2nd chamber experiment

[billiard]

Hey all,

Dunno if anyone will find this interesting or just chalk it up to a hobbyist doing silly stuff, but what the hey, might as well share:

I have been reading a bit about the second chamber pipes lately and the concept is intriguing. I thought it would be nifty to see how a 2nd chamber would work in a pipe that had more of a classical shape to it but I didn't want to spend hours and hours making a pipe to find out that I made a pipe that smoked horribly...

So I spent about $15 for both a cheap block and a 3/4" dia pre-cut lucite stem, and then spent sub 3 hours to make something incredibly crappy looking this morning

This:





It's about 6 & 3/4" long and 2" high, 7/8" and the short little airway before the second chamber is 11/64" but then it has a .5" X 1.6" chamber hidden in the shank.

Gonna smoke it this week during my work day (I work from my home office) and see what I think about it's smoking properties.

Cheers,
Bill

PS, hope those of you watching enjoy the game today!

[SchmidtN]

I might be reading this wrong, but it kind of sounds like a filter pipe without the filter in it? I have a Svendborg that has a cavity for a filter, but I've never put one in it... seems to smoke normal to me.

Hope the pipe treats you well.

[billiard]

I might be reading this wrong, but it kind of sounds like a filter pipe without the filter in it?

Conceptually similar but hopefully functionally different due to the large difference in volume between the 2nd chamber in a filter-less filter pipe and this one. Think 9mm verse .50 cal.

Forgive me if you know this: There are pipes being made with a second chambers where, from what I have read, the second chamber acts as a reservoir and holds a mouthful of smoke so that when you puff, you puff this cooled smoke and are not pulling right from the burning bowl.

Take a look at the 2nd chamber pipes being made by carvers like Michail Revyagin and Anthony Harris to see the unique shapes they make to accommodate this second chamber.

This is an attempt to give a second chamber while being able to keep a traditional shape (and while you can probably not tell from this mock up it's an LB), The unanswered question to me is do you need to do this in a bent pipe so that the 2nd chamber is also kind of doing the well thing? Or can you accommodate it in a straight pipe and get the bennies of passing a pipe cleaner as well, the 1/4" drop and rise should act as a well also... or am I gonna have to call in to the Air Traffic control tower due to air turbulence?

I dunno but I figure I can smoke this mess this work week and then see how it does for myself.

Thanks,
Bill

[JMG]

Forgive me if you know this: There are pipes being made with a second chambers where, from what I have read, the second chamber acts as a reservoir and holds a mouthful of smoke so that when you puff, you puff this cooled smoke and are not pulling right from the burning bowl.

So...calabash?

[billiard]

So...calabash?

I believe it is the same effect but rather than the second chamber being under the 1st it has been moved into the shank. Just my thoughts though.

[KurtHuhn]

Cool theory. Let us know how it smokes and behaves. It will be interesting to see how the second chamber fares after a half dozen smokes or so.

[bregolad]

I've made several like this and have not been pleased with the results. The smoke tastes great, but the second chamber seems to get *really* moist. I actually made a pipe with a secondary and tertiary chamber (inspired by Revyagain's facebook) with clear acrylic, and the results were even more wet. Lemme find a picture......

I'm not sure how the pros are doing it, but unless there's some engineering secret, it seems like a cool but somewhat impractical idea. Its all the rage though, that's for sure.

[JonBood]

Both cooling the smoke and the different pressure gradients that will occur at extreme points/areas in the flow pattern will increase the condensation of water in the smoke.

I think it is bound to get wet in the chamber but as a result of that the smoke will also be dryer. I read somewhere that a somewhat cooled smoke will taste better and that high humidity in the smoke will ruin the taste. If that is true and if no "optimal" temperature and humidity is present then you should end up with a very well tasting smoke but a pipe that needs more cleaning and drying between each use...?

At least that would be my conclusion=)

/Jon

edit: maybe you can integrate some kind of hygroscopic material in the 2nd chamber to keep the actual pipe dry..

[Alan L]

Ever smoke a Kirsten? http://www.kirstenpipe.com/

Same concept. They do get wet, but you just run a wad of tissue paper through it every few smokes and it's good as new and gurgle-free, unlike a Peterson or Savinelli "system" pipe, which is what it seems like you're replicating here, kind of.

[JonBood]

Found this article:

http://www.apassionforpipes.com/neills- ... ffect.html

[billiard]

I have been holding off on writing a follow up until I had smoked this pipe enough but I think I logged in right after Jon posted his link so here are my current thoughts on this version I made:

I smoked this pipe twice on Monday, twice on Tuesday, and so far I am about 1/2 way through bowl #1 today (and I am getting sick of smoking this one pipe but that's besides the point).

I am definetly getting the calabash effect and I am not getting excessive moisture in the chamber because of it. Yes, there is moisture but since it is a big chamber it spreads out and it is no more to clean up than say a system pete.

That calabash effect, imho, is not an always wanted thing, some folks love it, but for me, in this big bowled pipe I have ended going to dedicating it to PS Balkan Supreme.

Fwiw, I been smoking pipes for decades, I smoke all day long, and have hundreds of pipes of all sorts of different sizes and shapes (you should see my cobs, lol) so while I am certainly no expert in any of this I am pretty confident in this pipe's mechanics but realizing that I probably have a personal bias, and am not all that bright in the first place: I am going to ask another pipester who has been at it even longer than me to smoke this thing a couple weeks and give me feedback.

When money lets me I am going to order an extra large plateau, use a shorter tenon next go around (so more chamber vol) and make an LB like this for sale I think.

Obviously nothing revolutionary as senior artisans forging the second chambers but I think its cool to have it hidden in a classic shape.

Just my 2 cents and thanks very much for the previous feedback everyone,
Bill