Peterson Smokes Bad No Matter What. How To Fix It?

[cersono]

I have only about 40 pipes, 12 of them Petersons. I've tossed or gave out 7 pipes of lower brands. I'd never toss a Pete.
I think, it's a question of honour ability to proudly fix your stuff yourself, wherever you are. Well, you may toss this and that and buy some expendables instead. That's how they do it NOW. Not how we have used to do it (I'm about the age pictured on your avatar, so not a young guy).
If I were at an hour-delivery distance from my B&M store, I'd still try to salvage my Pete.
It's not just about the pipe. It's also about the Ability. If you know what I mean ©

 

[ThermionicScott]

Any chance that there is a leak at the stem joint that's letting in air?

 

[cersono]

Not, for sure. The draw way is perfectly tight.
Nice suggestion though, thanks!

 

[TheIronMonkey]

Cleaning the inside of the shank is often overlooked. Rancid oils could be caked in the airway there and on the flat face where the tenon of the stem meets the wood. You may need to gently scrape the inside out with a small tool with an edge that isn't too sharp. Pipe cleaners and alcohol will take forever to get the gunk out when it's caked up. It needs scraping first. Good luck!

 

[cigrmaster]

Before you relegate the pipe to the depths of hell try the moist coffee ground trick. Make a pot of coffee and when the grinds are cooled stuff them in the bowl and in the shank real good and then let it sit for a couple of days like that. Wash them out good. let it dry a few days and give it a shot.

 

[sablebrush52]

How well have you cleaned out the mortise? A lot of pipe flavor related evil lurks in the mortise. Clean = it's just wood, no residue. None. Nada Zero.

Scrub the hell out of it, and I would probably do the hot alcohol/retort on the pipe to leech out tars and rancid oils that have seeped into the wood. The S/A treatment works OK, but may need several applications. S/A is not the equivalent of the retort.

And, yes, you can try widening the draft, just don't forget to carry that through to opening up the stem as well. I doubt that it would anything much to fix a dead pipe, but why not try?

None of this guarantees that the pipe will smoke any better if it was fashioned from a skunky piece of briar in the first place. If the briar was "off" when the pipe was made, there's no cure except consignment to a roaring fire.

 

[gervais]

I might be in the minority here, but in my experience, every hunk of briar I own with 2 drilled holes that meet somewhere.....all smoke and taste the damn same

 

[Chasing Embers]

I've met several opinions that that could be because of a too large chamber and too narrow borehole.

Does drinking from a large glass with a narrow straw change the flavor of a drink?

 

[Chasing Embers]

I might be in the minority here, but in my experience, every hunk of briar I own with 2 drilled holes that meet somewhere.....all smoke and taste the damn same

Unless they need a cleaning, I'm in the same boat.

 

[sablebrush52]

I might be in the minority here, but in my experience, every hunk of briar I own with 2 drilled holes that meet somewhere.....all smoke and taste the damn same

Same for me about 95%. There are 5% in my collection that offer up more pronounced, detailed flavors of certain blends and I reserve them for when I'm smoking one of those blends that does extra well with that pipe. Also, none of my pipes were made with sour briar.

 

[Hillcrest]

Theoretically, what do you think, why a clean pipe might give bland flavours?
I've met several opinions that that could be because of a too large chamber and too narrow borehole.
I don't know if that's true.

It shouldn't be too large a chamber. Measure it. The 80s generally runs about 20-21mm x 32-33mm ... My 999 is 17mmx35mm. The question can't be answered without further info ... what tobacco do you smoke ? How do you smoke ? Do you slow sip or do you smoke fast and hot ? That type Peterson generally has a decent draft hole that narrows as you go up the stem (3mm to 1mm) to cool the smoke down (my opinion only). It took me years to learn to smoke mine properly as I used to smoke hot and fast and I hated that pipe. Now its one of my favorites because I pack looser, smoke slower and sip the tobacco. I now appreciate how its built as well. Is it a fishtail or P-lip stem ? Maybe its just not your type of pipe right now. What shapes do you generally smoke ? Maybe the wrong tobacco for that type of pipe. You need to experiment a bit.

Also --- It might not be the pipe. Maybe your taste buds are changing or you've temporarily lost your sense of taste and smell due to illness ??? There's new stuff going around according to the ... news !!

 

[kcghost]

@Chasing Embers is right. Throw it away.

 

[cersono]

every hunk of briar I own with 2 drilled holes that meet somewhere.....all smoke and taste the damn same

Same opinion here.
With the only exception discussed in this thread.
And I am not a fussy "pipester".

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Does drinking from a large glass with a narrow straw change the flavor of a drink?

Same opinion here.
With the only exception discussed in this thread.
And I am not a fussy "pipester".

This always comes up. Just because you can't taste the difference doesn't mean that someone else cant. A thick cigarette tastes different from a thin one. The reason cigars come in ring grain sizes is because some cigars taste better as lanceros than churchills, and vica versa. If there was no differences between sizes and tastes, they would just all be the same.

Now, the differences between a .75 and a .8 is probably not going to register on your palate. But a .5 and a .95 will definitely register, if your tastes are tuned and mindful.

However, I will concede that if your tastes are just not tuned in, sure... you probably don't taste a difference, but some of us love having varieties of sizes to explore different tastes.

 

[JOHN72]

It seems that the strongest hypothesis is a good scraping of the wood and a very thorough cleaning. Folks are also betting that it could be that dross that has accumulated over the decades that gives you a stale and hellishly horrible and boring aroma. My thought is that, if you get that professional cleaning, that pipe should give you a good aroma. Depends on how affection you are of that museum piece, I wish you luck.

 

[mingc]

I'd remove all cake down to bare wood, rinse the stummel with hot water, and scrub the chamber wall with a tooth brush and the airway with a shank brush. And then an alcohol clean as well.

 

[cersono]

Yep. That looks like the best solution: giving the pipe another thorough clean, then Salt & Alcohol (or Spirit Retort) treatment and then seeing if the problem persists. If it does, only then the Drill comes in.
Thanks to everyone who tried to be helpful!

 

[ThermionicScott]

Yep. That looks like the best solution: giving the pipe another thorough clean, then Salt & Alcohol (or Spirit Retort) treatment and then seeing if the problem persists. If it does, only then the Drill comes in.
Thanks to everyone who tried to be helpful!

Before powering up the drill, try just twisting a drill bit through the opening with your fingertips. I can pass a 1/8" drill bit through my Peterson 80s that way.

 

[anotherbob]

I assume you have other pipes and they smoke decently. Frankly sometimes a pipe has nothing clearly wrong with it but it just doesn't work out. Kind of like girlfriends. Sometimes it's obvious why it doesn't work out, other times... there just ain't the magic happening. Also make sure the stem is good... And not overly tarnished. I know that sounds weird but I've found that discolored stems can mute flavors for some reason.

 

[canucklehead]

I have a Peterson 80s that was a terrible smoker until I removed the bowl coating, funneled the end of the tenon (the draft hole was very uneven like it was burnt in with a hot coat hanger wire), removed the dip stain from the chamber and mortice, and smoked dry plain tobacco blends in it for a couple years. Now it smokes great


Sometimes a freshly cleaned pipe will mute the flavours significantly in my experience. Personally, after making sure it really is fully clean, I would try smoking 30-50 bowls of something like D&R Two Timer in it to see if it improves.