Peterson House Pipe
- Thread starter mikecronis
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I was very hesitant to buying the grand-daddy of Peterson Pipes, especially the bizarre P-Lip System that channels the smoke upward with the hole to the stem on top of the pipe opening lip past the bit.
The pipe is MASSIVE at about 3 times the size of a normal bent-apple. My hand can barely get around the bowl.
The stem does not allow the tension to pass too far down, leaving an odd, 1/2" GAP into the mortise which is confusing at first. I had rinsed out the stupid dipped varnish paint they put on the inside (lazy design) Peterson has been recently doing and pulled out the black nastiness, let it dry-out, then pre-set the pipe with honey and liquor as I do to set the caking (this is an odd thing that I do where I dip and rub a bit of honey on my finger and some liquor such as Drambuie, Rum, Whiskey, Bourbon, Frangelico, etc. depending on what flavor the pipe will be dedicated to and let it dry overnight before the first smoke, to which I smoke the full bowl through.)
After I did this, I thought the wood had swollen too much the next day and it would not go all the way in. When the pipe had arrived, the stem was not attached and in the box separate with no explanation or instruction purchased from Smoking Pipes.com
I attempted to work the tenon into the mortise (stem into the hole) with a twisting fashion, wondering if I needed to darn sand the insides down! I waited a few more days for it to "dry out" in case I had swollen the innards (the chamber inside is complex to avoid pipe gurgle moisture collection with some plumbing apparently) and gave it another heave-ho. CAREFULLY as to not break it! Still did not fit all the way. Well, gosh! Did I guy a defective pipe?!
Nope!
Explanation is that the pipe is supposed to, over time, get heavy, heavy use; so much in fact that over decades, the mortise will get weathered-down so that the stem tension will fit deeper and deeper into the mortise (stem into the hole) better. This, by my reckoning and use, may happen when I'm 80 or 90 years old at the earliest, and it's an odd choice to create it that way.
So, that engineering confusion out of the way, I got to lighting it up with Stag Tobacconist's "Snowcap" blend, which is a combination of Lane Limited BCA, Sutliff Black Cavendish RL-574, and a bit of Sutliff SPS-3 Cherry that ends up a toasty-tasting, nutty blend of roasted chestnuts.
Did my normal 4-light/tamp technique after the common 3-phase fill-up technique. (I used to do the 3-light/tamp technique the 4 is even better [and as they say on Monty Python, "Five is right OUT!"]).
Immediately, I was impressed with the fullness of the smoke and pipe flavor through the P-Lip system. Deep, undulating, factory-chimney looms of smoke dominated my world around me. Huge amounts of extra flavor allowed the tobacco blend to really open-up its completeness. Wow. Blooms of rich bellows poured out the top and the thickness of the pipe prevented any bowl over-heating despite my enjoyment of over-smoking too quickly.
I began to salivate from the extra flavor I wasn't used to from Snowcap, unabridged now and unchained; something I never do with Snowcap blend. I was worried about immediate pipe gurgle from extra mouth moisture but none happened and the P-Lip system prevented it. I smoked the first bowl quickly to allow the caking to take-place in a complete bowl and was quite successful in doing so and the wanted protective layer encased the bowl perfectly. Be advised "quickly" still took almost 2 hours of non-stop chimney smoking effort, probably something I shouldn't have done but I was too amazed to not.
I needed no second lighting and only dumped the ash halfway to make room but found it was unnecessary. Not one relight needed as if I had already set the caking beforehand. I find a correctly caked pipe bowl can suffice with one lighting if packed correctly.
Super flavorful, I strongly recommend a Peterson House Pipe. I've owned the XL version but this is far superior like a V8 Corvette Supercharged.
Just bought it's slightly smaller cousin the Pub Pipe and am setting that up now. Will let you know how it goes. A+ and worth the money.
By comparison, I have about 20 Petersons, 8 Savinelli, a real gourd Calabash, a few corncobs, handful of Nordings, and Meerschaums as well as in that list, about 5 churchwardens.
The pipe is MASSIVE at about 3 times the size of a normal bent-apple. My hand can barely get around the bowl.
