How Important Is The Stem For You?
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I could never smoke while chopping wood. That's when I get all my rage out. Plus I'm so fat I'd probably wheeze the tobacco right out of the bowl while gasping for breath. I can only do a half cord or so before I have to take my sweaty ass back inside.
The stem is very important to me, although material is secondary to the shape. I clench quite a bit, so I prefer lighter straight pipes, or well-balanced bents and saddle mouthpieces -- the thinner and flatter the better. But I like Peterson p-lip stems too, as long as they're not the clumsily-made acrylic ones.
Only occasionally, however, has a stem been a deal breaker. A recent example was a gorgeous JT Cooke billiard with a steeply tapered stem. It was simply unclenchable for me. A good friend bought it instead and it's fine for him. I have two other JT Cooke pipes which clench beautifully for me, but they're saddle bits. His mouthpieces are a little on the thick side for my comfort, but I still love the pipes and the stem material, which Jim pours himself.
In descending order, these are my preferred stem materials: Juma, Polyester, horn, Bakelite, vulcanite, acrylic, plastic.
Juma and Polyester, like acrylic, do not oxidize, but are relatively softer and more comfortable. Horn is surprisingly comfortable, but soft enough that care must be taken not to wear it out. Bakelite is quite hard, but in the right hands (Nate King!) it can be fashioned into a fantasticly thin and comfortable mouthpiece. It will eventually oxidize, however. I like Vulcanite/Ebonite, but the maintenance is tiresome so I leave all my rubber-stemmed pipes in closed drawers, out of the light for protection from oxidation.
Only occasionally, however, has a stem been a deal breaker. A recent example was a gorgeous JT Cooke billiard with a steeply tapered stem. It was simply unclenchable for me. A good friend bought it instead and it's fine for him. I have two other JT Cooke pipes which clench beautifully for me, but they're saddle bits. His mouthpieces are a little on the thick side for my comfort, but I still love the pipes and the stem material, which Jim pours himself.
In descending order, these are my preferred stem materials: Juma, Polyester, horn, Bakelite, vulcanite, acrylic, plastic.
Juma and Polyester, like acrylic, do not oxidize, but are relatively softer and more comfortable. Horn is surprisingly comfortable, but soft enough that care must be taken not to wear it out. Bakelite is quite hard, but in the right hands (Nate King!) it can be fashioned into a fantasticly thin and comfortable mouthpiece. It will eventually oxidize, however. I like Vulcanite/Ebonite, but the maintenance is tiresome so I leave all my rubber-stemmed pipes in closed drawers, out of the light for protection from oxidation.
Rubber and MM plastic only for me, but acrylic isn't a total deal breaker if it looks like it will fit my teeth, and the pipe is very light.
I am picky as hell. If it doesn't feel right immediately, I'll never get over it. I know the verdict in my soul (and my mouth) without ever smoking it. I've sold off or returned probably 10 pipes for that reason.
The bummer is when you get a really beautiful old estate pipe that looks perfectly restored in every way, until you bite down for the first time and find that someone has buffed the button into oblivion, so it rolls around like a damn toothpick.
And I only tolerate acrylic on rare occasions. It better be some pipe if it ain't vulcanite. I actually prefer the garbagey plastic stems on MM cobs to acrylic, because they have more give.
The bummer is when you get a really beautiful old estate pipe that looks perfectly restored in every way, until you bite down for the first time and find that someone has buffed the button into oblivion, so it rolls around like a damn toothpick.
And I only tolerate acrylic on rare occasions. It better be some pipe if it ain't vulcanite. I actually prefer the garbagey plastic stems on MM cobs to acrylic, because they have more give.
I'm not picky about stems, but I really appreciate it when a pipe maker has mastery over that part of the pipe. I recently fell in love with an Ardor because of the excellent stem. The rest of the pipe is first rate, but the stem is so, very comfortable.
My picture shows how I smoke, pipe in hand at all time. Occasionally, I have to reach for something else. I feel nervous when I am not holding the pipe.
My criteria for a stem is that the lines must flow from the bowl to the button. The few pipes I have that are not tapered, are from slow smoke contests.
My criteria for a stem is that the lines must flow from the bowl to the button. The few pipes I have that are not tapered, are from slow smoke contests.
I'm not a clencher, so stem feel is not important to me. I prefer acrylic stems but have purchased pipes with vulcanite in the past if I really liked the pipe. Any pipe I purchase going forward has to have an acrylic stem, otherwise I will not purchase.
Stems are quite important to me. The few times I tried smoking the stummel directly, I burned my mouth, nose and whiskers quite badly. Won't be repeating that mistake.
I'm adaptable, to a point, about stems. I can smoke Vulcanite and acrylic. I do prefer fishtail to P-lip bits. I suspect I could get spoiled by certain artisan bits designed just so, but I'm glad I don't have that limitation. I enjoy a lot of variety in pipes -- shapes, weights, sizes, materials, nations of origin, price levels, and so on.
I highly prefer vulcanite and ebonite. I'll smoke the right acrylic, but usually only if I plan to be sitting down and make a concerted effort not to clench, as that is my habit otherwise. I would smoke only super thin stems for a bit, but I really like Kaywoodie pipes and got hooked on the stems. Now I find myself making my stems a little thicker because I have liked it more. I guess I change from time to time, find myself reaching for different stem types. Seems to come in waves. The button against my tongue makes a difference, but there is no easy metric for that. It comes with time with a pipe. If I can close the airway easily I like it better, because again, the pipe rarely leaves my mouth once lit.
Almost wholly unimportant. I am happy with a wide variety of stems as long as they are reasonably comfortable. A variety also helps keep away from the same teeth clenching the same type of bit.
The stem is quite important to me, whereas material is not that crucial,button shaping , can't stand those thick and clumsy badly finished ones,yet I'm getting tired to remodifying then,but it is what it is,them manufacurers,why they don't want to take a closer look how dunhill shapes their stems, needless to say,unrestricted airflow is important too
I should modify this: Aesthetics are important, comfort secondary, but they are not unimportant.
I've just started to care. Because I prefer whatever my two latest pipes have for stem material. It looks nice and seems more solid. I guess I should look that up. That said even though it's a criteria it's a pretty minor one. Only way it would come up is if I was stuck between two pipes and couldn't make up my mind otherwise.
Don't take it like I work hard or nothing. I only chop like 5 pieces at a time hahaha. I don't live in Alaska or nothing.
Well, shit 5 pieces I could do. In fact I'd just put the pipe down. It would probably still be lit when I got done, haha.
As they say up here, chopping wood is never a waste of time. It warms you twice! Once while chopping, once while burning. In the bush some people refer to the wood shed as their bank account, hahaha. "gotta go make a deposit."
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