Surprising Poll on Stem Material

[pierredekat]

There's an interesting -- and a little bit surprising to me -- poll going on over at Smokers Forum related to peoples' preference in stem materials. You will need to be a member and logged-in to see it, but I will give you all a quick rundown of the results thus far.

Lucite-------------28 people-----43 percent
Cumberland-----20 people-----30 percent
Vulcanite---------13 people-----20 percent
Ebonite------------8 people-----12 percent
Other--------------3 people-----4 percent

My own personal, miscellaneous observations:

* Yes there are quite a few "pipe newbies" on Smokers Forum, but I think that most of these guys are longtime pipe smokers. And many, many of them are the kinds of guys who go to pipe shows and buy handmade/custom pipes.

* Wow, does this poll seem upside down to you?! Here, I've been thinking that a lot of pipe smokers prayed at the alter of Ebonite, but apparently not. Though a good number of people do prefer Cumberland.

* ABS (Absylux) wasn't one of the choices, as it's still so new to us all, and the pollster is probably not aware of the possibility of it being used as a stem material. Of course, no surprises there.

* Lucite, in my opinion, has two main attractions over Vulcanite, in particular, and Ebonite/Cumberland to a lesser extent: cool colors; and the fact that it doesn't oxidize to any noticeable extent. And apparently whatever peoples' personal attraction to Lucite is -- whether it be colors or the oxidation factor -- that attraction is strong enough to surpass even Cumberland in the poll.

* If peoples' attraction to Lucite is based more on the oxidation factor than the color factor, it seems to me that ABS (Absylux) might have a lot more potential as a stem material than a lot of us might think. Particularly if you factor in the smoother tenon, the softer tooth feel, much better impact resistance, and so on.

* I don't know, is Ebonite experiencing an identity crisis, or what?

If you're logged in over at Smokers Forum, you can get a lot more information from the different members about why they chose what they chose.

But yeah, I have really found this poll surprising.

So what are your observations?

[hazmat]

I'm pretty stunned by this, but not too terribly surprised once I think about it a little bit.

We're alot like crows or raccoons, us homo sapiens. We like shiny things and especially shiny things in a myriad of colors. Lucite provides that in a way that ebonite can't, despite tooth feel and lack of super-thin bits. I honestly don't notice too much of a difference between the pipes I smoke with ebonite stems and the ones I smoke with lucite stems. Or maybe I just don't care once I'm in the midst of a good bowl of whatever I happen to be smoking.<shrugs>

It certainly makes me rethink which direction I'm heading with my work. I've been on hold making things because I simply can't afford ebonite right now and haven't decided yet whether I want to take a dip in the ABS swimming pool. I may just have to order up a few rods of lucite and get comfy with that material all over again.

Thanks for posting this, Robert! Good stuff!!!

[Frank]

Currently still a small number of people polled, but if the percentages stay about the same, it is interesting.

Also interesting, the difference between folks like Matt who don't mind the vulcanite/acrylic difference, and folks like myself who absolutely can't stand that hard plastic "clackety-clack" feel of acrylic.

Still, if the majority of regular pipe smokers prefer acrylic, it's an advantage to pipe makers, at least here in the US. It's easy to obtain and the solid colours are much cheaper than ebonite. I'm not familiar with the cost of the paterned acrylic, but I doubt it's all that much more expensive.

Acrylic isn't as easy to work as ebonite/vulcanite, but it is easier to work than ABS.

Robert, your recent post about pipe makers/manufacturers got me thinking when I came across a couple of pipes, a Kaywoodie and a Carey "Magic Inch". The stems were definitely not vulcanite or acrylic. Perhaps nylon, but I'm more inclined to think ABS, having now worked with the stuff for a bit. If you can get hold of a Carey, examine the stem and see what you think.

