I went and did it !

Y'all have seen the pic's of my 100 year old meer. Well truth be told, I rarely smoke it because it
is just a pain. Has a metal stinger and the drilling is weird. It's drilled thru the shank almost to the bowl,
but then they drilled from the bowl into the airway. They evidently couldn't get the angle into the bowl
from the shank. With the stinger I couldn't get a pipe cleaner to pass thru the stem and bit and the draw
was like sucking mud.

So tonight I took a drill bit after the shank and bowl. Opened it up to where I have a free flow of air,
no noticable resistance. I then took a bit and drilled the bit opening down to the bend in the stem.
Used a cutting disk in my dremel and removed the end of the stinger and took the drill bit to open it
to the bend from that direction. I noticed that while drilling out the remaining portion of the stinger
that the drill bit was pulling amber dust as we as metal filings. I believe I found the major issue
that was hampering the draw. I believe the set the stinger in hot and scooped the side of the stem
filling the stinger with amber. In any case, it now smokes perfectly, easy draw, clean flavors, and
is a cool pipe to bat !

Good on you for not holding up a smoking device as something holy that ought not be tampered with. Some may say you ruined the value of an antique but IMO if a 100 year old antique is unable to do the job it was designed and built for, then it's a shame someone didn't throw it in the trash 99 years ago. Now you've got something that functions like it should, AND it's old AND it's cool! It just doesn't get any better than that. Now just be careful not to go and drop it on the concrete... which is something that would invariable happen to me...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Emperor Zurg

Good on you for not holding up a smoking device as something holy that ought not be tampered with. Some may say you ruined the value of an antique but IMO if a 100 year old antique is unable to do the job it was designed and built for, then it's a shame someone didn't throw it in the trash 99 years ago. Now you've got something that functions like it should, AND it's old AND it's cool! It just doesn't get any better than that. Now just be careful not to go and drop it on the concrete... which is something that would invariable happen to me...

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I recalled where in a previous thread here or at that other place,you stated that you grabbed a hack saw anytime you got
a pipe with a stinger.( I could be wrong though) What put me over the edge was reading a book that Warren, @Pugsley , sent me
"In Search Of Pipe Dreams" by Rick Newcomb. In it he discusses how he purchases these high end pipes and has them drilled out
to what he believes is a perfect draw. He ask's the one question that we all have to decide at some point, just what type of
pipe collector are we. Am I looking for a pretty shelf piece, or am I looking for a good smoker? I aint rich enough for shelf art,
I want to smoke my pipes and it should be enjoyable. So I've been playing with the dremel for cleaning old cake, and I opened
up the draw on a Bruce Peters. And with a noticable improvement I decided I wanted to enjoy that "old" meer.Now I'a glad I did !

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lostmason

I recalled where in a previous thread here or at that other place,you stated that you grabbed a hack saw anytime you got
a pipe with a stinger.

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That probably wasn't me since I don't have many pipes but I've read that many times and I agree. I am totally not above modifying something just because it's expensive or old or unique. To me, some object that is too fancy to use it's just something to get in the way and eventually get broke after I've babysat the stupid thing and worried about it for years :p It would be different if it was a keepsake in memory of someone or of times past or whatnot and I couldn't fix it without great risk of destroying it; then, even if it didn't work, I'd probably hang on to it anyway.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lostmason

I recalled where in a previous thread here or at that other place,you stated that you grabbed a hack saw anytime you got
a pipe with a stinger.( I could be wrong though) What put me over the edge was reading a book that Warren, @Pugsley , sent me
"In Search Of Pipe Dreams" by Rick Newcomb. In it he discusses how he purchases these high end pipes and has them drilled out
to what he believes is a perfect draw. He ask's the one question that we all have to decide at some point, just what type of
pipe collector are we. Am I looking for a pretty shelf piece, or am I looking for a good smoker? I aint rich enough for shelf art,
I want to smoke my pipes and it should be enjoyable. So I've been playing with the dremel for cleaning old cake, and I opened
up the draw on a Bruce Peters. And with a noticable improvement I decided I wanted to enjoy that "old" meer.Now I'a glad I did !

