Poor smoker...

[Blackbeltpipes]

Hi all... I’d appreciate some input on this pipe and my thought process to improve the smoking of it. it is a good friend’s that called it an $80 paperweight. It’s a Cassini Milano briar with rubber stem. Draught is slightly off center to bowl but nothing major to report. So here’s what I’m planning to do to fix it:

Pipe draught is approximately in the slightly less than 3mm range (already enlarged that as you’ll see in the pictures to 4mm or 11/64) you’ll see how small the draught was on the tenon.
Stem is bent, funneled but in one picture I’m pointing to where the funnel ends on the stem top so it’s before the bend which makes it easy for me to drill without straightening the stem first... I plan to vice the stem and carefully drill down to the tip of the funnel with a tapered drill bit (shown) that measures 4mm down to ~2mm at the tip. I would then chamfer the tenon draught hole and polish the stem draught.
Also of note, I’m surprised at the commonality of the tenon not extending to the end of the mortise and wondered if this will affect the performance beyond what I can fix short of drilling and inserting a new delrin tenon. Wondered if that will create a whistle or gurgle but I’m not going to do a tenon change. Not enough reward for the risk. Anyway would love to hear any thoughts or recommendations. Thanks!








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[Blackbeltpipes]

I’d like to add I have concerns about the tenon walls being too thin but it’s a trade off between thinner tenon wall or poor air flow...


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[Sasquatch]

Put a funnel on the end of that tenon would be my first thought, and see how pinched that airway is from bending... did it collapse? Is it full of crumbs/roughness? The off center drilling in the bowl is nothing. This one it's all stem.

[Blackbeltpipes]

Put a funnel on the end of that tenon would be my first thought, and see how pinched that airway is from bending... did it collapse? Is it full of crumbs/roughness? The off center drilling in the bowl is nothing. This one it's all stem.

Thanks! It does look like the airway is a bit collapsed... it may help to straighten the whole thing out a pipe cleaner through and rebend it. I’m convinced the airway is too small though... you can see I. The picture that it is less than a 3mm hole and that just isn’t enough... especially when you consider the acceleration of air when drawn through from 4mm down to much less. I’d assume it would make for a hot smoke... am I right in this line of thinking? Hotter bowl, hotter faster draw without much gain at the mouthpiece... just more effort...


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[Sasquatch]

One school of thought is that as the airway gets smaller, there is less pressure being exerted by the hot gas passing through it, less interaction with the walls. But of course, if it's too small, any half drop of moisture will make it gurgle too, so there's obviously a middle ground to be had, and I think most pipes find it between 1/8" and 5/32" round airways, and corresponding sizes of slots.