What Type of Stems do You Prefer?

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didimauw

Moderator
Staff member
Jul 28, 2013
9,990
32,009
34
Burlington WI
I use acrylic softee bits
And I am not a clencher.

So no preference for vulcanite, acrylic, Bakelite or amber/amberoid

A definite preference for plain black.
Don’t mind amber or tortoise shell
Definitely NO coloured, Cumberland or “swirly” stems.

I was really dissapointed to see that the Punto Oro line from Savinelli even has some with colored stems! Bleh

To each his own!
 
Jul 28, 2016
7,655
36,983
Finland-Scandinavia-EU
Acrylic. High grade vulcanite is a great stem product, but this isn't always the case. I have no issues with acrylic and it is easy to keep clean.
absolutely true, when it comes to renowned British manufacturers, I suspect other than Dunhill and Barling did not use high grade vulcanite. ije their production, also I did notice vulcanite stems on older Savinellis are extremely prone to oxidation same as with Peterson's.whereas Stanwells are not so bad.
 

Cloozoe

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 1, 2023
966
19,081
If you're taking a poll, in effect, here's one potential customer that only likes and owns vulcanite stems. And I'm not certain how this would hold up to stringent analysis, but it seems while there might be as many or more pipesters that prefer acrylic to vulcanite as vice versa, I think a much higher percentage of the vulcanite guys will only smoke vulcanite while the acrylic guys are more ecumenical.

No concern either way about separate delrin tenon or one-piece
 

Duke of Erinmore

Can't Leave
Jul 5, 2020
316
1,415
45
Bayreuth, Bavaria, Germany
Vulcanite stem with drilled tenon. Both for the same reason. I like to restore pipes, and vulcanite stems are easier to repair because of the softer materials. And a drilled tenon is easier to replace.

For smoking, I also go with vulcanite in general for the softer bite.
 
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