Show Us Your Falcons!

[Skippy Piper]

News to me.
View attachment 374664

I mean, technically you CAN remove the mouthpiece from the stem, they're just not meant to be removed.

 

[PaulRVA]

News to me.
View attachment 374664

Cool, apparently mine are pretty tight. Any ideas on getting someone to cut an aftermarket stem for it ?
The White stems are spectacular btw.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Cool, apparently mine are pretty tight. Any ideas on getting someone to cut an aftermarket stem for it ?
The White stems are spectacular btw.

Shouldn't be too big a chore for most of the artisans out there.

 

[FalconForever]

I’ve been interested in a Falcon or Kirsten pipe for some time now. After reading through this thread, my interest in buying one is renewed.

To those who have extensive experience with Falcon pipes, I have a few questions.

The pipe body is made out of aluminum. Is the “tube” or airway the smoke travels through aluminum or a “tube” made out of a different metal- say stainless steel?
If aluminum, are there any signs of the chemistry of pipe smoke and residues eroding or degrading the metal? Or in other words, corrosion that breaks down the metal.

Will the pipe hold up to years of use without needing to be replaced?

Thanks

As others have said, the whole pipe stem is aluminium including the tube even the coloured ones, which are either anodised or painted. Falcons are, abuse excepted, nigh on indestructible! I've collected some very old, very abused and utterly filthy examples and they have all, by and large, cleaned up to smokable and display condition.

To be clear, I am no pipe restorer or artisan, far from it! The stems, even filthy ones, are easily cleaned with rubbing alcohol, pipe cleaners and elbow grease. A metal polish on the outside brings them back to new.

As others have said, the mouthpiece is moulded to the stem and usually unremovable. I guess you can get them off but in untrained hands there likely a risk of breakage.

In terms of longevity, forever really unless abused. I regularly smoke pipe from the early 70s and I have older ones I could light up today. Brand new, they are really not that expensive to start with. You can spend more in bowls, especially hand made ones. But stems are cheap so even if you did managed to somehow ruin one, it's nothing to cry over.

My final advice, absolutely biased and unbalanced, is: Get One!

 

[FalconForever]

News to me.
View attachment 374664

That's interesting. Not sure that's by design.... Can you put a picture up of the ends of the fittings please just for reference, I'd be interested and grateful.

 

[FalconForever]

I don't use them. I just wipe out the humidome after each smoke.

Of course they are an optional thing. I've smoked with and without and I personally find they do keep an already dry smoke even drier. Also I tend to use my tobacco straight out the pouch or tin without drying, so can sometimes be a little wet and the dry ring helps here. But each to their own on this one, same as filters in other pipes.

 

[Chasing Embers]

That's interesting. Not sure that's by design.... Can you put a picture up of the ends of the fittings please just for reference, I'd be interested and grateful.

 

[FalconForever]

View attachment 374894

Many thanks. Interesting to see how it's assembled.

 

[jaingorenard]

The newer stems often pull off relatively easily (though I don't think this is by design). The older ones are much harder to separate.