Public Service Message regarding authors & similar

[LatakiaLover]

Making a good bent taper stem for a thick-shanked pipe is a gold plated pig bitch.

So much so that many carvers---even the best ones---seem to have surrendered. (Maybe they're trying to make doing it wrong acceptable and the "new normal"? No idea.)

This is an S. Bang. (The stem shape is embarrassingly bad, imo. The Peterson after it is how the shape should look.)

If you want to tackle an author or chubby bent bulldog, know that the only way to get the correct swan-neck thing happening is to NOT make a straight-profile taper and then just heat & bend it. Extra material must be left all across the top and an "S" line along the bottom, then bend, then shape some more. After a while you can "anticipate" where to leave the extra material so that the second shaping step isn't any more arduous than necessary, but that's it. There is no short cut or alternate method.

We now return to your regularly scheduled programming.

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[n80]

The difference is very noticeable. Peterson is not a high end pipe. Good for them for getting it right

I have to say, the more time I spend on this forum, the more critical I get. I would not have noticed this a year ago. The retail sites have $500 Dunhills and Castellos with 'flaws' that would instantly be seen and pointed out here. Now I see them too.

George

[RickB]

I have to say, the more time I spend on this forum, the more critical I get.

Gobble gobble one of us

[LatakiaLover]

The difference is very noticeable. Peterson is not a high end pipe. Good for them for getting it right.

Actually, they didn't. That's a replacement. The original was a wonky-looking P-lip.

(For fun I'll see if I can find the original. It had the early production bone condenser thingie, so I know I saved it.)

[LatakiaLover]

Found it.

Not as wonkily cut as I remember. Pete's stems were actually pretty good from company inception to the 50's/early 60's, but I've never been a P-lipper in any event.

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[n80]

The original is not too bad but its curve is more of an angle. The replacement is much better.

[wdteipen]

I would argue that the replacement stem would look a bit more graceful if the underside was cut in a bit more...but then it wouldn't look natural because Peterson's aren't graceful. I absolutely agree with undercutting the bottom side. Not only does it look better/more graceful, it's also a lot easier to bend without fudging it all up. Now stubby fat tapered stems...that's a whole nother "gold plated pig bitch."

[JMG]

That Bang...YIKES!