Kyle Weiss
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- Joined
- Sep 18, 2011
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So, I have this Brebbia 624 Golden Natural, got it back in...May/June I think...good price, unsmoked. Nice little bent bulldog. It's been an handful, though.
The first issue was the (as I know it now) cheap vulcanite stem that was used. Upon two hours of painstaking shining and polishing, the sucker browned in five minutes--no kidding. It didn't go green, but just stays a bakers-chocolate brown (and gets kind of greenish at the bit when used). Okay, fine, whatever. I can deal with vulcanite, it feels good on the teeth and I don't hate the rubbery taste.
Brebbia was nice enough to chamfer or "trumpet" (as I call it) the tenon of the airway on the stem, but did so in a very counterproductive manner-- it still has a weird, sharp edge to the inner hole. Occasionally, it would smoke pretty wet and gurgle even under the best of smoking conditions and slow puffing, so I opted to go after it with a pocket knife to finish the chamfering job they started. It's a method I've done countless times, helping my Peterson pipes tremendously. It also benefits pipes that have the shank drilled deeper than the tenon can reach (making a gap that can condensate/make wet the smoke). I've gotten my approach and method down to a fine science (in my own head, anyway) where the tenon ends up having the shape kind of like...as mentioned...a trumpet bell. It isn't just a 45-degree angle, it curves gently from the hole to the outer edge. Seems to work pretty good, especially after sanding it down and doing my best to "port and polish."
Well, I discovered something weird. Brebbia, either just this pipe or all of them (this my first and only), uses an acrylic insert to make the tenon, and fits it to the vulcanite bit. Okay, cool, whatever...seems like a lot of work rather than just turning out a single-material stem. The pipe, after my careful treatment, STILL had some moisture problems. So I took a bright flashlight, and bore-checked the stem. I'll be damned if there wasn't a piss-poor fitting of the two materials inside, making a edged choke-point inside. So, after it with the micro files I went. Not an easy job, but I got it done.
Why the heck would they do this? :scratch: I fondly remember the thread where Sasquatch was talking about pipe engineering, and how drilling accuracy and airway care make a big difference in smoking, and I agree. This is a case where the engineering was a little careless, and the user had to make right the process oversights.
Speaking of which, what happened to Sas' challenge to take a notoriously bad smoking pipe and re-do the poor thing correctly to fix it? Did I miss that?
Anyway, that was my version of "airway fixing" of sorts. Just wondering if anyone else has had issues with newer Brebbias and if it's a common problem.
8)
The first issue was the (as I know it now) cheap vulcanite stem that was used. Upon two hours of painstaking shining and polishing, the sucker browned in five minutes--no kidding. It didn't go green, but just stays a bakers-chocolate brown (and gets kind of greenish at the bit when used). Okay, fine, whatever. I can deal with vulcanite, it feels good on the teeth and I don't hate the rubbery taste.
Brebbia was nice enough to chamfer or "trumpet" (as I call it) the tenon of the airway on the stem, but did so in a very counterproductive manner-- it still has a weird, sharp edge to the inner hole. Occasionally, it would smoke pretty wet and gurgle even under the best of smoking conditions and slow puffing, so I opted to go after it with a pocket knife to finish the chamfering job they started. It's a method I've done countless times, helping my Peterson pipes tremendously. It also benefits pipes that have the shank drilled deeper than the tenon can reach (making a gap that can condensate/make wet the smoke). I've gotten my approach and method down to a fine science (in my own head, anyway) where the tenon ends up having the shape kind of like...as mentioned...a trumpet bell. It isn't just a 45-degree angle, it curves gently from the hole to the outer edge. Seems to work pretty good, especially after sanding it down and doing my best to "port and polish."
Well, I discovered something weird. Brebbia, either just this pipe or all of them (this my first and only), uses an acrylic insert to make the tenon, and fits it to the vulcanite bit. Okay, cool, whatever...seems like a lot of work rather than just turning out a single-material stem. The pipe, after my careful treatment, STILL had some moisture problems. So I took a bright flashlight, and bore-checked the stem. I'll be damned if there wasn't a piss-poor fitting of the two materials inside, making a edged choke-point inside. So, after it with the micro files I went. Not an easy job, but I got it done.
Why the heck would they do this? :scratch: I fondly remember the thread where Sasquatch was talking about pipe engineering, and how drilling accuracy and airway care make a big difference in smoking, and I agree. This is a case where the engineering was a little careless, and the user had to make right the process oversights.
Speaking of which, what happened to Sas' challenge to take a notoriously bad smoking pipe and re-do the poor thing correctly to fix it? Did I miss that?
Anyway, that was my version of "airway fixing" of sorts. Just wondering if anyone else has had issues with newer Brebbias and if it's a common problem.
8)