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Hey gang-

I have a friend who asked me to help him improve a couple of old Peterson pipes. One is a p-lip, so I don't think there's much I can do to open it up. The other is a regular stem, so I plan to open up the airway and see if I can't make it gurgle less.

That said, what do folks suggest as far as redrilling goes? Is it unadvisable to heat and straighten the stem out so I can redrill and open the slot all the way? I would hate to commit an irrevocable atrocity to a friend's favorite pipe...

Thanks in advance!

Heat it, straighten it out, bend it back. The gurgle might be in the drilling of the air hole/bowl junction. Check the bottom of the bowl and see if it has been drilled properly. Slurp, slurp, gurgle, gurgle.
I've never been a fan of Peterson pipes.

I did it on two meershaum pipes, both bent. The first was easily straightened and as easily disintegrated into some pitiable splinters when the drill bit took its plunge, after which I made a bit from scratch. The second was straightened, had its Y-slot opened with a file, and was bent back. Everthing went well. I didn't even need to rebuff it. But no drill was used, and I can't say whether It would have also splintered had I redrilled it. For most factory stems, the constriction rests with the last inch, so I think it's ok to keep clear of redrilling and only use files.

Edit: It's not quite accurate to say the "last inch". I usually make that Y-slot at least two inches deep. That's the key to an open and smooth draw.

I love my Petersons, but the P-lips are a challenge to de-gurgle. I like the P-lip, don't get me wrong. The biggest problem with them is they're nearly impossible to keep cleaned out. When they get hard to draw I tend to go at the stem with a bristle-type pipe cleaner under hot running water until it comes out completely clean. Once the stems are clean, I open up the airway in the stummels to 5/32, which eliminates the gurgle on the straight P-lip, and I reamed out the sump on the bent P-lip, which eliminated its gurgle. Those "system" sumps get really nasty really fast, but that's the system.

Before you straighten it...... trace the curve on a piece of paper.... Then when you finish drilling it, you can bend it back to where it was, no one being the wiser.

I've opened several pipes airways up with good results. I even made a couple Petersons smoke better by opening the airway into the bowl from the sump( or whatever you may want to call it)