When it comes to featherweights, is there an automatic increase for a potential of a burnout, due to the extreme lack of briar on the finished product?
Of all the briar pipes (eight) in my dumpy rotation, my Stanwell featherweight is my clear favorite of the bunch. It does not get a chance to rest very long, so I'm considering picking up some more of these pipes.
It does not seem that featherweights are all that popular, and I think a lot of people have the idea that they will always smoke very hot, and burnout, quickly, so it's a waste of money. I don't know... I'm quite satisfied with this Stanwell, even though the break-in was a pain, due to a nasty pre-coat bowl. The slim toothpick acrylic stem is even more comfortable compared to a slightly larger vulcanite stemmed featherweight I smoke.
Are any of you guys making featherweights? I'm not talking about chubby nosewarmers, but rather the slim pipes where the briar is brought down to a minimum. Are you concerned that such pipes would burnout on the customer, or is the concern similar to the way that pipe makers will not open up their pipes, worried that inexperienced smokers will bite through the stem, giving the pipemaker, a potentially bad reputation?
Burnout risks for featherweights
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ToddJohnson
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Re: Burnout risks for featherweights
Your post seems to make a lot of assumptions which are of questionable merit. I've never met an experienced pipe smoker who assumed that a "featherweight" would smoke hot for some reason, or that it would be likely to burn out . . . especially not "quickly." I would also question your attribution of a difficult break in to the "nasty" bowl coating in your Stanwell. This is mostly an "old guard" myth perpetuated by those who claim they can taste minute differences in air pressure.Blackboot wrote:When it comes to featherweights, is there an automatic increase for a potential of a burnout, due to the extreme lack of briar on the finished product?
Of all the briar pipes (eight) in my dumpy rotation, my Stanwell featherweight is my clear favorite of the bunch. It does not get a chance to rest very long, so I'm considering picking up some more of these pipes.
It does not seem that featherweights are all that popular, and I think a lot of people have the idea that they will always smoke very hot, and burnout, quickly, so it's a waste of money. I don't know... I'm quite satisfied with this Stanwell, even though the break-in was a pain, due to a nasty pre-coat bowl. The slim toothpick acrylic stem is even more comfortable compared to a slightly larger vulcanite stemmed featherweight I smoke.
Are any of you guys making featherweights? I'm not talking about chubby nosewarmers, but rather the slim pipes where the briar is brought down to a minimum. Are you concerned that such pipes would burnout on the customer, or is the concern similar to the way that pipe makers will not open up their pipes, worried that inexperienced smokers will bite through the stem, giving the pipemaker, a potentially bad reputation?
There are lots of factors that can contribute to a "difficult" break in-- tobacco choice, packing style, time between smokes, and perhaps most importantly, the smoker himself. If you enjoy them, keep smoking them. It's irrelevant whether or not they're "popular," so long as you like them. I make them, sell them, and smoke them--almost exclusively, in fact. If they're truly very small, you might enjoy trying some shag cut in them. I like Peter Stokkebye Turkish a lot.
With respect to cutting stems thicker for fear that customers may bite through them . . . well, it does happen. It doesn't keep any carvers I know from making thin comfortable bits, though we do keep a list of guys that are notorious "chompers." Conversely, when you know a customer well, you may be able to go a lot thinner on the bit. Rick Newcombe, for instance, wears a mouthpiece when he's smoking his high grades. A pipe he's owned for years will still look pristine. Guys like that get the thinnest bits, period.
Todd
Re: Burnout risks for featherweights
The lack of popularity of featherweights is relevant when there is not much discussion about them. Why are they not popular? I'm pretty sure they are more popular in Europe ---I've recently read that dunhill reserves most of its smaller group pipes for the european market, so I guess they are popular, just not in the west.ToddJohnson wrote:Your post seems to make a lot of assumptions which are of questionable merit. I've never met an experienced pipe smoker who assumed that a "featherweight" would smoke hot for some reason, or that it would be likely to burn out . . . especially not "quickly." I would also question your attribution of a difficult break in to the "nasty" bowl coating in your Stanwell. This is mostly an "old guard" myth perpetuated by those who claim they can taste minute differences in air pressure.Blackboot wrote:When it comes to featherweights, is there an automatic increase for a potential of a burnout, due to the extreme lack of briar on the finished product?
