pipemakersforum.com

Hey everyone,

After the last round critiques I decided to keep my head down and churn through some Billiards to improve. I think that so far this is my best one so please destroy it. (I know that Olivewood isn't standard, but I think that this is my best shape-wise, so please excuse the alternate material)

Here are some photos of the stem:

The form is quite pleasant, although the white stalk hits the eyes somewhat.
The overall impression is very spoiled by the fourth photo. There, either the photo is unsuccessful, or the smoking pipe is crookedly drilled. It appears that the smoke channel exits into the tobacco chamber through the side wall. The smoke channel should exit down the center of the tobacco chamber.
The pipe is, first and foremost, the right engineering. And only after engineering - form, proportions, beauty, etc.
Without proper engineering, everything else makes no sense, since any even the finest smoking pipe becomes a two-hole stick.

Odissey wrote: ↑Sun Jun 28, 2020 4:18 pmThe overall impression is very spoiled by the fourth photo. There, either the photo is unsuccessful, or the smoking pipe is crookedly drilled.

Hahaha just noticed that. Don't worry, it's drilled fine, the photo just sucks. That's my bad, I need to take better photos next time.

LatakiaLover wrote: ↑Sun Jun 28, 2020 2:08 pm

Thank you LL I appreciate it! You're the stem master.

I can't believe that this whole time I was making stems wrong... XD

A bit more refinement at the shank/bowl junction and a tad more taper from the waist of the bowl to the rim plus the improvement on the stem that LL suggested and you're really close.

Biggest thing that jumps out at me beyond the above comments is the rim angle - what angle are the chamber/airway to each other? Is the rim perpendicular to the chamber? A big part of a billiard looking right (to me) is that ~93 degree angle so the bowl tilts ever so slightly away from the smoker - just opens the whole posture of it up.