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My wife and boy went out for the day and I decided to have a fun day in the workshop. A fun day for me is getting to make something pipey for myself without having to worry about paying the bills. So today I tackled a project that's been on my to-do list for ages.
My father gave me a long prince that needed a replacement stem. When I got the pipe I discovered that he had been using a pen knife to clean the cake, and poked a hole clean through the heel of the pipe. I threw it in my workshop junk box because I liked the shape and wanted the pipe as a reference to make a copy.
I had a mate stop by for a couple of hours and we had a nice cigar (Cohiba Secretos and Trini Reyes). His wife picked him up a bit early and I hadn't quite finished my cigar and had to lay it aside. I had about an 30mm left and didn't want to waste it...but I also decided it was high time to finish up a project so as to run a pipe/cigar experiment.
I got that old prince pipe out and fashioned a new stem for it. You can see the old broken and bit through stem, and the copy I made from it. The rod at the back is ebonite, used to make pipe stems. This stuff doesn't go green! I also mixed up a batch of pipe mud and repaired the hole at the heel of the pipe. It won't tolerate smoking tobacco in the bowl, but it will tolerate a cigar wedged in the chamber.
So that was the experiment. I knew that prince had a chamber the right diameter for a 40 or 42 gauge cigar. Lightly wedged in, and I can get another 5 minutes off my cigar.
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I had some time left so I decided to complete a project for a friend. He has a Strawberry Wood (a species of briar wood) Becker pipe with an amazing blast. But when he bought the pipe, it was virgin finish (no stain or wax). It started to colour from smoking and he didn't like it how dirty the natural wood was getting, so he asked me to re-stain it to make it look better. I went for a contrast finish to make that grain pop, and I must say it is one of the more unique blasts I have ever seen in my ten year career as a pipe maker. Anyway, enjoy the pictures!
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Have a good day! -Paul
My father gave me a long prince that needed a replacement stem. When I got the pipe I discovered that he had been using a pen knife to clean the cake, and poked a hole clean through the heel of the pipe. I threw it in my workshop junk box because I liked the shape and wanted the pipe as a reference to make a copy.
I had a mate stop by for a couple of hours and we had a nice cigar (Cohiba Secretos and Trini Reyes). His wife picked him up a bit early and I hadn't quite finished my cigar and had to lay it aside. I had about an 30mm left and didn't want to waste it...but I also decided it was high time to finish up a project so as to run a pipe/cigar experiment.
I got that old prince pipe out and fashioned a new stem for it. You can see the old broken and bit through stem, and the copy I made from it. The rod at the back is ebonite, used to make pipe stems. This stuff doesn't go green! I also mixed up a batch of pipe mud and repaired the hole at the heel of the pipe. It won't tolerate smoking tobacco in the bowl, but it will tolerate a cigar wedged in the chamber.
So that was the experiment. I knew that prince had a chamber the right diameter for a 40 or 42 gauge cigar. Lightly wedged in, and I can get another 5 minutes off my cigar.
002.JPG003.JPG005.JPG
I had some time left so I decided to complete a project for a friend. He has a Strawberry Wood (a species of briar wood) Becker pipe with an amazing blast. But when he bought the pipe, it was virgin finish (no stain or wax). It started to colour from smoking and he didn't like it how dirty the natural wood was getting, so he asked me to re-stain it to make it look better. I went for a contrast finish to make that grain pop, and I must say it is one of the more unique blasts I have ever seen in my ten year career as a pipe maker. Anyway, enjoy the pictures!
009.JPG011.JPG012.JPG
Have a good day! -Paul
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