poorly drilled...repair?

[sgtmorgan]

I'm going to assume this is a rhetorical question, but thought i should ask anyway. Is it possible to repair a poorly misdrilled pipe?
It's a full-bent (Rhodesian?) Santambrogio, and the draft is so poorly aligned that I can't even get a cleaner all the way through the shank to soak up the moisture at the bottom of the bowl.
It was my first pipe and have dealt with it for a couple years, thinking it was my smoking style that caused the excessive moisture :roll: One thing's for sure, it has taught me a thing or two about good habits: respect the flame, sip-don't drag, and keep it cool.
Has anyone heard of this repair or should I have given up on the pipe long ago?

 

[warren]

Have you tried a wee bend in the leading tip of the cleaner. It often works. I smoke bents only, some full. With some you have to remove the bit. Never had one that wouldn't pass a cleaner with a bit of fiddling. I'm sure they exist though.

 

[saintpeter]

^^^^What he said. All mine need fiddling as well, and the system pipes a bit of well chosen cussing with the bits off.

 

[J. Mayo]

I have to twist the pipe cleaner while moving in and out to find that perfect spot to run it all the way to the bottom of the bowl on more than one of my bent pipes.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Put a curve in the pipe cleaner, and slowly twist as described above. Think combination lock. Have never seen a full bent that easily passed a pipe cleaner.

 

[sgtmorgan]

Well, guys, I tried what you said and still couldn't get either tapered cleaners or standards through it. I have to take it apart first :| It's a shame. Despite it's flaws, it's my most comfortable smoker. I'll keep searching for a way to open up the shank where it meets the tenon.

 

[aldecaker]

If you're absolutely, positively dead set on opening up the shank, my method of doing so is to chuck the drill bit you will use into a T-handle and slowly enlarge by hand. For a T-handle I use a small tap wrench. Make sure you are following the airway hole and NOT the hole for the tenon- they are very, very rarely on the same axis.

 

[weezell]

I'll keep searching for a way to open up the shank where it meets the tenon.

If it's your most comfortable smoker, I would not touch it. Your alterations to it may change the smoking properties of it for the worst...

 

[Chasing Embers]

Your alterations to it may change the smoking properties of it for the worst...

+1000

 

[aldecaker]

I wouldn't do it either, but if you must...

 

[warren]

I have a full bent meer that requires taking the bit out to push a cleaner. Neither a problem, nor a hassle, nor an imposition, it just is what it is. If you had mentioned in your post that you could pass a cleaner if apart, I would have asked what the problem was. If you get a superior smoke, I say live with it.
And, before anyone chimes in, I've never had a problem separating a warm bit from a warm pipe, clearing and then reassembling while everything is still warm. Never!

 

[yaddy306]

I don't think it's a problem disassembling a warm pipe to clean it either.
If you just want to pass a cleaner to the bowl, try twisting the stem around 180 degrees so the cleaner has to follow a "C" shape instead of an "S" shape. Put a little bend in the end of the cleaner and feed it down to the bowl. This method works for all my bent pipes that won't pass a cleaner otherwise.

 

[sgtmorgan]

Well, I'll be damned. Yaddy, your recommendation works like a champ! Thank you! And thanks everyone for helping out :D

 

[mso489]

I've found more bent pipes don't pass pipe cleaners through than do. I just remove the stems and clean them a little more often than the others. I have always assumed that the wire in the pipe cleaner won't always make the turn, though in some bent pipes it does, and that's great. Often a little jiggling or bending of the leading end will put the pipe cleaner clear through to the bowl. Either way, it's no deal breaker and doesn't impede cleaning a pipe, just takes a little longer.