[hazmat]

Frank...part of the reason I don't mind the difference may be because I don't clench very much. The only pipes I really clench are my shop pipes and these all have vulcanite stems on them. The rest, whether they're lucite or vulcanite, are generally held in the hand and only clenched for a short period of time if I need both hands for something. I'm going to make a point of trying to smoke one of my lucites for an entire day and clench more than hand-hold. Maybe it'll change my mind a little or, at the least, make me understand why it bothers some, but not others.

[pierredekat]

Acrylic isn't as easy to work as ebonite/vulcanite, but it is easier to work than ABS.

You're talking about sanding, right? Because the Acrylic I have turned has been a real bear about chipping unpredictably, if not outright blowing up. Of course, I'm doing it all freehand with chisels. It might be easier doing cuts in Acrylic with a tool-post and slide setup.

Robert, your recent post about pipe makers/manufacturers got me thinking when I came across a couple of pipes, a Kaywoodie and a Carey "Magic Inch". The stems were definitely not vulcanite or acrylic. Perhaps nylon, but I'm more inclined to think ABS, having now worked with the stuff for a bit. If you can get hold of a Carey, examine the stem and see what you think.

I have a couple Careys laying around, and now that you mention it, I bet you're probably right. It's definitely some sort of plastic. Not nylon, I don't think.

[KurtHuhn]

When turning acrylic, I have to make sure that my tools are razor sharp, and that I take very light cuts. It's easy to grenade a rod of acrylic if you dive right in and try to hog off a piece.

[Alan L]

Looking at the 14 or so pipes in my rotation, they're about half and half vulcanite/acrylic. I like the way acrylic does not oxidize or taste like sulferated tailpipe fumes, and I find I don't really mind the harder tooth-feel. I am very much a clencher, too. In fact, I like acrylic in that regard because I don't tend to put big honkin' toothmarks in it as I do with ebonite.

As far as working with the stuff versus smoking through it, I prefer the smell of hot acrylic to hot ebonite, but I do love the ease of tooling ebonite. Especially when it comes to bending stems, with acrylic that really sucks.

When turning acrylic rods I do find a light slow cut helps, and there a power feed on a metal lathe comes into its own. I'll chuck one up and set it for a .030 cut, then puff away for the two minutes it takes to complete the cut. The only time I've had it explode on me is with too fast a speed or too hard a feed, be that power or handheld.

I haven't worked with ABS or nylon yet, but I do like the nylon bits on my Falcons.

[Tyler]

I haven't seen the poll, but I presume that vulcanite is the designation for pre-formed and ebonite for handcut? (vulcanite = ebonite after all)

If my presumption is true, I'm not surprised at all. Essentially that poll indicates that 52% of the people like vulcanite of some sort. In other words, most of them. I'd also be willing to bet that a only a small fraction of the folks there actually own and pipe with a hand-cut ebonite stem. Since hand cut ebonite is usually a higher-end product, only a certain percentage is going to spend the coin to get one. That has a two-fold implication: 1. Many don't know what they are missing, and 2. Many turn to lucite after bad experiences with cheap vulcanite stems and unnecessarily through the baby (ebonite) out with the bath water (vulcanite).

Tyler

[Frank]

Where exactly does Cumberland fall in the "hard rubber" spectrum? Is it more like ebonite, or more like vulcanite? Is it a rose by another name, or is it a somewhat different beast altogether? Someone please clue me in.

I found a thread about it on some or other smokers forum and 99.99... ad infinitum% didn't really have a clue about any of the hard rubbers, although they blew a lot of smoke (pun intended).

[Danskpibemager]

Hey Frank,
From all the information I've read (Ad Nauseum) about vulcanized rubber they are one in the same thing. Ebonite is simply the Brand name for vulcanized rubber that was produced in past years in the USA by the Ebonite Corporation (Bowlng Balls, etc). Cumberland is the colorized version of an Ebonite product and the name seems to have become generic along the way for the rod that is available today. On another note, I attended the Chicago Pipe Show yesterday and was amazed at the number of pipes and pipemakers displaying their craft. I picked up some great tips on finetuning my efforts from both Danish makers as well as North American makers including a number of people who frequent this forum. Hopefully by next year I can possibly share a table with another newer maker.

