Restricted Stem Help

[clueless]

I picked up a great pipe at the Columbus Pope show this past fall. It is a Comoy Heirloom. It is a beautiful sitter and it is the largest capacity bowl I have and it smokes great! I have dedicated it to Virginia Flake and it is a smoke I always look forward to enjoying.

My only issue with it is that the black stem - it is a half bent - has such a tight bore that it barely passes a pipe cleaner. Once the cleaner gets to the wood the bore is wide and smooth - Perfect! It's not clogged or anything. I have cleaned it thoroughly. It is just bored too tight. The channel is just a smidge too small. Is there anything I can do, or have done by a pro, that would open this up just a bit?
Thanks

 

[Richard Burley]

You have to heat the stem, straighten it, then drill it out to a diameter of your preference, then bend it back. Pain in the ass. There are other threads on this site discussing this issue.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

True enough. Bent stems are a pain to widen, but it isn't impossible. Heated sand or barely boiling water has worked for me to both unbend and bend stems, and the only thing you'd need is a long enough drill bit or thin enough file to re-work the airway.

Another thing you could try is a guitar or bass string. I have one for this purpose (most useful for cleaning), and it takes a little effort, might save you from having to go through the rigamarole of stem unbending/bending. E or an A strings of the guitar and maybe the G string of a bass guitar--however much you need to widen the airway (cheap ones with some "edge" on them are best--guys at the music shop might thing you're nuts, but it's an inexpensive venture). Once you have such a thing, simply feed the smallest string with the "pokey" end through the tenon end of the stem, and it should be kind of hard to push through but not bind up nor pass freely. Once through, gently use a back-and-forth action a few times (or just grab the stem and slide up and down the string if you can affix one end of the string to something like a vice) and it'll likely do the trick.

Good luck.

 

[monbla256]

True enough. Bent stems are a pain to widen, but it isn't impossible. Heated sand or barely boiling water has worked for me to both unbend and bend stems, and the only thing you'd need is a long enough drill bit or thin enough file to re-work the airway.

Another thing you could try is a guitar or bass string. I have one for this purpose (most useful for cleaning), and it takes a little effort, might save you from having to go through the rigamarole of stem unbending/bending. E or an A strings of the guitar and maybe the G string of a bass guitar--however much you need to widen the airway (cheap ones with some "edge" on them are best--guys at the music shop might thing you're nuts, but it's an inexpensive venture). Once you have such a thing, simply feed the smallest string with the "pokey" end through the tenon end of the stem, and it should be kind of hard to push through but not bind up nor pass freely. Once through, gently use a back-and-forth action a few times (or just grab the stem and slide up and down the string if you can affix one end of the string to something like a vice) and it'll likely do the trick.

Good luck.

I would try Kyle's method as if you do the rebend / heat thing and re-widen the airway when you re-bend it you will constrict the airway as it closes due to being bent again. This is one of the reasons I've not ever bought full bent pipes as most i tried, had this problem. The airway needs to be widened when the bit is bent, not straight THEN re-bent. Give it a try and let us know how it goes.

 

[monbla256]

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Yeah don't forget your -- we couldn't have that... :lol:

I never thought of using the guitar strings coupled with the unbending/rebending method... the guitar string would sure add a bit of support in the airway as it is rebent (I imagine some bent stems go from round airway to somewhat squashed football-shaped airway as they are bent)... but--if you use a wound guitar string with a lot of edges, it may wedge itself in there and grip on the inside of the airway something fierce...for that purpose, I'd use a non-wound guitar string (which is obviously smooth if you compare them). That way, the soft rubber wouldn't also form to the roughness of the string and should pull right out once the stem is re-bent and cooled.

8)

 

[dshpipes]

I never thought of using the guitar strings coupled with the unbending/rebending method... the guitar string would sure add a bit of support in the airway as it is rebent (I imagine some bent stems go from round airway to somewhat squashed football-shaped airway as they are bent)... but--if you use a wound guitar string with a lot of edges, it may wedge itself in there and grip on the inside of the airway something fierce...for that purpose, I'd use a non-wound guitar string (which is obviously smooth if you compare them). That way, the soft rubber wouldn't also form to the roughness of the string and should pull right out once the stem is re-bent and cooled.

This = brilliant.