Jammed stems

[madox07]

Hey guys, I recently bought a vintage St Claude straight billiard, very nice looking and smoking pipe, but for some reason I have problems cleaning it. What is mean is this: the outside of the bowl is of some sort of blueish plastic (or so it seems) material, and the inside is briar. The end of the bowl, where the stem is introduced is also of the same plastic material. After smoking and cooling off, it is very difficult to pull the stem out, and even more difficult to put back in. It seems that the friction between the two elements is so tight that I am afraid I am going to break the stem sooner or later. Currently I only clean the pipe through the mouth piece of the stem, which works quite well since the pipe is straight. What would you guys recommend? Try and lube the stem somehow, I don't know ... using olive oil, or keep the pipe in one piece and keep cleaning it like a currently do?

 

[pagan]

I would suggest removing the "Blue Plastic Material" from the pipe entirely, or better sent to a pro to do a proper restore

 

[lightmybriar]

I've used graphite before with good results. Just take a pencil and "color" all over the tenon before reinserting. Of course this isn't a permanent fix...you could possibly VERY carefully and slowly evenly sand the tenon with fine grit sandpaper, if you trust your own skill. Just make sure to check it very often as you sand so you don't remove too much material.

 

[madox07]

pagan I can't remove the plastic thing, which I am not positive it is plastic. I have uploaded a picture for you guys to better understand what I am talking about

As for a pro that restores ... not around here, I think the last pipe craftsman in Romania died at the middle of the past century. So My only option may be what lightmybriar suggested.

 

[jpmcwjr]

 

[madox07]

Dang it ... this whole picture thing is starting to get on my nerves, tried both dropox and google drive, and none seem to be placing a link so that it displays the picture straight on the page. Any of you have a guide to how to properly upload pics?

 

[jpmcwjr]

Dropbox is difficult, not much experience with Google. But you simply need to open the full image then Control-click (Mac) or Right-click (Windows) on the image itself, then choose copy image location. Now paste that URL (the full web address) into the box that pops up under IMG in the compose reply window of the thread in which you want the photo to show. Bingo; now you've posted a photo directly!
That's what I did with your photo above.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Don't try removing the green stuff! Looks like it might be lucite, or some other plastic, and holds it all together. As to tenon fit, don't oil it, but light sanding and graphite from a pencil should help.

 

[sablebrush52]

Dropbox and Google drive are useless for posting to forums. Try Imgur. It has a well designed interface that makes posting images to BBcode sites like this one, very easy.

 

[mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast]

Rub your finger across some chapstick and then apply it to the tenon.

 

[madox07]

jpmcwjr I presume a softer graphite pencil would be preferred. Chopstick, hmmm I am sure the wife has some around the house.

 

[madox07]

I really don't want to damage this pipe. In spite of the cheap looking plastic, it is a fantastic smoke.