I own nearly 70 pipes by many makers. Very few have perfect drilling and it doesn't affect the smoking experience.
Seeking Advice: How Critical is Straight & Centered Drilling?
- Thread starter Singlebevel
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If you think about it, the bowl is perfectly round, which side of the bowl the hole emerges from in the bowl makes zero difference, as in not even slightly more than nothing, absolute zero.
Whoever drilled this pipe actually did an exemplary job hitting as near to the bottom of the bowl as you can get.
When the draft hole comes out halfway up the wall of the bowl, that annoys me.
Whoever drilled this pipe actually did an exemplary job hitting as near to the bottom of the bowl as you can get.
When the draft hole comes out halfway up the wall of the bowl, that annoys me.
While I'm sure every Pipemaker has their own standards of what qualifies as a good smoking pipe, from what I can tell the primary characteristic that changes the experience of smoking a pipe is the size and polish of the air channel through the shank and stem.
First, I prefer a wide air channel (which is more challenging to drill out to the button).
Secondly, a well polished air channel allows air to flow freely, the difference between polished and unpolished actually feels the same as an enlarged bore diameter.
A bit left or right is of no matter. Your hole does appear to be a bit low though and my experience with same would have me return it.
Half buried holes will collect dottle as you smoke the bowl down and these can't be cleared with a cleaner as the wire hits the end wall of the hole. Half buried holes also equal more restrictive airflow and added heat to the smoke.
I have an Il Ceppo that left their shop with a half buried hole and it taught me the above. I custom ground a spade bit and reamed the bowl down where it needed to be and the issues were solved.
Half buried holes will collect dottle as you smoke the bowl down and these can't be cleared with a cleaner as the wire hits the end wall of the hole. Half buried holes also equal more restrictive airflow and added heat to the smoke.
I have an Il Ceppo that left their shop with a half buried hole and it taught me the above. I custom ground a spade bit and reamed the bowl down where it needed to be and the issues were solved.
I've heard about these. this is actually a more difficult and by some, sought after drilling. the concept being a venturi effect which improves the burn, providing a more even, drier, and complete 'down to white ash' smoke. i'd keep it.
OK. It's like this. If your girlfriend chew on the left side or right side make a difference?
If you tilt the stummel ever so slightly to the right, that little beam of light should be more centered at the bottom of the bowl. I'd keep it 
I appreciate everyone’s thoughts.
One guy made this in his shop. With his hands. I’m not bothered by the fact that it’s not perfectly drilled - I just want it to do its job well.
Having slept on it, I’m going to smoke it. The maker stamped his name on his pipe and I’ll quit second guessing his work.
One guy made this in his shop. With his hands. I’m not bothered by the fact that it’s not perfectly drilled - I just want it to do its job well.
Having slept on it, I’m going to smoke it. The maker stamped his name on his pipe and I’ll quit second guessing his work.
I think it was worth asking, I learn a lot from these kinds of threads. Like what UpArrow said. I'm sure there's a goldilocks zone for where the bore hits the bowl. I was under the impression that closer to bottom the better but he gave me some food for thought. Especially since I tend to always be planning a build in the back of my mind when I'm asking/reading. Good stuff. The jokes are fun too, keeps us honest.
Congratulations. I hope you enjoy the pipe. We didn’t get to see the whole pipe, but I hope it’s a beauty.
That’s not totally accurate. The further off 90 degrees from the button to bowl, you’ll start creating a sharp corner on one side of the draft hole at the entrance. I see no concern with this pipe here but a notable emergence off center to either side could start to present whistling or moisture buildup at that sharper corner.
That's what I was thinking. I have a way of not getting the answers I'm seeking from google, but this makes me wonder if there's some fluid dynamics involved in pipe smoking. And I always find myself thinking about wood stoves when trying to understand this stuff.
This pipe delivered an excellent first smoke. I couldn’t pick out a problem, and I tried! I got a very nice even burn with no isolated hot spots and no excessive moisture or blockage. Feels great in hand and comfortable to clench.
In general as you know the straighter the hole the less drag but this one looks pretty good. I don’t think the smoke will mind on your pipe.
My two best smoking pipes have draft holes that are half buried. They smoke like magic. As far as I can tell they don’t smoke any hotter than any of my other pipes. I’m not going to say that they smoke as well as they do because of the drilling, but it sure doesn’t seem to be hurting in any way.
The briar surrounding the entrance to the draft hole is just as thin if the hole emerges at dead center in the bottom.
I still say the hole being off center to the left or right makes no difference other than it means the hole cannot be at the very bottom of the bowl.
The issue isn’t briar thickness. It would be the sharpening of the inside corner of where it emerges and the higher potential of that sharp corner causing some form of undesirable impact compared to a center, perpendicular entrance.
Perpendicular and off center as well as center origin but angled approach both cause sharp inner corners.
The only way to avoid that corner on the vertical axis is for the draft hole to emerge from the flat side of the bowl wall, or cant the bowl forward like an extreme Cutty shape, or use fancy drilling techniques (the Brebbia 1997 calabash uses curved drilling and the drill emerges from the bottom of the bowl pointing up).
Speaking of "calabash" I still dramatically favor the reverse calabash design because it eliminates the need to keep your stem and shank air channel in line, and any air turbulence from the shank will be dissipated in the expansion chamber.