[Frank]

Hey Frank,
From all the information I've read (Ad Nauseum) about vulcanized rubber they are one in the same thing. Ebonite is simply the Brand name for vulcanized rubber ....

I realize that vulcanite, ebonite, cumberland are all variations of Hard Vulcanized Rubber.

The stuff manufactured in Germany seems to be generally referred to as ebonite, whereas the preformeds from any country are usually always referred to as being vulcanite.

Some folks think Cumberland is so called because it has some coloured streaks. Yet ebonite is also obtainable with coloured streaks. Bill Taylor further confuses the issue with his Ashtonite.

Hypothetical question: If it's all Hard Vulcanized Rubber, why shoudn't I make preformeds sound grandiose by referring to them as ebonite?

[Anvil]

This is something that I have been wondering about as well. The only convenient source of ebonite that I can find is the pipe makers emporium, but the price is a little steep for a hobbiest pipe maker. I noticed that JH Lowe sells vulcanite rod stock for much cheaper. So if these are essentially the same thing, why the big price difference? Are they not as identical as they seem?

[KurtHuhn]

The vulcanite rod stock that J.H. Lowe has is only 1/2". It's only good for a small subset of pipes - like churchwardens.

[Frank]

This is something that I have been wondering about as well. The only convenient source of ebonite that I can find is the pipe makers emporium, but the price is a little steep for a hobbiest pipe maker. I noticed that JH Lowe sells vulcanite rod stock for much cheaper. So if these are essentially the same thing, why the big price difference? Are they not as identical as they seem?

It all depends on where it originated from and what the seller's cost was buying it. Most folks consider German ebonite the better quality stuff.

This guy's German ebonite is a little less expensive. He's asking $35 for 3/4" diameter: http://cgi.ebay.com/Black-Ebonite-Rod-B ... dZViewItem

I'll hang in for Kurt's bulk buy from SEM (if I haven't spent the scratch by then ).

[kbadkar]

... pipe makers emporium's price is a little steep for a hobbiest pipe maker. I noticed that JH Lowe sells vulcanite rod stock for much cheaper. So if these are essentially the same thing, why the big price difference? Are they not as identical as they seem?

JH Lowes = 1/2" x 18" = 12.7mm x 457.2mm
in volume = 12.7 x 12.7 x pi x 457.2 = 231,550 cu. mm.

PME = 22mm x 20" = 22mm x 508mm
in volume = 22 x 22 x pi x 508 = 772,040 cu. mm.

So PME's rod should cost 3.33 times more than JH Lowes, volumetrically speaking. PME's selling price is 4 times more ($10 vs $40). PME sells the high quality German stuff and with the US dollar so weak, it's fair that their price goes up as well.

JH Lowes' rod isn't bad. I'm not sure where it's from though. Tim has had that rod for a long time, so I'm sure his price is based on old cost.

[Frank]

Slight miscalculation kbadkar. The Volume of a cylinder is = pi x radius squared x height. You're using the diameter in your calculations.

[kbadkar]

Oppps! Damned R and D. I always screw that up. Now I have to re-calc!

6.35 x 6.35 x pi x 457 = 57,890

11 x 11 x pi x 508 = 193,010

So PMEs rod should be 3.33 times more expensive.

Thanks Frank, perhaps I should use (your favorite)...

[Anvil]

Frank, I messaged that guy with the 1" rod on ebay. I asked him how much he wanted for the 3/4" rod. Here is his reply.

Hello,

A 3/4 inch diameter rod (20-inches long) is $35 each, plus domestic shipping
of $7.50 for a total of $42.5.

You can make a direct payment with paypal to this email for the total or
after the 1-inch auction ends, I'll put a 3/4-inch rod. In either case, I'll
email the tracking number after sending the rod.

Don't know how much he has or the quality but doesn't sound to bad.

[Frank]

Yes, that's what he quoted me. He's a bit less expensive than some other places, but still a bit steep for my hobbyist needs.