Won't Pass a Pipe Cleaner

[rushx9]

Sorry for the echo in the line, my internet connection is weak.

Mine too so it's double-trouble?!
Just read your response to Brobs, are you smoking CB in it? If so, I'd be more likely to blame it for the surprise bites... if it bites you towards the end it could be from heel moisture. I'd hang on to it until you get a few more briars to compare with.. just my opinion! Also, there are some mini files that could potentially fix most airway problems. I have a nice pipe that I inherited from my grandpa that smoke wet and only passes a thin chenille cleaner. I dedicated it to dry oriental blends and now it does just fine. The only thing I can't tolerate is a very small airway because they tend to cause bite no matter what I do.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

Mine too so it's double-trouble?!
Just read your response to Brobs, are you smoking CB in it? If so, I'd be more likely to blame it for the surprise bites... if it bites you towards the end it could be from heel moisture. I'd hang on to it until you get a few more briars to compare with.. just my opinion! Also, there are some mini files that could potentially fix most airway problems. I have a nice pipe that I inherited from my grandpa that smoke wet and only passes a thin chenille cleaner. I dedicated it to dry oriental blends and now it does just fine. The only thing I can't tolerate is a very small airway because they tend to cause bite no matter what I do.

Yes, actually I have been today. I mostly smoke the aros I have in it, those are my least favorite to smoke and it is my least favorite pipe. Same kind of thing with ps french vanilla, lane Hg 2000, and the BCA.

Compared to my straight Grabows, it smokes wetter, and bites more. This is also the only pipe I own that doesn't have a place for a filter, those I don't use.. or condoms for that matter. Point being it has a much more restricted draw, this could be causing the problem.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I mostly smoke the aros I have in it, those are my least favorite to smoke and it is my least favorite pipe.

Completely unrelated to the thread, but something I always found amusing. In reviews for aromatics, you often read of someone putting an aromatic in their worst smoking pipe and then complain that it was the tobacco's fault for not smoking well.?

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

Completely unrelated to the thread, but something I always found amusing. In reviews for aromatics, you often read of someone putting an aromatic in their worst smoking pipe and then complain that it was the tobacco's fault for not smoking well.?

Absolutley. Its the smokers paradox.. really makes you think.

 

[rushx9]

Completely unrelated to the thread, but something I always found amusing. In reviews for aromatics, you often read of someone putting an aromatic in their worst smoking pipe and then complain that it was the tobacco's fault for not smoking well.?

I think the same thing when I see reviews claim they taste a hint of Lakeland in blends that aren't scented.. they always say they didn't know what to expect so they smoked it in a Lakeland ghosted pipe... well, duh?!

 

[Chasing Embers]

Absolutley. Its the smokers paradox.. really makes you think.

Nah, as I only keep the best of the best pipes that come my way, aromatics get smoked in my best pipes. Even commissioned a couple for specific aromatics.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

Nah, as I only keep the best of the best pipes that come my way, aromatics get smoked in my best pipes. Even commissioned a couple for specific aromatics.

Yea, but youre an OG. Haha I'm ballin on a budget.

 

[mingc]

So do you think it means it is drilled incorrectly?, or are you saying there are shapes of pipes youre just not "down with"?
View attachment 24082

This is the pipe I have in question. Mucho no passo..

I'm guessing the draft hole in the mortise doesn't line up well with the draft hole in the tenon. If you look at how they're aligned, you may be able to pre-bend a pipe cleaner and finagle it through.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Yea, but youre an OG. Haha I'm ballin on a budget.

No way, I'm a cheapskate. When Bruce Weaver was still alive, I would commission pipes from him with a pipe and tobacco fund that I saved up throughout the year.?

 

[mingc]

It is so much easier to just "Flick" the pipe and all the condensation is instantly gone.

So, you cover up the chamber with you palm and flick it? So the condensate goes towards the chamber, or the other direction, out of the bit?

 

[jpberg]

One more thing. There's a difference between not passing through the draft hole, which is common on full-bents, and not passing through the mortise, which sucks if you want to run a PC mid-smoke.

I don’t think that’s the right supposition. A well made pipe (with apologies to you Pete system guys) is drilled, well, correctly.
Pipemakers don’t drill them that way so people can say they pass a cleaner, they drill them that way because that’s the best way to move air.

Two pipes do not a theory make, but both of these easily pass cleaners.

