Gurgle Possibly Caused by Draft Hole Construction?

[mtwaller]

I apologize for not having a picture to accompany this post, I tried several times and could not get a shot of the inside of the draft hole. Also sorry if this has been covered in excruciating detail before, I went back about a year and didn’t find anything on the topic. So, now that my disclaimers are out of the way...
I have a straight billiard, a Peterson Rosslare Royal Irish 6 to be precise, that has a bit of a gurgle. This is my first straight billiard so I have nothing to compare to. I’ll try to describe what I’m seeing as best I can. I’m hoping someone can maybe help determine whether or not the construction of the draft hole could be causing the gurgle. When looking at the draft hole from the mortise, it’s sort peanut shaped. It’s like an oval with slightly distinct top and bottom halves. The bottom half goes clear through into the bowl, with the hole emerging into the bowl being relatively small. The top half of the draft hole, as viewed from the mortise end, goes in a little bit and then stops. It’s sort of jagged to my eye and just stops abruptly inside the draft hole.
I know this is a terrible description, but to summarize the draft hole is at least twice as large in the mortise as it is in the bowl, with a pretty abrupt transition in between. Is there any way this could cause gurgle issues? All of my other pipes are bent and I can’t see shit inside the draft hole so I don’t honestly know what they’re supposed to look like.

 

[onestrangeone]

Sometimes when you drill a hole when the bit pushes thru it will leave a splitter that pushes up, then when you pull the bit back out it lays back down, maybe find a drill bit that fits and see if it cleans up. On a few of my pipes that gurgled I simply went back and smoked 10-15 1/4 and half bowls to build a bit of cake in the heel, no more gurgling!

 

[ashdigger]

Sorry, need pics. I will tell you this. I prefer bent Petersons to straight Petersons, but the six straights I have, all smoke great.

 

[mtwaller]

It's not a perfect picture, but hopefully this will give you an idea of what it looks like down in there. You can't see all the way to the bowl, but that bottom half of the draft hole narrows down a bit further as it reaches the bowl. Looks fairly sloppy and wonky to my eye, but I know nothing of pipe construction...

 

[cosmicfolklore]

the draft hole is at least twice as large in the mortise as it is in the bowl, with a pretty abrupt transition in between.

I think you will find that this is so on most pipes, or at least it is so on most of my better pipes. This pipe looks rather new, with little breaking in going on. I would give it a few dozen more smokes to see if maybe some cake on the innards would help with the gurgle. There are lots of factors to consider when looking for reasons for gurgle, from moist tobaccos, cadence, ambient humidity, temperature changes, and then the pipe would come into scrutiny after all of that.

 

[cortezattic]

That looks like sloppy drilling to me. Bends, curves and tapering in the draft stream induce condensation. I'd try onestrangeone's advice. If you bought the pipe from SmokingPipes.com, sending it back to them is an option too: they might attempt a repair or replacement -- depending on their assessment.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

That looks like sloppy drilling to me.

Are there picture on here that I cannot see? I see this one...

...which isn't really clear enough to tell, but that looks dead on centered, considering perspective and the shadow making it hard to tell. Is there something sticking out of the draft hole... like a rolled piece of paper or something?

 

[cortezattic]

Mike, either you need another cup of coffee, or I do! :lol: The OP said it has a peanut shape.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

That looks like sloppy drilling to me.

It sounds like sloppy drilling, but looks like a rolled up piece of paper stuck in the draft. ::

But, I could use another cup of coffee. I was just asxing DUH kwestjion. I twernt sure if I was missin' de picture.

 

[rdavid]

Looks like the drill bit went high on the first try and the actual draft hole is centered. Also looks like a wood sliver hanging down into draft hole. Looks like a bad drill to me.

 

[craiginthecorn]

The photo isn't good enough for me to be sure what I'm looking at. I have encountered two kinds of pipes that gurgle. In both cases, the accumulated moisture is essentially funneled into the draft hole. I've had this happen with pipes where the bottom of the draft hole is below the bottom of the tobacco chamber. The second is with very conical tobacco chambers with the draft hole entering precisely at the bottom. If it's not severe, you otherwise like the pipe, and you can get a pipe cleaner clear through to the bowl, just be prepared to swap once or twice per smoke.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Ok, had a cup of coffee, and looked at the pic again, yep. wonkjob of a drill. It's one of those face-vase like pictures though, Escher-esque. ::

 

[cortezattic]

Yeah, it shouldn't leave the factory with a $200 MSRP.

 

[mtwaller]

Sorry for the poor photo, gents. I had a hell of a time getting a view down into the draft hole. What you see in there is a rather jagged chunk of briar hanging down. It’s a bit fuzzy because my pipe cleaners drag against it when cleaning. The shadow is obscuring some of the mortise, even the “centered” hole is in fact up toward the 12 o clock position from true center. I don’t think it lines up with the hole in the tenon. It still smokes pretty well, the gurgle isn’t outrageous. I can swab once or twice and get through a bowl. But it’s frustrating to buy a “high end” line and see this poor craftsmanship. I’ve learned a valuable lesson with this one. I will now inspect all pipes before I even think about smoking them and send it back If it looks like this. Lesson learned... I guess I’ll just keep smoking it and see if some cake buildup will smooth out the rough edges. I still have some 1500 grit, maybe I can gently sand away the rough edge in there. I don’t see how it could make it much worse than it is now.

 

[sasquatch]

That's not ideal, obviously, but I wouldn't think it would ruin a pipe - lots of bent pipes that smoke fine are drilled at least that wonky.
What does the tenon look like? My guess is that there's lots of dead space in that pipe and the tenon is probably pretty square on the end. There may be easy fixes yet...

 

[mtwaller]

I've put some pictures of the tenon below. The face looks rounded, and the hole appears to be dead center. I did a rough measurement of the space in there using a pipe cleaner. I ran it down to the shelf where the hole is drilled in the shank and marked with my finger how far in it went. Then it put the pipe cleaner up against the tenon to see how much space was left. The tenon occupies exactly half the space inside the mortise. In other words the mortise is almost exactly twice as long as the tenon. Is that normal?

 

[ashdigger]

Is that a filter pipe?

 

[mtwaller]

Ash, not as far as I’m aware? The hole in the stem definitely looks too small to take a filter, but I’ve never seen a filter in person. It’s just wide enough for a pipe cleaner.

 

[ashdigger]

The reason I ask is the end of the stem looks hollowed out. None of my standard straight Petes look like that.
Edit: In my humble opinion the end of your stem is definitely the problem. It should be rounded not concave or hollow.

 

[mtwaller]

Interesting... perhaps a filter would help alleviate the moisture buildup then. Still not a fix for a bungled drill job, but it’s worth trying one to see!