal for this.