Tobacco Pipe

I was curious about tobacco pipe construction, so I did a little research and realized it was relatively simple construction that might be fun to try with some of the hundreds of off-cuts I seem to accumulate.

Not being willing to go to all the trouble of a complete finish job and find out it is a failure....I made a couple of test pipes from 8/4 cherry.   After all, lots of people smoke pipes made of corn cob, so I can't be far off the goal ;o)

Dimensions of my bowl are 1in. diameter and about 1.25 in. which I did with a Forstner bit and a big burr to round the bottom of hole a bit. I used a 5/32 bit to drill the draught hole.

I failed to find a pipe stem to buy, so I just purchased a $7 corncob pipe and took the stem from it.  It required an 11/32 x 1/2 in. mortise to be drilled in the shank which I accomplished on the drill press -- and now it's ready to start breaking in.

Test pipe in Cherry

Local smoke shop on the corner seems to be more of a head-shop, so their tobacco selection was limited to Prince Albert.

I was surprised that the test went so well.   Easy draw, and the tobacco kept its light for quite a while.  All in all, I think I will have to continue with the process. Didn't get too hot -- no tongue bite and very pleasant smoke.

Next is develop some jigs to make things repeatable, and develop a system to turn lucite or vulcanized rubber stem material.

... well, well, I have  found that making my own lucite stem with resin and a mold will be the thing to do.   Copper pipe and an appropriate size rod for the draught hole ought to give me a stem blank that needs only minor sizing on the lathe...and then some heat to bend it in a nice curve.   Look out -- here comes the Alaska Pipe Factory, LOL.

.......
After a few bowls of tobacco and another test pipe, I think I will try just making a corncob style pipe... turn the whole bowl and plug in a stem.   Might be easier to duplicate and have a back-to-the-roots kind of appeal ;o)