Your Favourite Stem Shape

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mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,500
Apparently I have no one favorite. For classic style, a straight tapered stem is plain and elegant, but everything else has its place, from chair-leg stems, and extreme bends like Oom-Paul, to saddle stem, vertical saddle stems (of which I have only one), and all degrees of bend from slight to U-Turn. I even like orange swirl colored stems on MM cobs, and long churchwarden stems both straight and arched. That variety is why I have way too many pipes (by my standards, not by everyone's).
 
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gamzultovah

Lifer
Aug 4, 2019
3,171
20,945
I never thought about it before, but now that you mention it, full saddle or half saddle stems work best for me.
 
Jun 25, 2021
1,369
4,444
England
Saddle stem, straight or any kind of bent.
Not greatly fussy about it though.
I think a tapered stem looks best on a straight billiard.
 
Last edited:
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jewman22

Lifer
Apr 2, 2021
1,110
10,952
Ontario Canada
1/4 to 1/2 bent saddle stem, especially the really wide yet low profile of the Stanwell and Ser Jacopo. You can kinda see what i'm on about in this pic of my Stanwell Royal Guard 11.
RoyalGuard11.jpg
 

Grangerous

Lifer
Dec 8, 2020
3,278
13,229
East Coast USA
Classic tapered, thin. Most of my pipes are straight stemmed briar billiards.

I tend to like the stock, black stems of my MM Cobs. I gravitate toward a thin, small bit. Light and easy.
 
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