Pipe Tamper Preference Poll

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates

Watch for Updates Twice a Week

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

What type tamper would you buy? (You can choose more than one answer.)


  • Total voters
    38
  • Poll closed .
Status
Not open for further replies.

tavol

Starting to Get Obsessed
Mar 23, 2018
175
172
I use a Czech tool, a pipe nail or the pipe tamp built into the base of my lighter so I'd guess metal is my choice.

TBH a tamper isn't something I get overly excited about
 
  • Like
Reactions: saintpeter

tobefrank

Lifer
Jun 22, 2015
1,367
5,005
Australia
I like the looks and the idea of a wooden one, briar or otherwise. Also like the idea of metal ones, but they often are quite expensive for what they do. Kind of like a luxury product solving a simple problem.
 
  • Like
Reactions: saintpeter

tradition

Starting to Get Obsessed
Mar 27, 2018
177
381
Connecticut, USA
i use the Czech Tool. Around $2 at most places.

001-545-0006.jpg


Pipe Tools & Supplies Czech Pipe Tool | Buy Pipe Tools & Supplies Pipe Accessories at Smokingpipes - https://www.smokingpipes.com/accessories/pipe-supplies/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=136
 

blackpowderpiper

Part of the Furniture Now
Dec 19, 2018
810
3,787
Middle Tennessee
I use a lot of different tampers. Lots of times it is simply a golf tee. I also make a lot of tampers using a wooden dowel and empty handgun shell casings. Cheap and easy and can you have plenty of them for your use. I am considering making a few out of deer antler, maybe putting a little piece of brass on the end? We'll see.
 

anantaandroscoggin

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 9, 2017
647
1,008
70
Greene, Maine, USA
Over three springs, I have gotten from Mardens (a Maine chain of surplus/salvage stores) a 100 count bag of 3", 3.5" and most recently 4" golf tees for about a buck each time. I have a few pipes with deeper chambers, and the extra length of the 4" leaves me something sticking out of the bowl to hold on to when using them.

I am using the shorter ones to outfit pipe-starter-kits for gifting to people who are interested in taking up the pipe. Given how many there are left in the two bags of shorter ones, that should last me this, and the next two lifetimes. Probably at the very least!

I do have a number of metal tampers, including pipe nails, plated horseshoe nails, Czech tools, and one 1920s era pre-Czech-tool design that was included with an order for clay pipes that I got from Germany last year. The problem with these being, they manage to dig their own escape routes out of one's pocket all too quickly. I made the mistake of carrying a Czech tool in my pants pocket one summer only to find that the pivot had become a ball of rust from all the summer sweating.

I've promised myself that if I make myself any pipe racks, they're likely to get a hole made specifically for standing a tamper up in.
 

shanez

Lifer
Jul 10, 2018
5,188
24,080
49
Las Vegas
Human bone is really the only choice. I already have plenty of others and the question is what "would" I buy, therefore the correct answer is what I don't already have.

Maybe I'll stop into a store I know of and see if they still have that human hand (bones only) for sale. Let's see, if a hand sells for $550, how many bones would work as tampers from it and how much could I charge per custom made tamper?
 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
I usually grab a pipe nail which rather than a dull utilitarian object I see has a brilliant piece of industrial design simplifying form and function. I do enjoy a handsomely made willow tamper with a fireproof tamping end, and also own Czech tools, a stainless steel folding tool, and am always flirting with the colorful plastic tampers from Savinelli. I often say, only partly in jest, that you cannot lose a pipe nail; they will follow you home and hide in your cuff if necessary. They cost nothing, so that is the reason they are always there.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.