Of all the briar pipes (eight) in my dumpy rotation, my Stanwell featherweight is my clear favorite of the bunch. It does not get a chance to rest very long, so I'm considering picking up some more of these pipes.
It does not seem that featherweights are all that popular, and I think a lot of people have the idea that they will always smoke very hot, and burnout, quickly, so it's a waste of money. I don't know... I'm quite satisfied with this Stanwell, even though the break-in was a pain, due to a nasty pre-coat bowl. The slim toothpick acrylic stem is even more comfortable compared to a slightly larger vulcanite stemmed featherweight I smoke.
Are any of you guys making featherweights? I'm not talking about chubby nosewarmers, but rather the slim pipes where the briar is brought down to a minimum. Are you concerned that such pipes would burnout on the customer, or is the concern similar to the way that pipe makers will not open up their pipes, worried that inexperienced smokers will bite through the stem, giving the pipemaker, a potentially bad reputation?
There are lots of factors that can contribute to a "difficult" break in-- tobacco choice, packing style, time between smokes, and perhaps most importantly, the smoker himself. If you enjoy them, keep smoking them. It's irrelevant whether or not they're "popular," so long as you like them. I make them, sell them, and smoke them--almost exclusively, in fact. If they're truly very small, you might enjoy trying some shag cut in them. I like Peter Stokkebye Turkish a lot.
With respect to cutting stems thicker for fear that customers may bite through them . . . well, it does happen. It doesn't keep any carvers I know from making thin comfortable bits, though we do keep a list of guys that are notorious "chompers." Conversely, when you know a customer well, you may be able to go a lot thinner on the bit. Rick Newcombe, for instance, wears a mouthpiece when he's smoking his high grades. A pipe he's owned for years will still look pristine. Guys like that get the thinnest bits, period.
Todd
I did assume that they were not popular because most of the talk out there implies a notion that featherweights are no good, and that the majority of smokers prefer thicker bowls because they say the thicker bowls provides for a "cooler" smoke.
But, if you guys right, then there is not much to worry about, so long as a featherweight is not smoked aggressively.
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Gerrit Jan
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ToddJohnson
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This is my regular rotation. I'm not sure what would make any of these smoke hot--aside from the fact that they're Dunhills--or why any of them would be likely to burn out. I guess we're just not in contact with the same pipe folks, because I don't recognize much of what you're suggesting is a given in the community. Nonetheless, all of these pieces smoke just fine after being turned from Dunhills into pipes.
TJ
TJ
Okay, Mr. Johnson Sir, I'll bite. How do you turn a Dunhill into a pipe?
To the original question: If we look at this from a more physics-oriented perspective, I think the situation becomes clear.
Inside the bowl of a pipe, we are burning some tobacco. So if you take a few good puffs and heat it right up, a very thin-walled pipe is probably going to feel hotter to the hand than a relatively more thick walled unit. But we can't infer that such a pipe is more likely to burn out - the temperature inside the thicker built pipe is the same - we are insulated from it with a bunch of wood.
But thick as they may be, my pipes are not slowly being consumed from the bowl outward - they aren't burning. Thick or thin, the wood of a pipe is not being burned unless you get it very hot indeed (throw a piece of briar into a fire some time and watch it NOT catch fire - it takes serious heat) - and if you get it that hot, thick pipe or thin, you will burn it. In some sense then, it might be argued that a thicker pipe would be easier to smoke too hot because it would be easier not to notice.
I prefer large, thick pipes, because I am a large, thick guy, and tend to snap, crush, or otherwise render defective anything delicate that comes into my path.
To the original question: If we look at this from a more physics-oriented perspective, I think the situation becomes clear.
