Gurgle Possibly Caused by Draft Hole Construction?

[mtwaller]

Wanted to bump this with a quick update. I figured out an easy fix for the gurgle, simply by packing my tobacco a little bit tighter than I normally would. I actually prefer a bit firmer draw, so this doesn’t make me shed any tears. I’ve been packing on the loose side out of some possibly misguided sense of caution? Who knows... at any rate, when I felt a slight gurgle I tamped my bowl down with a bit of firmness that I don’t normally employ, and the gurgle vanished. Nary a whisper all the way until the end of the bowl. I suppose this makes sense, less volume of air equals less moisture flowing into the draft hole? Anyway, if you find yourself smoking a gurgler maybe try and give it a firm tamp and see what happens. Worked for me today! Best smoke I’ve had out of this pipe.

 

[ashdigger]

I'd rather be a flawed smoker than smoke a flawed pipe.

 

[mtwaller]

Amen to that shit!

 

[rollinrich11]

Disclaimer: not a professional by any means.
My first briar was a Tinderbox basket pipe with shellac as the polish. That pipe gurgled from the first smoke until just recently, about three years. I dove into trying the estate refurbish and resell and had many “crap” pipes like Grabow and kaywoodie. There are previous posters in this thread that have said poor workmanship could cause this. I will have to agree. I just finished Rick Newcombe's book, “In Search of Pipe Dreams” and Rick said that he preferred his draft to be drilled at 3/16th of an inch. He also said that 5/32nd would be a good start to “open” up a pipe. I was leary of gouging out the shank of my pipe so I chose to use 5/32nd drill bit on that Tinderbox pipe. It will not gurgle.
That leads me to my Savinelli pipes. I have not had gurgle in my Savinelli pipes, that is until I acquired an estate set of Linea 76 shape 06. I was messing with the cheap pipes and noticed that the Savinelli pipes I had acquired new were drilled already at 5/32nd. The older Savs were not drilled so large. I also had a cheap meerschaum that gurgled constantly and drilled it also. That cleared the pipe from gurgle.
I understand Newcombe is clearly into Danish pipes and into pipes none of us could ever afford, but his time with The Ivarson family and the other Danish pipe makers have given him some great knowledge on the physics of a great smoking pipe.
In close, I agree with the posts in this thread that the physics of the pipe would most likely be the cause of the gurgle. Or soaking wet tobacco.

 

[davet]

“crap” pipes like Grabow and kaywoodie

:roll:

 

[rollinrich11]

Sorry there are some that consider these pipes that davet. I consider briar, briar. I have some seconds from an eBay buy that are unfinished. They smoke better than a few of my higher end pipes. I just refinished a medico ebony bulldog and love it. The only pipes I dislike are the resin yelobole.

 

[davet]

It's been stated many times here that Kaywoodies once sold for more than Dunhills. People buy into the hype and repeat it / believe it. All my Grabows, old and very old smoke with no issues, none.

 

[lawdawg]

The drilling on that pipe looks a little wonky but not terrible. I have a perfectly drilled straight Peterson that smokes great, but all their curved pipes I have looked at have (in my opinion) sloppy drillings. Peterson is unfortunately somewhat known for this issue, though I understand their quality control has been improving lately after being acquired by Laudisi.
The bottom line for me is that if a pipe gurgles, I don't keep it. Simple as that. Even some otherwise reasonably well made pipes can tend to gurgle for one reason or another. I don't really care what the cause is or whether I can identify the cause. If it tends to gurgle, it goes. I'll give them all a fair chance though, as many things can apart from the pipe can cause gurgle, including wet tobacco, humidity, and smoking technique.

Wanted to bump this with a quick update. I figured out an easy fix for the gurgle, simply by packing my tobacco a little bit tighter than I normally would. I actually prefer a bit firmer draw, so this doesn’t make me shed any tears. I’ve been packing on the loose side out of some possibly misguided sense of caution? Who knows... at any rate, when I felt a slight gurgle I tamped my bowl down with a bit of firmness that I don’t normally employ, and the gurgle vanished. Nary a whisper all the way until the end of the bowl. I suppose this makes sense, less volume of air equals less moisture flowing into the draft hole? Anyway, if you find yourself smoking a gurgler maybe try and give it a firm tamp and see what happens. Worked for me today! Best smoke I’ve had out of this pipe.

It's possible that the gurgle can be caused by slightly moist piece of tobacco being stuck in the opening of the draught hole. Sounds like that might've been the cause in your case if the gurgle stopped after messing with the tobacco in the bowl. What I'll call "true gurgle" is caused by moisture in the draught and/or mortise. Tobacco shreds are the cause of probably 2/3 of my "gurgles" on the occasion that I get one. I just run a cleaner through and push the shred of tobacco back into the bowl. With time, you can learn to identify a true moisture gurgle vs. a "gurgle" caused by a piece of tobacco in the draught.