Qualities of a good pipe.

[Ray Cover]

Hello folks,

Thought I would introduce myself as a new guy interested in making pipes.
I will apologize up front. I am a very hard core right brainer and I really struggle with spelling and dislexic typing fingers. Please bare with me.

I enjoy making things; boats, fly rods, knives, etc.
I have a formal art background and I make my living making things pretty. Recently pipes have caught my interest. ( am also new to smoking a pipe and having a devil of a time keeping the thing lit).

I have read a lot of post on here and I have picked up a lot from here and the videos on Tayler Lanes website. Thanks Tayler for taking the time to do that.

But at this point it is all disjointed patches of info. Is there a source out there such as a book or video on pipe making that covers the mechanics of a good pipe? I have no doubt I can handle the aesthetics part, but what the heck does that matter if the pipe does not smoke well?

Thanks in advance Ray

[pierredekat]

As far as books are concerned, the only one I've seen is PIMO's Guide To Pipe Crafting at Home.

As far as keeping your pipe lit, I personally have taken to airing out my tobacco well in advance of smoking it, anywhere from a half hour to 24 hours, depending on when I have time to take tobacco out and when I have time to smoke it.

As near as I can tell, most pipe tobaccos tend to reach us with somewhere in the range of 20-30 percent moisture content. And air drying for awhile will drop the moisture content down to around 10 percent.

Some might say that you lose a lot of the "flavor" that way, but the only thing I seem to be losing is goo in my pipes and steam-burns on my tongue.

As far as what makes a good pipe, I think about 90 percent of it is how well it smokes. A good pipe will let you taste all of the subtle nuances of the tobacco, and you'll easily distinguish one tobacco from another.

A poor pipe, all you'll taste is "smoke".

Really, it's airflow, airflow, airflow.

One thing I've found helpful is buying lots and lots of pipes -- new pipes, old pipes, pipes from different materials, etc. -- looking at their different characteristics, seeing how they're constructed, smoking them, and so on.

If you're on a budget, definitely check out Ebay as a source for both new pipes and older "estate" pipes.

But you can learn a lot about pipes by studying different ones. I mean A LOT: this one fouls really bad because it doesn't have good airflow, that one burns the roof of your mouth because the airstream is angled upward at a 45 degree angle, this other one is hard to hold in your mouth because the bit's not right, etc.

[KurtHuhn]

The PIMO book is great. It's not geared toward folks that are looking to become pros, but it has loads of useful info on processes and procedures in basic pipe making.

There are three main facets to a quality pipe: aesthetics, comfort, smokability. I have no doubt that you can handle the aesthetics. Making a comfortable pipe can take some practice, and this is also very subjective - but the main piece of it is having a thin stem. No pipe will be comfortable when the stem feels like a Gobstopper. Smokability is largely dependent upon unobstructed airflow - no burrs in the air channel, no odd gaps anywhere, smooth transitions (especially if the angle changes abruptly), and wide open channel (9/64" and 5/32" are most common).

[Ray Cover]

Kurt,

I assume that when you are talking about the 9/64 and 5/32 that you are talking about both the air hole in the stummel and the one in the stem?

After looking at some of the diagrams posted on other threads I am assuming that those two holes must line up pretty close to perfect with no dog legs..... And that using a gap or extra length in the mortise hole would not be a good way to get the air to transition form stummel to stem in a bent pipe.

Correct?

Ray

[KurtHuhn]

Yes. Ideally, the air channel in the stummel and stem should both be the same size.

There can be bends in the airway, and yes, you want to try to get the tenon to bottom out in the mortis and have the airway line up. You definitely don't want the stummel airway at the top of the mortis, and then try to make up the difference by leaving a gap. While it may smoke okay with dry tobacco, getting a pipe cleaner to the bowl would prove difficult at best.

That said, I have smoked pipes with large gaps in the mortis and they've smoked fine. I have a few Peterson System pipes like this. They take bloody forever to break in, but they do smoke well. I am not, however, a fan of that arrangement. If I need to get a pipe cleaner to the bowl, I have to take the stem off to do it. Not fun.

Also, if the gap is not arranged like a sump (as on Petersons) moisture and liquid can collect there and cause the pipe to gurgle, feel like it's smoking hot, and seriously affect taste. The first few times it's smoked, it will seem fine, but the shortcomings will start to make themselves known before too long.

[Tano]

Hi Ray,

Having trouble keeping your pipe lit? Here is a good page.

http://www.pipes.priss.org/howto.php