Why don't manufacturers make stems out of a softer material like silicone? It's heat resistant, softer to the bite but rigid enough to hold shape and durable.
Stem Material
- Thread starter JMcQ
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I don't know. Don't they make fake boobies out of those things?
That is a great question as I smoke only vulcanite stems as the older I got the less I can smoke acrylic. You would think after 100 plus years they would have created a perfect material that pleases everyone.
I think we should give this project to Chambers, he knows his shit.
I think we should give this project to Chambers, he knows his shit.
My favorite is still vulcanite.?
I prefer the feel of vulcanite , but the maintenance free characteristics of lucite.
Wipe oil on them after each smoke and they don't oxidize. I've yet to have a newly bought stem turn, nor have estates that I've cleaned. My acrylic stemmed pipes rarely get used, and one of my 904s likely never will because of it.
I love the look of acrylic. The bright colors that are available really make some pipes “pop,” aesthetically. I can do acrylic if I’m sitting down just having a pipe and a cup of coffee or something, but if I need my hands free, I much prefer vulcanite for clenching. Since most of my smokes are while I’m working with my hands in the shop, my pipes mostly sport vulcanite.
I am still waiting to see a vulcanite stem that won't oxidize for me (including Dunhill, Ashtons, Savs, etc.) I polish them back to smooth hard black, and I use obsidian oil every time, all the time. Not stored in the sun. And every one starts to oxidize after 20-30 smokes. After a few years it will be green and gross even after oiling. I am a clencher, and maybe I have acid mouth. I like the feel of vulcanite much better, but vulcanite stem maintenance is a PITA. I loathe the day when acrylic stems start to hurt my teeth.
My guess: Lack of imagination, and lack of exploiting the newer plastic alternatives to the hard-rubber Vulcanite....the "traditional" stem material.
I doubt I could be convinced that if you stuck an acrylic or Vulcanite stem in the mouth of some blindfolded guy, he'd be able to tell the difference...and if he did, the difference would be so slight, that it wouldn't matter. If Vulcanite was suddenly banned....would you stop smoking a pipe if it HAD to be made using acrylics for stem material? Would your smoking experience be so ruined that you'd have to give up the pipe? Plastics might not be as easy to clench....but it could be formulated or coated to solve that problem by making a little softer.
Vulcanite sucks, if considered objectively. It oxidizes, it's brittle and prone to breaking/snapping if flexed, it's easily abraded, scratched, chipped, dented, and can't be glued for major repairs. Plastics can do everything Vulcanite can do, and do it better, and with more options. Plastics can be formulated for strength, flexibility, color choices, it's bendable, it can be drilled, milled, and turned, and can be glued, fused, bonded. Vulcanite continues to used because its cheap, easily molded, and can be worked with simple tools and abrasives. Ditto for plastics. I can think of few things other than pocket combs, buttons, etc, that are made using Vulcanite besides pipe stems. And those mentioned trivial items can be made from plastics. Vulcanite...is a product from the past. For more than a century, Vulcanite fit the bill for the few early pipe-makers and factory-made pipes. Millions of guys got used to the way it feels in the mouth and against the teeth, when clenched, so for some it matters.
Millions of Vulcanite pipe-stems are still being made and the older stems are still around....but you have to treat them carefully, of they quickly cause grief to the pipe owner. Vulcanite has to be maintained to keep it looking in tip-top shape. It's a bit of a PITA. Not so with plastics, Lucite/acrylics...excluding abuse.
I'm just about ready to order a few custom-made pipes. I will specify acrylics/Delrin to be used for the stem material because... I have a choice. Plastic holds dimensions and almost never changes. I have a custom-made pipe that's close to 40 years old. It was made using a hand-cast acrylic stem. That pipe-stem is in the same pristine condition as it was on the day it was manufactured and got its final buffing and polishing by the pipe-maker. If it was made from black, old-fashioned Vulcanite...could/would I be able to say the same things? BTW, the pipe, which is still my favorite, is used very, very, often...yet the stem (and pipe) still looks brand new. The original acrylic stem, never gave me the slightest problem. If not maintained...what would 40 year old Vulcanite look like?
I realize that pipe-smokers like options. So do choose the stem materials according to your own specific uses and preferences.
Plastics work for me.
