Stanwell's Bowl Coating

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Dock

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Last week I purchased a brand new Stanwell shape 186. It arrived this weekend. Aside from the expected fills it was a pretty presentable pipe. It's a Legend model and represents a slightly higher grade Stan as opposed to a Majestic and thus costs a bit more. It's got a higher gloss finish than I've seen on any of the Stans that I've owned. When I looked at it I could see that the bowl coating was very uneven at the rim and that high gloss finish was clearly visible under the missing coating. It seems that Stanwell as Peterson does dip stains and likely dip varnishes the pipes then applies the coating. Two bowlfuls was enough to tell me that I don't much care for the taste of varnish and stain in my pipe's bowl. I sanded it all down to bare wood as much was possible. The problem now seems to be corrected and it smokes as well as any of my Stans now.

Just a warning folks, you may want to do the same thing on any new highly polished Stans that you purchase....
 
The only bowl coating that I actually like is the one that Mike Brissett uses of his own design, upon request.
 
I haven't ran into that with my Stanwells, but I have a Peterson that has it. I used a pipe cleaner and some overproofed rum when I got it to try and take it off, but I can still taste it. Just been trying to tough it out - thinking that some buildup of cake would solve it. May have to go the sanding route and start all over I guess.
 
Same thing happened to me on my first Pete I bought a few months ago... I decided to bite the bullet as well and sand out the stain... it's definitely better now but most likely it's my first and last Pete, I hate the dip staining.
 
I did that to a cheap Vauen pipe. It was all black and glossy, and it goggled a LOT, and I mean A LOT.
I didn't sand it I used the dremel with a felt disk (dremel code 429) it came out easily. Now that pipe is not beautiful (never was) but it smokes quite well.
 
I just received two new Stanwell's a few days ago and took a damp dishcloth to the inside of each. With just twisting and finger pressure I was able to remove all of the black mystery coating down to what appeared to be unfinished wood. On the Bulldog I did notice the external coating did go into the bowl a bit, but really not more than a quarter inch, so it was easy to remove with a touch up with light sand paper.

From there, I went to my usual break in treatment (and we all seem to swear by one concoction or another) and the cake is developing nicely. By the by, I agree with JP's comment about Mike Brissitt's coating being good. But having been to Mikes secret laboratory deep in the bowels of West Allis, and knowing Mike's, how shall I tactfully put this, ahhh, concept of sanitary excellence, I'm not sure if he shared his secret recipe for bowl coatings you would want to put it anywhere near your mouth! :mrgreen:

Just kidding, as I own and smoke regularly over two dozen of his pipes and bowls, so obviously it has no effect on me.

Natch
 
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