Is This Pipe Drilled Improperly?

[Lumbridge]

Pardon the noob question - coming from cobs, this is only my second briar pipe. I bought this Rossi Sera 8614 Oom Paul recently and noticed that the airway drilling looks a little weird.

I've been told to avoid any pipe that has the airway hole drilled partway up the wall of the bowl rather than right at the bottom. I don't want a gurgler, and I'd test it out, but then I wouldn't be able to return it.

It's a beautiful pipe and I'd hate to have to send it back, but if this airway is drilled as poorly as I suspect, then I guess I'll have to. Is this typical of Oom Paul / Full Bent shapes?

Figured I'd have some more experienced eyes look at it first. Notice how the pipe cleaner protrudes a bit above the bottom of the bowl.

 

[Coreios]

I have a Savinelli, they make Rossi its their lower end models but same exact pipe just lower quality finish. They're great pipes. Mine has a little bit of a high hole but it stops me from smoking dottle. I like that about it. To me it looks fine. I'm not a professional though. But, in general Rossi pipes are great pipes. If it does gurgle there are options to stop that.

 

[warren]

Looks like it will smoke fine.

 

[didimauw]

Yup looks good to me. My Sera 8614 is the exact same. Smokes like a pipe worth many times the price. But they are still bottom end pipes. The drilling on mine is the same as yours, but mine I had to file out all the excess wood splinters in the shank near that well above the draft hole. Didn't notice it till a year or so of owning it. But they are workhorse pipes. (mines still got shit down there)

 

[didimauw]

By the way, I took the cheap lacquer off both my Rossi's and Think they look so much better.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Is this typical of Oom Paul / Full Bent shapes?

It can be.



But doesn't have to be.

 

[Lumbridge]

"Yup looks good to me. My Sera 8614 is the exact same..."


Exactly what I had hoped to hear - from someone with the same pipe. Many thanks!

 

[Lumbridge]

It can be.
But doesn't have to be.

Ah, so it's a result of expedited manufacturing. Thanks for the diagram.

 

[georged]

Ah, so it's a result of expedited manufacturing. Thanks for the diagram.

More a case of compromise in many instances.

For the airway to hit center at the bottom of the mortise and the bottom of the chamber on a deep(ish) bent pipe, the mortise & tenon can easily be made larger in diameter. (it changes the geometry)

Thinning the wall of a mortise too much makes it fragile and prone to cracking and outright shattering if the pipe is dropped or the stem is twisted hard too soon after smoking, though.

Meaning it's a "lesser of evils" type choice at production time.

 

[TheCROW]

I've read here that it's somewhat normal with deep bent pipes, I have a bent Brebbia that have this also but I didn't notice it at first.
I smoked it a couple of times and noticed that it didn't smoke to the bottom, so I took a closer look and found it was drilled a bit high.
So I made some pipe mud and heightened the bottom until the draft hole was at the same level.
Been smoking it since and it's perfect now, I don't even see the pipe mud at the bottom anymore! It's one of my favorites, I love bent pipes!

 

[Briar Tuck]

That looks like my Oom Paul/Hungarians and they smoke just fine. With full bends you are always going to be more likely to get some gurgle simply due to the physics of the design.

 

[Coreios]

By the way, I took the cheap lacquer off both my Rossi's and Think they look so much better.

If you have a picture I'd like to see how it turned out.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

Looks like a Rossi.

 

[Lumbridge]

So I made some pipe mud and heightened the bottom until the draft hole was at the same level.

Exactly what I was thinking of doing. Felt like I'd end up with more dottle if I didn't fill it, and I hate wasting good tobacco. Plus there's the potential issue of accumulated moisture at the bottom of the bowl.
I might go the activated charcoal/gum arabic route. I've done it with cigar ash in a beater cherrywood pipe before and never could get rid of that taste.

 

[bullet08]

Smoke it for awhile and see how it works out. Usually don't fix things unless it's broken.

 

[anotherbob]

I have bents drilled like that and I get the same dottle amounts out of them as I do with the ones that are flush including the one with a forward cant (bowl tilted forwards) that has the hole in the bottom of the chamber.

 

[TheCROW]

Exactly what I was thinking of doing. Felt like I'd end up with more dottle if I didn't fill it, and I hate wasting good tobacco. Plus there's the potential issue of accumulated moisture at the bottom of the bowl.
I might go the activated charcoal/gum arabic route. I've done it with cigar ash in a beater cherrywood pipe before and never could get rid of that taste.

The recipe I used was activated charcoal, plaster of Paris and salt.... Turned out perfect with no taste whatsoever.
All ingredients are food safe.
I highly recommend it, you can check the video below.
Thanks go to CaneRodPiper who's the creator of this recipe.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Plus there's the potential issue of accumulated moisture at the bottom of the bowl.

In some pipes, especially Danish freehands, that's part of the design to inhibit gurgle by trapping moisture beneath the draft hole. Raising the chamber floor may be asking for gurgling.

 

[UB 40]

Exactly what I was thinking of doing. Felt like I'd end up with more dottle if I didn't fill it, and I hate wasting good tobacco. Plus there's the potential issue of accumulated moisture at the bottom of the bowl.
I might go the activated charcoal/gum arabic route. I've done it with cigar ash in a beater cherrywood pipe before and never could get rid of that taste.

Charcoal, Plaster of Paris, salt.

But I would leave it as is, better moisture in the bowl than gurgling upwards.

 

[mso489]

An Oom-Paul shape requires some of the most overt drilling of any shape, as the diagram post here illustrates. I don't think you'll have any problems with this one. As several have noted, it looks fine for smoking.