According to many members here water isn't the bane of pipes we've been told it is. And the thing is even if there is a reason to avoid pipes and water they've clearly demonstrated that the situation is no where near as dire as we've been presented with. I have to wonder when this became a thing with pipes and water. Some possibilities to my mind would be.I always heard it was a bad idea to introduce water into the shank, because it could swell the briar and make the tenon not fit properly, while alcohol evaporates before it can do any damage. Made sense to me, but am I wrong?
Started with higher demand for briar meaning some pipes were made with lower quality root and that briar would be more damaged by water (not sure how that works but, this is a brain storm).
Maybe it's a holdover to when Meers where the main type of pipe people smoked. Those and water do not mix.
Could go back to the war when alternatives to briar had to be found including things like mountain laurel which supposedly smokes like briar but doesn't have interesting grain. Mayb water will mess up one of those pipes.