Your Favourite Stem Shape

[mso489]

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).

 

[gamzultovah]

I never thought about it before, but now that you mention it, full saddle or half saddle stems work best for me.

 

[Morrison Jeremiah]

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.

 

[FurCoat]

Probably quarter to half bent. Except I secretly love a full bent Hungarian if I'm clenching and not paying attention.

+1

 

[Chasing Embers]

You get SPRUNG. Want to puff up tough, cuz you notice that bowl was STUFFED.

In that blast it's wearing I'm hooked and I can't stop starin'.

 

[jewman22]

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.

 

[Winterreise]

I got my first full bent P lip Peterson recently it’s definitely my favorite, the way it smoke got me purchased another one the day after

 

[captpat]

I prefer saddle stems, no preference with respect to stem bend -- straight, bent (1/8 to full) to OOM Paul all good.

 

[Peter Turbo]

saddle

 

[Grangerous]

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.

 

[Streeper541]

I am a very big fan of saddle stems.