The stem does not allow the tension to pass too far down, leaving an odd, 1/2" GAP into the mortise which is confusing at first. I had rinsed out the stupid dipped varnish paint they put on the inside (lazy design) Peterson has been recently doing and pulled out the black nastiness, let it dry-out, then pre-set the pipe with honey and liquor as I do to set the caking (this is an odd thing that I do where I dip and rub a bit of honey on my finger and some liquor such as Drambuie, Rum, Whiskey, Bourbon, Frangelico, etc. depending on what flavor the pipe will be dedicated to and let it dry overnight before the first smoke, to which I smoke the full bowl through.)
After I did this, I thought the wood had swollen too much the next day and it would not go all the way in. When the pipe had arrived, the stem was not attached and in the box separate with no explanation or instruction purchased from Smoking Pipes.com
I attempted to work the tenon into the mortise (stem into the hole) with a twisting fashion, wondering if I needed to darn sand the insides down! I waited a few more days for it to "dry out" in case I had swollen the innards (the chamber inside is complex to avoid pipe gurgle moisture collection with some plumbing apparently) and gave it another heave-ho. CAREFULLY as to not break it! Still did not fit all the way. Well, gosh! Did I guy a defective pipe?!
Nope!
Explanation is that the pipe is supposed to, over time, get heavy, heavy use; so much in fact that over decades, the mortise will get weathered-down so that the stem tension will fit deeper and deeper into the mortise (stem into the hole) better. This, by my reckoning and use, may happen when I'm 80 or 90 years old at the earliest, and it's an odd choice to create it that way.
So, that engineering confusion out of the way, I got to lighting it up with Stag Tobacconist's "Snowcap" blend, which is a combination of Lane Limited BCA, Sutliff Black Cavendish RL-574, and a bit of Sutliff SPS-3 Cherry that ends up a toasty-tasting, nutty blend of roasted chestnuts.
Did my normal 4-light/tamp technique after the common 3-phase fill-up technique. (I used to do the 3-light/tamp technique the 4 is even better [and as they say on Monty Python, "Five is right OUT!"]).
Immediately, I was impressed with the fullness of the smoke and pipe flavor through the P-Lip system. Deep, undulating, factory-chimney looms of smoke dominated my world around me. Huge amounts of extra flavor allowed the tobacco blend to really open-up its completeness. Wow. Blooms of rich bellows poured out the top and the thickness of the pipe prevented any bowl over-heating despite my enjoyment of over-smoking too quickly.
I began to salivate from the extra flavor I wasn't used to from Snowcap, unabridged now and unchained; something I never do with Snowcap blend. I was worried about immediate pipe gurgle from extra mouth moisture but none happened and the P-Lip system prevented it. I smoked the first bowl quickly to allow the caking to take-place in a complete bowl and was quite successful in doing so and the wanted protective layer encased the bowl perfectly. Be advised "quickly" still took almost 2 hours of non-stop chimney smoking effort, probably something I shouldn't have done but I was too amazed to not.
I needed no second lighting and only dumped the ash halfway to make room but found it was unnecessary. Not one relight needed as if I had already set the caking beforehand. I find a correctly caked pipe bowl can suffice with one lighting if packed correctly.
Super flavorful, I strongly recommend a Peterson House Pipe. I've owned the XL version but this is far superior like a V8 Corvette Supercharged.
Just bought it's slightly smaller cousin the Pub Pipe and am setting that up now. Will let you know how it goes. A+ and worth the money.
By comparison, I have about 20 Petersons, 8 Savinelli, a real gourd Calabash, a few corncobs, handful of Nordings, and Meerschaums as well as in that list, about 5 churchwardens.
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I own 2 House pipes and 1 of it "little" Pub pipe siblings. All three are wonderful pipes. And, I'm a big fan of the P-lip -- in fact, of the Peterson System Pipe concept. My two:
How do you get all of the gunk out they put into the bowl. Just got a B10 Aran and the best tobacco taste like rabbit tobacco. Need to get it cleaned up or toss--it is unshakable now due to their bowl coating.
Never had that with my Sav's or Rattray's. I tried the honey-rum treatment to no avail.
Never had that with my Sav's or Rattray's. I tried the honey-rum treatment to no avail.
I just smoke over the bowl coating. After a few bowls the parafin-ish essence goes away.
Love both my bent house pipe and pub pipe both bought this year. If they had a bowl coating, never even noticed it when smoking them.
Mikecronis, yeah that intentional gap's design logic was it allowed for easier stem removal while smoking. Kind of like the looks of it. But, you're right to think the gap will not appreciably lessen in your life time. I also have 4 deluxe system pipes which employ that which I've had for some 15 or more years with no gap lessening.