Savinelli Filter Adapters

[robwoodall]

Reading another thread, someone posted something along the line of "If you're smoking a Savinelli without a filter, you really need to use the adapter."
Why? I own mostly Savinelli and Rossi pipes, and I used the free adapter once, and found that it made the pipe not want to pass a pipe cleaner. Otherwise, it tightened the draw, but not enough to be a problem. I found no advantages, and only the slight pipe cleaner disadvantage, so I've just been chucking them in a drawer.
What are the advantages of the adapter? Do you guys use them if you're not using a filter?

 

[pipesmokingtom]

Theoretically.... Not having the adapter skewes the pipes engineering and leaves a chamber inside the shank that messes up the draw. Theoretically.
I use the adapter in my Savinelli.

 

[papipeguy]

I have pipes where I use them and some where I don't. Not using the adapter gives me a very open draw.

 

[robwoodall]

I just finished a bowl of Engine #99 in my Savinelli 622 Bent Pot.
Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle...
I do like a very open draw, but maybe the additional space in the shank does leave a place for moisture to accumulate. I had been thinking of it as a very tiny reverse calabash! LOL
Keep sending advise, please, and I'll stick an adapter back in when I get home this evening.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I don't use them. You can adjust the draw with how tight you pack the tobacco.

 

[aldecaker]

I prefer the balsa filter in place (in fact, I now use them in my beloved Grabows), but I have tried my 673KS with the adapter. It works to tone down the draw, but it was nothing magical. I put it in the sock the pipe came in, and stuck to the balsa system. After having a Grabow with no filter leak moisture from the stem/shank junction, I now use filters in pipes that were intended to use them. (Except cobs. You could smoke a bowl of water in a cob and get a dry smoke out of it. I use no filters in cobs.)

 

[markus]

I ran out of the balsa wood filters for my Sav's, so I just cut down a Medico 6mm filter and used it. It worked pretty well, but I do intend to by some more of the balsa wood filters later on.

 

[velotrain]

I've seen posts of folks saying they just cut their own out of balsa strip stock - just decide what the largest square strip stock that will fit is and cut appropriate lengths. There's nothing magical about the official ones.

 

[aldecaker]

I buy the factory ones when they're on sale or to round out a "free shipping" order that's a couple bucks short. Otherwise, I make my own from craft store square stock. It is actually basswood, not balsa, but works just the same.

 

[mso489]

The adapter or not depends on how you like the draw. I find the adaptor gives me a little fuller taste, but that's just me. None of my pipes used with the adapter has any problem with passing a pipe cleaner. I also use the Savinelli adapters in my Dr. Grabows and they work nicely. If I found it worked better on a particular pipe to smoke without the adapter, I'd do it. It's just a little easy-breezy for my liking, but again, it's personal taste. As chase' says, you can pack the pipe tighter, but of course that changes as the tobacco burns down.

 

[velotrain]

> It is actually basswood, not balsa, but works just the same.
I wouldn't think so - basswood is much denser, while balsa is known for porosity.

Since the objective is to remove as much junk from the smoke as possible, balsa will be much more effective.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I don't use them. You can adjust the draw with how tight you pack the tobacco.

-chasingembers
Exactly. I don't mind a difference in draw as long as it's not constricted. Pipes all over the place, some very open, some on the tight side, most in the middle. Doesn't bother me that they are different. Packing and tamping along the way keeps it all right for my druthers.

 

[ray47]

I use the adaptor on all my Savinelli pipes except the Alligator Blue 311KS which won't pass a pipe cleaner with the adaptor in place. The 311KS smokes fine without the adapter. Except for a slightly restrictive draw, I don't really notice any difference in the smoke with or without the adaptor.

 

[markus]

I only use them to absorb moisture, keeps the gurgle at bay.

 

[aldecaker]

@velotrain- If there is a difference in absorption, I don't notice it at all. The first few times I bought the square stock, I was laboring under the impression that it was actually balsa. Lo and behold, one day while cutting a new batch to length, I noticed the little UPC sticker read "basswood" instead of "balsa". It easily dents with a thumbnail, so I thought it was balsa all along.

 

[jaq6q]

I use the adapters when not using the filters.

I once have heard somewhere that the absence of adapter could lead to the condensation and ultimately undesired moisture/liquid.

So I have been using adapters since then.

 

[prndl]

I don't use the adaptor or the filter.
Personally, I see no advantage to either.

 

[robwoodall]

I'm home, and smoking Haunted Bookshop in a Savinelli 413 quarter-bent Dublin Sitter (Dang, that's a long name!).
I put the adapter in and it's smoking fine. It's cool and dry, but it typically always is, while the 622 from earlier always tends to smoke wet.
Really not a fair test, using a different pipe and different tobacco, but it's a start.
For now, I'm going to tentatively say that the adapter is not making my smoke any better, but it's certainly not worse. The 413, by the way, passed the cleaner just fine, so that may be a problem only with certain pipes.
(The 622 will rarely pass a cleaner under the best of circumstances.)