I doubt I could be convinced that if you stuck an acrylic or Vulcanite stem in the mouth of some blindfolded guy, he'd be able to tell the difference...and if he did, the difference would be so slight, that it wouldn't matter. If Vulcanite was suddenly banned....would you stop smoking a pipe if it HAD to be made using acrylics for stem material? Would your smoking experience be so ruined that you'd have to give up the pipe? Plastics might not be as easy to clench....but it could be formulated or coated to solve that problem by making a little softer.
Vulcanite sucks, if considered objectively. It oxidizes, it's brittle and prone to breaking/snapping if flexed, it's easily abraded, scratched, chipped, dented, and can't be glued for major repairs. Plastics can do everything Vulcanite can do, and do it better, and with more options. Plastics can be formulated for strength, flexibility, color choices, it's bendable, it can be drilled, milled, and turned, and can be glued, fused, bonded. Vulcanite continues to used because its cheap, easily molded, and can be worked with simple tools and abrasives. Ditto for plastics. I can think of few things other than pocket combs, buttons, etc, that are made using Vulcanite besides pipe stems. And those mentioned trivial items can be made from plastics. Vulcanite...is a product from the past. For more than a century, Vulcanite fit the bill for the few early pipe-makers and factory-made pipes. Millions of guys got used to the way it feels in the mouth and against the teeth, when clenched, so for some it matters.
Millions of Vulcanite pipe-stems are still being made and the older stems are still around....but you have to treat them carefully, of they quickly cause grief to the pipe owner. Vulcanite has to be maintained to keep it looking in tip-top shape. It's a bit of a PITA. Not so with plastics, Lucite/acrylics...excluding abuse.
I'm just about ready to order a few custom-made pipes. I will specify acrylics/Delrin to be used for the stem material because... I have a choice. Plastic holds dimensions and almost never changes. I have a custom-made pipe that's close to 40 years old. It was made using a hand-cast acrylic stem. That pipe-stem is in the same pristine condition as it was on the day it was manufactured and got its final buffing and polishing by the pipe-maker. If it was made from black, old-fashioned Vulcanite...could/would I be able to say the same things? BTW, the pipe, which is still my favorite, is used very, very, often...yet the stem (and pipe) still looks brand new. The original acrylic stem, never gave me the slightest problem. If not maintained...what would 40 year old Vulcanite look like?
I realize that pipe-smokers like options. So do choose the stem materials according to your own specific uses and preferences.
Plastics work for me.
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If you say so.
Thirty years, nothing but oil.
50+ years and unsmoked before I got it.
If not cleaned, what would acrylic look like? Running a pipe cleaner, and wiping a stem with oil sounds like work to you?
As I think about the original post, I recall that lots of materials have been tried for stems -- horn, various plastics other than acrylic, briar and other woods, among others. I think a variety of newer materials haven't been tried because the pipe market has become smaller, and the customer base smaller and older, so pipe makers are hanging on to the products they know and not trying to innovate much for fear of getting stuck with unsold inventory. As it were, no one wants to be left holding the Brylon of the 21st Century.
Maybe 3 or 4 of my 85 pipes don't have vulcanite stems. I clench almost all the time and acrylic just doesn't work for me. There has to be a middle ground and dammit Chambers this has fallen on you to fix. I am giving you 4 weeks to come up with an alternative. Just think about how rich you will get. My 20% management fee will of course be in effect.
Now stop posting and get working.
Now stop posting and get working.
Only with pipes over a certain weight (different for different people) is acrylic a problem. For me, under 1.6 ounces, acrylic is fine. Vulcanite gets a little oxidized over the years at the bit, but I use prickly pipe cleaners, my finger nail, abrasive cloths, and such to keep them appetizing.
Horn is a nice stem material too. I don't detest acrylic the way some smokers do, but given a choice, I'll always take ebonite or horn.
Sometimes I nearly drop acrylic stemmed pipes when I'm clenching..
they are hard to clench tight enough to not drop but loose enough you aren't chewing the shit out of the stem.
so I prefer vulcanite but some pipes just can't be had with a rubber stem.
they are hard to clench tight enough to not drop but loose enough you aren't chewing the shit out of the stem.
so I prefer vulcanite but some pipes just can't be had with a rubber stem.