Questions About Billiards

[NathanA]

I am planning a couple of billiards for my first attempt in drilling the blocks and fitting the stems myself (I am still a ways away from making my own stems just yet, but I'm getting there). I had a few questions about the design of billiards and was hoping to get some feedback. I was able to find plenty of pictures of billiards in my research but little in the way of structural design characteristics. So here goes:

1) Are the air-hole and chamber at a perfect 90 degrees or is there a slight tilt between the two?

2) Are there any guidelines as far as dimensions and proportions (bowl height vs. diameter, shank length vs. stem length, overall height vs. length, etc) that I should be aware of? I have looked at so many different ones, all slightly different, I didn't know if there were any hard and fast rules or just rough guidelines (or if it is just a matter of preference).

3) I have noticed that the bowls of many billiards have a slight inwards taper from the base of the bowl to the rim (or maybe better stated as a slight bulge towards the bottom of the bowl), but that the amount of taper (or bulge) varies greatly. Is there any formula for this; and if the walls are more or less straight (but not flat-bottomed like a poker) does this make it something other than a billiard?

I appreciate the help and if anyone has any other advice for me I would love to hear it. Thanks everyone, Nathan

[KurtHuhn]

1) Are the air-hole and chamber at a perfect 90 degrees or is there a slight tilt between the two?

The bowl should be canted slightly away from the shank. I don't measure, I just go by what looks good. It's a couple of degrees past 90 I would guess.

2) Are there any guidelines as far as dimensions and proportions (bowl height vs. diameter, shank length vs. stem length, overall height vs. length, etc) that I should be aware of? I have looked at so many different ones, all slightly different, I didn't know if there were any hard and fast rules or just rough guidelines (or if it is just a matter of preference).

Yes. Shank length roughly equal to height of bowl. Stem slightly longer than shank. That is not a hard and fast rule, but it will help in figuring out your first few and how to compose them. Beyond that you can start considering the golden ratio as a way to help you understand the whys and wherefores of pleasing design - but even that isn't a hard and fast rule. Frankly, there are no rules, only interpretations of form.

3) I have noticed that the bowls of many billiards have a slight inwards taper from the base of the bowl to the rim (or maybe better stated as a slight bulge towards the bottom of the bowl), but that the amount of taper (or bulge) varies greatly. Is there any formula for this; and if the walls are more or less straight (but not flat-bottomed like a poker) does this make it something other than a billiard?

There is no formula (with apologies to Todd). One thing you do want to avoid is a barrel shape. Make the billiard more bottom heavy. Make it even more bottom heavy, and you end up with a brandy. Really it boils down to what you find attractive.

For your billiard, you'll have a hell of a lot more fun if you find an example that you would buy without really being concerned about price, and attempting to copy it. Before beginning your work, find the facets that you think really "make" the pipe, and focus on those as you're making your copy. Feel free to use a ruler to find ratios, composition, etc to help you kind of understand why things are working together the way they are. While I wouldn't necessarily advocate pipe design by way of ruler, it can help if you're still trying to figure out composition and design.

[NathanA]

Awesome. Thank you, Mr. Huhn for your advice and response. I am still waiting for my briar delivery and have precious little time in the shop helping to care for my newborn twin girls, but as soon as I have something to post I'll have it up for critique.

[m.c.]

Cant of bowl is normal, but you may not necessarily drill the holes accordingly. Just drill at 90 degrees and shape the exterior in a way which "shows" a slight cant, by giving the near-your-face side a less steep wall than the far-from-face side. As the cant is very slight, this will work, unless you want to make a super-thin bowl, which is very risky if the outside is at a different angle from the inside.

If you are using high quality briar, I suggest keeping the shank as long as possible and shorten the bit accordingly. A longer shank with good grain makes the pipe appear more elegant and "higher-grade". There is also more wood to absorb moisture. If it is too long to look right as a billiard, just change your plan and make a Canadian. I consider it sin to cut down the extra inch which is clean and beautifully grained.

For a billiard, the belly must be thicker than the rim. But there is no rule to tell you by how much, and typical English, Itallian and Danish billiards all look different. There is not even a clear-cut line between billiard & brandy and billard & apple. Here is the opportunity for each individual to show personal touch, but beware each of them can be beautiful and can be ugly.

[Anvil]

So what about the top? If you cant the bowl a couple degrees forward, do you also angle the top a couple degrees or do you make it parallel to the shank/stem?

[KurtHuhn]

It's easiest just to drill it a few degrees off. That way you don't have to worry about where the chamber is in relation to the outside of the pipe, and it really helps keep thing symmetrical.

[Mike Messer]

So what about the top? If you cant the bowl a couple degrees forward, do you also angle the top a couple degrees or do you make it parallel to the shank/stem?

I'm looking at my Longchamp, leather-covered billiard, manufactured pipe, and the bowl angles about 3 deg. forward, and the top also angles about 3 deg. It looks fine. I have also seen some handmade billiards, like Teddy Knudsen's no. 25 which also tilts this way. Not sure of the exact angle on the TK pipe.

P.S. in ref to next post by Kurt...true of the Longchamp, top plane is perpendicular to the centerline axis of the tobacco chamber, and both tilt forward about 3 degrees from perpendicular with the shank.

[KurtHuhn]

So what about the top? If you cant the bowl a couple degrees forward, do you also angle the top a couple degrees or do you make it parallel to the shank/stem?

Perpendicular to the axis of the tobacco chamber. In other words, a few degrees off of parallel with the shank.

[Anvil]

Does this slight angle also apply to a poker or just billiards?

[KurtHuhn]

Well, there's no real rules, so whatever looks good.

The reason behind canting the bowl of a billiard forward a few degrees is because if it were perfectly perpendicular to the shank, it would actually appear to be leaning backwards due to a strange optical illusion. I haven't made a poker in ages, but I think I recall that the bowl was canted forward slightly off the shank.

[Mike Messer]

Does this slight angle also apply to a poker or just billiards?

I have researched this "Tilt" question for my own information by looking at pipes at a lot of sites on the internet, both current pipemakers, and classics from various sites, and I have seen some perpendicular and some tilted. I could be wrong, but I don't think there is a hard rule, but maybe a general preference. I also wonderd why they were tilted?
KurtHuhn, Todd Johnson, Sasquatch, Rad Davis, or posibly others seem to have a keen sense about this sort of thing.

[Sasquatch]

There are billiards and brandies out there cut and machined at 90 degrees. Pots too. They are relatively rare. The main objection to doing a pipe at 90 degrees full on is that it tends to have a "curled" look. There is an optical illusion of the stem actually bending upward toward the bowl. This disappears with either a slight bend in the stem or a 2 or 3 degree cant of the bowl.

The cant also allows a slightly more refined "chin" and shank transition, for an overall refined, sleek aesthetic, rather than a more rustic feel on a 90 degree pipe.

I learned me all of this stuff right here at Kurt's place.

EDIT Naturally there's all kinds of tricks/variations available - drill a pipe at 90 degrees, then tip the whole stummel forward and bent the stem, etc. But that's not what we're talking about, really.

[mightysmurf8201]

I know this is a very old thread, but I just want to say thank you for this information, as I am about to attempt my 1st billiard in the coming weeks. I've only made a few pipes so far, mostly freehands, but enough to realize that I need to go back and perfect the basic shapes if I really want to progress in crafting consistently good pipes. I'm starting to see that without the basic shapes and techniques mastered, all I'm really doing is simply hoping that the pipe turns out well.