Now I am confused. When you say you always turn the stem clockwise, do you mean you always turn it clockwise whether you are putting the stem on or taking it off? Can you take a stem off by turning it clockwise?
Stem Removal
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For some reason my stem/tenon fit has become tighter the more that I smoke my pipes, and I do clean them regularly. I also generally remove them when they are cool. I live in the northeast and right now humidity is not an issue.
Someone had suggested putting on hard soap on the tenon and that does work with the soap acting as lubrication, although I've found that it doesn't last very long. It has to be reapplied periodically. According to that person, this is an old French pipemakers trick.
Allan
Someone had suggested putting on hard soap on the tenon and that does work with the soap acting as lubrication, although I've found that it doesn't last very long. It has to be reapplied periodically. According to that person, this is an old French pipemakers trick.
Allan
Yes I am, Mike
I have a Peterson Saint Patrick's Day 2013 in the mail, which should be arriving tomorrow. It's already in Fort Worth, and hopefully will be here before I leave for work tomorrow. Luckily I don't go in until 5pm. It's a short day. Anyway I thought the pipe smoking leprechaun was fitting.
lol that is a good deal. However, I believe I will look at the breaking in process as a bit of a ritual so to speak, and something to make the pipe truly my own and something to cherish. But I will be making a tradition of ordering a St. Patty's Day Peterson every year though. I may do the same with the Christmas pipes as well. Got a long wait till Christmas though. I may order a 2012 christmas just to get a head start lol.
I don't remove the stems from my pipes unless I absolutely have to. If your pipe passes a pipe cleaner and is well made, you shouldn't have to. Then again, I don't clean my pipes with alcohol unless they REALLY need it either. I like a well seasoned pipe and, IMHO, cleaning them with alcohol removes a lot of the stuff that makes a pipe taste so good and smoke so well. My pipes are lucky to get cleaned with alcohol once every year or two depending on how often I smoke them. And the only reason I would do that is to keep the airway open. I can see a reason to clean stems more often because there's no benefit not to but I find a dry pipe cleaner does a sufficient job after each smoke.
That's just me. What can I say? I like my pipes like I like my women. :lol:
That's just me. What can I say? I like my pipes like I like my women. :lol:
For those of you who don't remove the stem very often, what about the gunk and tobacco bits that inevitably build up around a chamfered (funneled) tenon? Sometimes I leave the stem for a few smokes before removing for cleaning, but it seems to really screw up the airflow to have bits of tobacco collecting around the end of the tenon.
pitchfork, I don't get that much gunk build up that a pipe cleaner can't remove. I don't know, it hasn't been an issue for me. What size airway do you prefer? I can see more tobacco making it into a larger diameter airway.
Tendons do not extend all the way up to shoulder in shank, heavies ,tar, condense in small chamber and if not cleaned turn into sticky glue like material, generally that is why tendons fail, a good clean tendon and tendon chamber generally does not fail, the people that say I only pass a cleaner and I do not remove the stem I probably buy their pipes on E-Bay and then it's oh shit Q-Tip city and grunge retorts, leaving me to wonder. How Do They Taste What They Are Smokeing? No Way Hosa. The old cajun
With all due respect, a well made pipe will only have a fraction of a mm gap between the tenon and mortise floor to accommodate for swelling. That's not a big enough gap to allow the build-up you're referring to. That's why I stipulated "a well made pipe." I've restored a good deal of the ebay pipes you refer to and I can assure you that none of my pipes look remotely like that. In fact, if you inspected my pipes, I'm guessing you wouldn't be able to tell that I don't clean them regularly with alcohol. If you're looking to only taste the tobacco then meerschaum, clay, or an obsessively cleaned briar is the way to go. If you like what a well seasoned pipe adds to the tobacco flavors then my opinion is to not remove all the seasoning from your briars. Disclaimer: This is my opinion only and it works for me. YMMV.
Doing what works for you is half the fun of our hobby. I just thought I'd add some food for thought.
Doing what works for you is half the fun of our hobby. I just thought I'd add some food for thought.
Wayne with all due respect, did your parents say wash your ass young man or it will stink? Nuff said The old cajun pS this was said in jest but you get the picture, in a real world not all pipes are made perfect, most of us have bought pipes on the Bay and they will tell you that crap does not taste good, Tobbaco most of the times has sutle flavors and pipes need to be clean to detect the flavors, you can only get that with a clean pipe, now that being said as a working man I"ve had to eat shit sometimes , there is an old Cajun saying. You can make me eat Shit just don"t tell me it's Butter. The old cajun :laughat:
Cajun, I hear you and no offense taken. (I'm very hard to offend and enjoy the humor in our banter.) Like I said, to each his own. I'm too nice a guy to make anyone eat shit if they don't want to anyway. Now, if you want to eat shit I suppose I can steer you in the right direction. :lol:
Well, this conversation has taken an interesting turn. :lol:
Wayne, the airway in the pipes I'm thinking of are about 3.5mm, but def. less than 4mm. It's not so much bits of leaf that get built up, but ash and soot that combines with the moisture that builds up around the end of the tenon. Sometimes it's just a thin layer, but it screws up what was an otherwise smooth and polished chamfer. And these are pipes that smoke with no gurgle. Oddly, the tenon-mortise gap is about 1-2mm on one of these pipes and about 6-7mm on the other (an Upshall). Then, too, I have a Wiley pipe with a great tenon-mortise fit (c. 1mm), but it gurgles half the time (opening up the airway in the stummel helped quite a bit, though -- it used to gurgle EVERY time).
Wayne, the airway in the pipes I'm thinking of are about 3.5mm, but def. less than 4mm. It's not so much bits of leaf that get built up, but ash and soot that combines with the moisture that builds up around the end of the tenon. Sometimes it's just a thin layer, but it screws up what was an otherwise smooth and polished chamfer. And these are pipes that smoke with no gurgle. Oddly, the tenon-mortise gap is about 1-2mm on one of these pipes and about 6-7mm on the other (an Upshall). Then, too, I have a Wiley pipe with a great tenon-mortise fit (c. 1mm), but it gurgles half the time (opening up the airway in the stummel helped quite a bit, though -- it used to gurgle EVERY time).
Whoa there, rothnh. I don't restore and sell pipes at all. No need to take me out back and rough me up because I don't do things the way you do. :lol:
pitchfork, at the end of each smoke, I do give a quick, forceful blow through my pipes to clear the airway after dumping out ash. I wonder if that might not be why I don't have the issue of gunk in the mortise/tenon.
pitchfork, at the end of each smoke, I do give a quick, forceful blow through my pipes to clear the airway after dumping out ash. I wonder if that might not be why I don't have the issue of gunk in the mortise/tenon.
Have any of you guys who swab your pipes with alcohol ever tried a pipe that isn't regularly cleaned with alcohol? I once read about a fella that was adamant that he didn't like green eggs and ham and lo and behold he tried them and liked them. :wink:
I only remove the stem once a year for my "spring cleaning", however if a pipe cleaner cannot pass all the way to the bowl, I take it apart weekly.
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