Inside the bowl of a pipe, we are burning some tobacco. So if you take a few good puffs and heat it right up, a very thin-walled pipe is probably going to feel hotter to the hand than a relatively more thick walled unit. But we can't infer that such a pipe is more likely to burn out - the temperature inside the thicker built pipe is the same - we are insulated from it with a bunch of wood.
But thick as they may be, my pipes are not slowly being consumed from the bowl outward - they aren't burning. Thick or thin, the wood of a pipe is not being burned unless you get it very hot indeed (throw a piece of briar into a fire some time and watch it NOT catch fire - it takes serious heat) - and if you get it that hot, thick pipe or thin, you will burn it. In some sense then, it might be argued that a thicker pipe would be easier to smoke too hot because it would be easier not to notice.
I prefer large, thick pipes, because I am a large, thick guy, and tend to snap, crush, or otherwise render defective anything delicate that comes into my path.
The only pipe I've ever managed to burn out was a little dublin variant I made in which I got a little too aggressive in shaping the bowl into a very steep "V" profile. The walls at the bottom of the chamber ended up just a hair under 1/16" thick, about 1.2mm or so. 
I knew it would not be long for this world, especially since I tend to smoke very hot (gotta get that wonderful nicotine ASAP, after all!).
It lasted four smokes before it even started charring, and then it was only because I was too deeply engrossed in another activity (forging a sword blade) to be paying attention to my normally elegant, restrained smoke-sucking style.
Three smokes later, the taste of burning briar got to be very noticeable indeed, and I glanced at the bowl only to see curls of fragrant smoke wafting from the left side near the bottom. I laid it on the forge and watched in awe as the little glowing spot grew to about 1/4" across, then died. That one is hanging on the wall beside the drill press to remind me to leave a little more wood down in that area in future efforts.
I knew it would not be long for this world, especially since I tend to smoke very hot (gotta get that wonderful nicotine ASAP, after all!).It lasted four smokes before it even started charring, and then it was only because I was too deeply engrossed in another activity (forging a sword blade) to be paying attention to my normally elegant, restrained smoke-sucking style.
Three smokes later, the taste of burning briar got to be very noticeable indeed, and I glanced at the bowl only to see curls of fragrant smoke wafting from the left side near the bottom. I laid it on the forge and watched in awe as the little glowing spot grew to about 1/4" across, then died. That one is hanging on the wall beside the drill press to remind me to leave a little more wood down in that area in future efforts.
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ToddJohnson
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Sasquatch wrote:Okay, Mr. Johnson Sir, I'll bite. How do you turn a Dunhill into a pipe?
I wasn't really fishing, just acknowledging that Dunhills are made pretty sloppily and aren't always very well engineered. I just re-drill the draft hole to around 9/64, taper the hole through the stem from the tenon end, cut a deeper funnel into the slot end, and clean the inlet up with some sand paper so it's not so sharp. After that, they smoke great.
TJ
P.S. I think forum etiquette requires that I insert YMMV, IMHO, etc., so consider my comments about Dunhill as relating only to my narrow experience with the brand. I'm sure others are great right out of the chute.
That's kinda what I figured, Todd.
I've never seen a dunhill in a shop that I couldn't find something "wrong" with. Nothing major, to be honest, but the little things weren't done well. I guess the older ones are better, but I'd rather spend my money on an Il Ceppo or a Mastro de Paja.
Alan, I hear you - I made this and drilled it at a more dangerous angle than I meant to, and wound up with a bottom so thin that by my calculations and best estimates, does not have any thickness at all. I kept it, and smoke it all the time - haven't had any issues, so I guess there's a bare-minimum down there. But it's super thin at the bottom.
I've never seen a dunhill in a shop that I couldn't find something "wrong" with. Nothing major, to be honest, but the little things weren't done well. I guess the older ones are better, but I'd rather spend my money on an Il Ceppo or a Mastro de Paja.
Alan, I hear you - I made this and drilled it at a more dangerous angle than I meant to, and wound up with a bottom so thin that by my calculations and best estimates, does not have any thickness at all. I kept it, and smoke it all the time - haven't had any issues, so I guess there's a bare-minimum down there. But it's super thin at the bottom.
