So I was thinking about stems. A favorite pastime of mine. My current thinking was that it is very hard to find that right balance between thin and strong. Vulcanite is only so strong. Too thing and the stem will crack. Too thick and its no fun to hold in your mouth. Mike Butera addresses this by having an extremely shallow slot. His stems are quite thin, but I’m not fond of the draw. I have an Eltang, which is exceptionally thin but I always feel I’m near biting through it. And I’m not a clencher either.
My first alternate solution was to consider another material. I wouldn’t mind fiddling around with a carbon fiber rod, except that the material is quite expensive. Also, working with carbon fiber is supposed to be quite hard. It’d certainly be strong enough, but the work that would go into forming a stem out of the stuff seems overly arduous. Still, there was the germ of an idea there.
Oddly enough, I though back to an episode of Myth Busters, a TV show on the A&E cable channel I think. In the episode, the guys were building a jetpack. Or something more like it. The guys made the housing for their rotors – the jet pack was more akin to a propeller pack, as the thing had two props – out of some sort of fiber coated in a resin. They stated that this was the strongest lightest material they could work with, and perfect for their application. This got me to thinking: if one could make a model of the interior of the draft hole and slot, it could then be wrapped in such fiber and coated with the same sort of resin. Once dry, the fiber casting could be incased in vulcanite – the draft hole and slot pre-made. Of course, you’d have to figure out how to remove the solid casting from the draft hole and slot. A wax model seemed to be the best solution. Once the frame is incased in the vulcanite, the wax can be melted.
One hurtles would seem to be how to incase the wax and fiber frame in vulcanite without melting the wax. I don’t know what temperatures are needed to make the vulcanite liquid enough to coat the frame. It is likely that they might be too hot for the wax. Perhaps some other medium could be used. A paste or plaster that could be dissolved in some sort of solvent, perhaps.
If this hurtle could be cleared though, I think that one could construct an exceptionally thin bit that has the strength of a much thicker bit.
I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject!
Tags: carbon fiber, pipe making, pipes, stems, tobacco
July 1, 2009 at 5:02 pm |
I’m just the opposite. I like a bigger bit, something wide and flat, saddle style. My back teeth have a funny bite, so anything thin will wobble or sometimes roll, dumping ash all over. With a stem set in my teeth, I have to turn the pipe stem about 25-30 degrees to have the bowl pointing skywards. So just as you’re questing for thin svelt stems, I’m always questing for anything wide. I really don’t care for the feel and bite of lucite or other plastic stems, so I’m always on the lookout for any pipe makers who use genuine vulcanite.
July 2, 2009 at 9:56 am |
Thanks for the note! You’re absolutely right that the ultra thin stem may not be the holy grail for everyone. I agree with you about a wide stem. And flat is good too. I hate it when the damned thing rolls about. Although I don’t clench that much anymore. But stems that are thick from top to bottom bother me.
To each their own!