 

[B18]

I can interpret the question three ways; the slot is to small and/or the drilling in the shank or stem is too narrow and/or the engineering in the shank is not great. If the pipe shape is something i love I will modify it to suit my preference. For example, I bought a new high grade pipe (an older pipe, atleast 7years old, of a danish pipemaker) from a shop in Germany and had asked the pipemaker to replace the stem as the stem had oxidised over the years and German shop fcked up the button while cleaning the stem. When i got the pipe back from the maker; the slot was far too narrow to even pass the pipe cleaner. So I openend the slot and airway with needle files.

Another old high grade pipe, but new, had an issue with the engineering in the mortise. Which resulted that a pipe cleaner could pass with great difficulty. So I took a tool to remove some wood so that the cleaner could pass more easily.

So depending on your love of the pipe, I would recommend to modify the pipe to resolve the issue. I have 2 high grades and 2 medium grades in which i had to modify a few things and i love them.

 

[jpberg]

I can interpret the question three ways; the slot is to small and/or the drilling in the shank or stem is too narrow and/or the engineering in the shank is not great. If the pipe shape is something i love I will modify it to suit my preference. For example, I bought a new high grade pipe (an older pipe, atleast 7years old, of a danish pipemaker) from a shop in Germany and had asked the pipemaker to replace the stem as the stem had oxidised over the years and German shop fcked up the button while cleaning the stem. When i got the pipe back from the maker; the slot was far too narrow to even pass the pipe cleaner. So I openend the slot and airway with needle files.

Another old high grade pipe, but new, had an issue with the engineering in the mortise. Which resulted that a pipe cleaner could pass with great difficulty. So I took a tool to remove some wood so that the cleaner could pass more easily.

So depending on your love of the pipe, I would recommend to modify the pipe to resolve the issue. I have 2 high grades and 2 medium grades in which i had to modify a few things and i love them.

I realize it’s an entirely different conversation, but one thing I appreciate so much about the new-ish (last twenty years)North American school of carvers is that the internals are of equal importance as the externals.
No f’ing way a pipe from this school can have piss poor internals and be called a high grade.

 

[shanez]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I have a calabash that absolutely will not pass a cleaner.

 

[jpberg]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I have a calabash that absolutely will not pass a cleaner.

Well yeah, but isn’t that apples and oranges? I think it’s physically impossible right?

 

[B18]

I realize it’s an entirely different conversation, but one thing I appreciate so much about the new-ish (last twenty years)North American school of carvers is that the internals are of equal importance as the externals.
No f’ing way a pipe from this school can have piss poor internals and be called a high grade.

I agree, the American pipes that I have (2 medium and 2 low-ish) have good-great internals.
And the pipes I regarded as high grades in my post were of pipes of current high grade pipemakers, but the pipes themselves are old pipes from at least 7years. So it could have be regarded as high grade by the standards of back then.

But what I am trying to say, if you like the aesthetics of a pipe, but internals aren't great. Just modify it a bit. If it is a new pipe from a pipe maker or a middleman (i.e. smokingpipes) I would sent it back

 

[jpberg]

I agree, the American pipes that I have (2 medium and 2 low-ish) have good-great internals.
And the pipes I regarded as high grades in my post were of pipes of current high grade pipemakers, but the pipes themselves are old pipes from at least 7years. So it could have be regarded as high grade by the standards of back then.

But what I am trying to say, if you like the aesthetics of a pipe, but internals aren't great. Just modify it a bit. If it is a new pipe from a pipe maker or a middleman (i.e. smokingpipes) I would sent it back

Hell yeah. A needle file can turn a beautiful dud into a beautiful smoker.

 

[shanez]

Well yeah, but isn’t that apples and oranges? I think it’s physically impossible right?

Basically yes it is impossible.

Some people are trying to make the point that a pipe that won't pass a cleaner is a bad pipe. I disagree. If it draws well then I have no problem with it and don't think it's bad. I won't argue that it's not inconvenient. I'm just saying it's not bad by default and it has nothing to do with draw.

 

[BROBS]

Hell yeah. A needle file can turn a beautiful dud into a beautiful smoker.

exactly.. that's where I was going.

@Richmond B. Funkenhouser I would try to open up that slot in the button.. if a bent pipecleaner fits in there tightly it's too small. Lots of problems reside there with hot and wet smoking. Besides the fact you're smoking CB lololol

 

[Chasing Embers]

Pipemakers don’t drill them that way so people can say they pass a cleaner, they drill them that way because that’s the best way to move air.

Actually, several artisans lay claim to both. Bruce Weaver was one of them.