longchamp stinger donation

[stanwebber]

the general impression i get on these forums is that stingers are universally reviled, or at best tolerated for originality's sake (kaywoodie dilema). i, on the other hand, love them for their filtering and condensation qualities and just consider the extra housekeeping to be the cost of admission to smoking perfection. to give you an idea of my passion for the driest smoke, my absolute favorite types of pipes are guardsman, falcons and vikings among others where the entire length of the stem is essentially a condenser on steroids.
this brings me to my newest acquisitions: 3 leather covered bulldogs (2 longchamp, 1 medico) shown here on my work counter just after a bath in leather conditioner.

the medico is a filter pipe so the tenon is a defacto condenser. both longchamps use a screw-in stinger in the shape of a drill-bit, an ingenious design that maximizes the surface area of the condenser for a given space (not sure the swirling effect makes much of any difference), example shown here.

alas, the stinger is missing from 1 of the longchamps and even though the leftover metal threads will provide some condensation, i would very much like to have the full force of the stinger in place (without having to constantly switch stinger from 1 pipe to another).
given how reviled the subject of my post, i don't suppose there's someone out there with a hated, orphan, red-headed stinger rattling around in a drawer somewhere that they would care to donate? thanks for your consideration.

 

[mso489]

I keep the stingers I remove from pipes, carefully labeled, to keep the sets together, but there are only a few, and none from these brands. I don't have a moisture problem with pipes, so I routinely remove the stingers. My one Kaywoodie Drinkless works nicely enough, and the unscrewing and cleaning of the stem/stinger after each smoke is routine, especially with only one pipe. It does give a good smoke, but not a step above many other non-stinger pipes, for me. But for your taste and habits, the stinger may be the magic ingredient -- seems to be. It's great you are on to that. A lot of little nuanced ways and habits bring pipes to perfection, different ones for different folks.