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That book really opened my eyes too. Before I read it I felt it would be an insult to the artisan who created it to make alterations, but now I don't hesitate to drill it out or file the stem to make it more comfortable. I may have destroyed the resale value on some but I didn't buy them as investments, I bought them to smoke and enjoy.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pugsley

That book really opened my eyes too. Before I read it I felt it would be an insult to the artisan who created it to make alterations, but now I don't hesitate to drill it out or file the stem to make it more comfortable. I may have destroyed the resale value on some but I didn't buy them as investments, I bought them to smoke and enjoy.

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That is a really good read. I caught a few post mentioning it on other forums, and they weren't complimentary.
They try to paint Mr Newcomb as an elitist, but I caught where several places he stated that you could find
wonderful pipes for less money and that he has several machine made pipes that are great smokers. I did
think that A.Menedez who wrote the epilog, is a bit of an elitist. But it's not his book. I've decided that I'm
going to go thru all my pipes, and those that are a bit on the tough side will get some modifying.That Dunhill
definatly doesn't need it though. It smokes like a dream,kind of the standard I'm looking for in the rest.

That Dunhill was a great pipe but I'm a big man, (6' 4"), with gigantic mitts and it never felt right in my hand so it just sat, neglected, in a box on my shelf. I'm glad you're enjoying it and giving it the attention it deserves. I do, in part, agree with some of Rick Newcomb's detractors. He can come across as a bit of an elitist, but he's also a bit of a revolutionary and rabble rouser and for that I respect him.

Stingers are the bane of my existence. Most of my pipes are estates I bought in lots and refurb'd to a nice smokeable condition, and the first thing I do when I encounter a stinger is extract it. I have a baggie full of stingers that maybe I'll sell on ebay some day in hopes of finding some oddball passionate collector of pipe stingers.

I have no problem at all modifying a pipe from its factory condition to make it more attuned to my preferences.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lostmason

Y'all have seen the pic's of my 100 year old meer. Well truth be told, I rarely smoke it because it
is just a pain. Has a metal stinger and the drilling is weird. It's drilled thru the shank almost to the bowl,
but then they drilled from the bowl into the airway. They evidently couldn't get the angle into the bowl
from the shank. With the stinger I couldn't get a pipe cleaner to pass thru the stem and bit and the draw
was like sucking mud.

So tonight I took a drill bit after the shank and bowl. Opened it up to where I have a free flow of air,
no noticable resistance. I then took a bit and drilled the bit opening down to the bend in the stem.
Used a cutting disk in my dremel and removed the end of the stinger and took the drill bit to open it
to the bend from that direction. I noticed that while drilling out the remaining portion of the stinger
that the drill bit was pulling amber dust as we as metal filings. I believe I found the major issue
that was hampering the draw. I believe the set the stinger in hot and scooped the side of the stem
filling the stinger with amber. In any case, it now smokes perfectly, easy draw, clean flavors, and
is a cool pipe to bat !

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How did you drill it out? Did you use a little electric drill or did you use a drill press? What size bit did you use? I need to do that to some of my pipes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Haebar

How did you drill it out? Did you use a little electric drill or did you use a drill press? What size bit did you use? I need to do that to some of my pipes.

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Tab, I used a cutting disk in a drenel to remove the end of the stinger. Then I used an 1/8 bit in the dremel
to open the stem up. The goal was to open it up without expanding the threaded part of the stinger. I had to
go slow and watch my angle, since I was free handing it. I used the 1/8 bit in the shank kind of like a loose
reamer to carve out the gunk and opening a little. The scariest part was when I was working on the button
end. I had to watch my approach as much as my angle since the button has only a hole not a slot. And that
was about 2/3's of the bit. I drilled to the bend from both sides trying insure an unrestricted air flow. Also
I used an 11/32 bit like a router bit to adjust the draft opening, it had a small lip due to the way it was
originally drilled. All I did there was open the draft trough a little, I did notice that the first smoke was
gurgle free. With Nightcap that may not mean much, but for that pipe it is also a first. Good luck, go slow,
and let me know how it goes.