I Now Have a Stem Fetish

[gwtwdbss]

On another note, old Pre-transition Barling's are extremely comfortable. If anyone gets a chance to pick one of these up, you will really appreciate the stem work. The buttons are not especially large but the briar is so light and the stems are made very well. This is one of my largest pipes and it is a piece of cake to clinch at 45g. I didn't know much about Barling's before listening to Steve Fallon on the Radio show. I am really glad I checked them out. They are a fine old smoker.

 

[cigrmaster]

smokeystover, I totally agree about the Bill Taylor Ashtons, I have one and it sucks to clench. It smokes nicely but it is irritating trying to keep it in my mouth. It is the reason I have never bought another Ashton.
Chris, great pics. It is interesting how Castello uses different stem designs for their bigger pipes. Here is a large Castello I used to own that had a very uncomfortable stem.

 

[gwtwdbss]

One thing about the "Black Dot" pipe. It is a Kino(Franco Coppa) era pipe and not a Carlo Scotti era one. It is my only Franco Coppa era pipe so I am not sure if that has something to do with it or if it is just the way this particular larger pipe was made.

 

[ssjones]

That's also been one of my pet peeves with Ashton over the years. The stems are thin enough, but the button is so small the pipe doesn't feel secure, and I find myself really chomping down on them. The later stuff from Jimmy Craig seems to be a lot better in this respect.

That is very interesting. I don't clench my vulcanite stemmed pipes and I'm the complete opposite and find the older Ashton buttons very much to my liking, but my Craig pipes could be a bit smaller. (they are acrylic stems and I do clench them).

 

[mso489]

I have a wide variety of stems in width, size of button, and materials (both vulcanite, lucite and probably other

kinds of plastic I take as lucite/acrylic). I have a pipe in hand as much as in my mouth; I don't clench for long

periods, so this makes it less of an issue. But I do like the wider bits that seem to come on recent pipes like

Lucianos and Ser Jacopos. I have one Peterson bent Rhodesian with a P-Lip, and in that one pipe, it is fine,

an interesting change, but I wouldn't want two. Still, some of my older pipes with much more narrow stems

and bits smoke just fine, and I smoke them regularly. So I would say, I am sensitive to this but it is not a

big issue. I haven't retired, traded or discarded any pipes because of it.

 

[pitchfork]

Harris and Chris, thanks for the Castello stem tutorial. Much appreciated. And those are some nice looking pipes!
Also, like mso489, I find wider stems provide much more leverage for clenching -- and they're especially good if you have bumpy, irregular grinders like mine.

 

[huub]

Hello,
Recently I saw two pipe pictures where the material from the stems was changed from black ebonite into a green and a blue acrylic stem.

I should like to have some information about this.

 

[kashmir]

Hi Huub - Welcome to the forums. I remember you well from SF. This is a much better forum here. Hope you stay here rather than there. Regarding your question, all the information you requested can be found here on a thread I started called Fancy Lucite Stems:
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/fancy-lucite-stems

 

[cigrmaster]

Hi Hubb, nice to see you on this site. I think you will find it more fun and less moderated. Hope you have a good time.

 

[pitchfork]

Hi, huub, welcome to the Forums. Of course I remember you from smokersforums.uk, as well. Hope you join us often in the future.