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Finished my second pipe (I know, still need a lot of work), and for some reason I didn't test that a pipe cleaner would pass nice and easily until the pipe was complete. It was slightly binding when passing the bend so I heated and straightened the stem, and attempted to SLOWLY drill the air hole to a more appropriate diameter, and freakin' drilled right through the top of the stem. AAAAUUUGHH!! I'm ok now, back to creating another stem. Just venting a little. Practice make perfect right??? This is the pipe before the "issue". Don't have another blank like this so it will now be a Cumberland stem.

They say you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs. Not sure why you can't make pipes without breaking pipes, but it does seem that way.

What's the stem material? I don't recognize it.

There are alot of ways to screw up a stem. You will learn most of them after ruining a few meters of ebonite. Its sort of an entrance fee to become a pipemaker.

There are just as many ways to ruin briar. It's all part of the learning process...unless you repeat your mistakes.

Thanks guys. Sounds like you all have been in my shoes!

Sas, the stem material is a Marinara Sauce Rhino blank from Exotic Blanks. I've turned a few pens with it over the past few years and it's fairly easy to work with.

sandahlpipe wrote:There are just as many ways to ruin briar. It's all part of the learning process...unless you repeat your mistakes.

I trash a surprising amount of both. Its rare for me to finish a pipe with the first block of briar and first length of stem material.

All my mistakes are handed over to my parrot, He can destroy anything.