Who makes straight, short churchwardens without a bend that you can cletch? I noticed Robert Downey Jr smoking one on a couple of occasions in his Sherlock Holmes films, and they looked cool.
Short Churchwardens
- Thread starter sparrowhawk
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Clenching a short churchwarden is awkward I find. What length are you thinking? Some makes sell them with 2 stems. Here’s the pipe locater from SPC filtered by length to 7-9”
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The climatic scene has Holmes with a short church that he tricks Moriarty into lighting, and is clenching one as a goes down a college walkway to visit Moriarty in the second Holmes film. Great fun, bye.
Big Ben makes a Lectura churchwarden that has no bend and is somewhat shorter than a full length 'warden. If it were really short, it wouldn't be a 'warden. EWA, a good French pipe sold by Iwan Ries, and quite low priced, makes some really short, small churchwardens, 7" I think, but they are bent, but they might fill the bill, just not straight. With the EWA pipes, I'd suggest using flake/coin/plug/rope cuts to lengthen the smokes. I think they are about Group 2. They seem nicely crafted to me.
Churchwardens certainly are lookers, but I found them awkward as hell to smoke.
Yep, the Savinelli Bing's Favourites are the closest to a 'stubby' churchwarden you could find. Ditto the Clark's Favourites, but the latter seem to be all bent ones.
If you're into cobs, you could also transform a Morgan or Eaton into an impromptu Canadian by switching the short bit they come with with a standard size bit. That's what I did:
Both cobs, but mostly the Eaton, are roughly half the length of the churchwarden on the left.
If you're into cobs, you could also transform a Morgan or Eaton into an impromptu Canadian by switching the short bit they come with with a standard size bit. That's what I did:
Both cobs, but mostly the Eaton, are roughly half the length of the churchwarden on the left.
I was thinking Bing as well. How about the Merchant Service re-creations? Those are ~7.5" I believe, and elegant looking, IMO.
As cool as they are, short(ish)-stemmed cw's are almost impossible to find.
I imagine it's the, "If a little is good a lot must be better" mindset, so anyone who makes a cw wants it to be as long as possible. Why else bother, right?
Wrong.
Trim them to a manageable length and they get smoked a LOT more.
.
I imagine it's the, "If a little is good a lot must be better" mindset, so anyone who makes a cw wants it to be as long as possible. Why else bother, right?
Wrong.
Trim them to a manageable length and they get smoked a LOT more.
.
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Forget modern pipes, you can find a lot of older 6+ inch stem pipes that are light as a feather if you go older USA make "regular guy" pipes. For example I found a "Mcguffy's Reader" pipe (an old teacher's reference there) for next to nothing and while it's not the most beautiful, it smokes alright but is so light it feels more like a cob in weight.
I stick a reed stem in my cobs and that's what I'm smoking at least 50% of the time. It's what I'm smoking in my avatar. Yes, a medium length is more comfortable and more commonly reached for.
The closest I got to the pipe Downey smoked in the Holmes movies is a Mitchell Thomas feather weight from WV Smokeshop. It's not quite a mini churchwarden but it's close. It's a great smoking pipe also.
I find the BriarWorks belge has a churchwarden-esque profile with no bend, while still being of manageable and clenchable length. Here’s a picture of mine:
I have a Savinelli "Gandalf"; it's 8 inches long. Savinelli got in trouble for using the name without permission so they rebranded the pipe as the "Qandale". Go to Smokingpipes.com and search Qandale; they have several styles to choose from. It's a lite pipe at only 1.8 oz, so other than length it probably wouldn't be a bad clencher. 
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If the complaint you have with churchwardens is their unwieldy length, you just have to remember, they are best smoked seated. Needless to say, they are not good for clenching, nor for most peoples' purposes, not very portable. Seated reading a book, resting your elbow on the arm of a chair, you can smoke in the most relaxed lazy way imaginable, which can be good.