How to make smoking pipes with your own hands: step-by-step description. Is it possible to make a smoking pipe with your own hands? Diagram of a wooden smoking pipe
Smoking with a pipe is one of the first ways to use tobacco. Lighting a pipe was a kind of ritual. Most smokers smoked pipes continuously until the mid-20th century. Nowadays, the smoking process has been simplified due to the advent of cigarettes and cigarettes. But interest in pipes has not disappeared. And even vice versa. And making a pipe became great ideas For home business with a good income!
It's time to admit that a person is losing to smoking. Of course, cigarette consumption may be declining. But smoking hookahs and pipes is not. And the “steamers” with their newfangled electronic cigarettes? Smoking is a huge niche that brings enormous profits to multinational corporations. And who will refuse this voluntarily? That’s why smoking, changing and reincarnating, will always be around. Whether we like it or not.
website: No one smokes in our editorial office. And we don't recommend it to you. Although, smoking is a voluntary choice of an adult. But, tobacco smoke Harmful to health and can cause chronic diseases. Keep this in mind when making your informed choices.
Key Advantage smoking pipes The point is that it is not a mass product. Demand is stable, but not too high for large industry to become interested in it. Of course, there are small-scale factory products produced mainly by small Asian enterprises. But such specimens are used only by novice smokers to learn the process of smoking tobacco with a pipe. Later, having gained experience, people who prefer pipes try to find an individual copy that meets their taste preferences. And this is where the home business begins, which can bring a lot of income.
By the way, among regular pipe smokers there were and are such celebrities and famous people— Bob Marley, Johann Bach, Yuri Vizbor, Arkady Gaidar, Joseph Stalin, Stanislav Govorukhin, Vincent Van Gogh, Walt Disney, Sergei Yesenin, Madonna (singer), Nikolai Rastorguev and many others. And even fictional characters have such a passion for smoking pipes - Taras Bulba, Sherlock Holmes, Commissioner Magret, Captain Vrungel, the crocodile Gena and even Carlson. The list is impressive!
It wouldn't hurt to warn you. When thinking about this business, you must have artistic and craft talents. Making a pipe is quite labor-intensive and requires a highly qualified craftsman. Quite a bit of material will be wasted in the process of “getting your hands on” creating tubes. But, it's worth it. A quality pipe is very expensive. Very expensive! We wrote that making a custom pipe is very expensive?
As a rule, a good pipe maker comes to this business through smoking. First he tries the pipe. Then he searches for the ideal among those available, simultaneously understanding the smoking process. Not finding a suitable specimen, the master tries to make a pipe for himself. He can do it. Then he makes gift tubes for his friends, acquaintances and just anyone who wants one. They charge a nominal fee for the tubes - the cost of the material and a little for the work. And only then, increasing the cost of his work, making custom-made smoking pipes becomes his main source of income. Moreover, clients look for him themselves, through the tubes he made. IN modern society, usually via the Internet, finding in in social networks photo of the master's work.
Taking into account the above facts, have you already decided to start smoking? Do not hurry. You may be able to make pipes without developing this bad habit.
The theory of making tubes is widely described on the Internet. Many communities, forums and websites are dedicated to it. There are typical sizes, standard shapes and tube arrangements. various types. Technological methods of production and necessary equipment. That is, in essence, the device and inner dimensions pipes (chamber and shape of smoking channels) are standard for each type, but appearance- this is the master’s fantasy. That's what this home business is all about. The appearance and workmanship of the pipe is what will help you make money. And smoking will allow you to independently test the manufactured specimens. And you don't have to do it yourself. You might find someone you know who is an avid pipe smoker.
Materials suitable for making a smoking pipe
Such materials can be classified as traditional.
Tree — traditional material for making a tube. The most popular type is briar, which has been used since the 19th century. This is a growth between the root and trunk of the Erica arborescens shrub of the heather family. Cheaper options are pear or beech wood. Sometimes roots are used various trees, for example, cherries. Resinous wood and trees with low heat resistance are not suitable for making pipes.
It would not be amiss to remember the mortu (“ bog oak") - fossil oak wood. This material is characterized by high strength and excellent heat resistance.
Meerschaum- porous mineral white, the main deposits are located in Turkey. Tubes made from this mineral are called meerschaum. The bowl of the pipe is usually made from meerschaum. Decorated with intricate carvings. The mouthpiece and shank (connector between the tube chamber and the mouthpiece) are usually made of wood. For more expensive options, the chibouk is also made from foam.
Clay and porcelain. Most cheap option tube manufacturing. Similar to pottery production. Currently, such pipes are usually used as souvenirs, decorative and collectibles. Although there are also working, so-called Turkish pipes.
Also, advanced craftsmen do not stop there and look for various options and combinations of materials - from metal to plastic.
The simplest technology for making smoking pipes from wood
Here we will look at the most simple technology making smoking pipes of a certain size from wood. By simple we mean that the majority technological processes automated or mechanized. Not given full cycle production, but it is clearly shown that there is nothing complicated about it. To make pipes you will need a certain set of equipment and tools.
- wood lathe;
- turning cutters – roughing, finishing, boring, cutting;
- wooden split clamp;
- wooden pliers;
- vertical drilling machine;
- cutters with a diameter of 10 mm;
- two-stage wood drill with a diameter of 10 and 14 mm;
- hand saw for metal (or part thereof);
- rough rags;
- skins of various grain sizes.
The material for making smoking pipes is the same wood as for making mouthpieces, that is, beech, pear, cherry or briar.
Manufacturing begins with turning the workpiece to the following dimensions: length 62 - 63 mm, diameter 38 - 40 mm.
Remove the workpiece from the lathe and transfer it to a vertical drilling machine for further processing.
Using a detachable device and clamping wooden pliers, install the workpiece on a drilling machine and drill two holes perpendicular to each other: a blind hole for tobacco, 10 mm in diameter, 25 mm in depth, and on the side to connect the tube to the mouthpiece. In this case, a through two-stage hole is drilled in two diameters - 10 and 14 mm, so that the mouthpiece does not “fall” inside the tube when connected.
The workpiece is placed on the lathe for the second time. Bore a blind hole along the entire length to a diameter of 14 - 15 mm, a depth of 25 mm. Then grind the workpiece with outside up to a diameter of 30 mm. In this case, rearranging the workpiece in the chuck is not allowed, since the alignment of the diameters may be disrupted.
After turning to the above diameter, the workpiece is given the desired shape of the future smoking pipe.
Following this, black marks are made on the tube. They are carried out reverse side hand hacksaw on metal under pressure. Using a rough rag, apply pressure to “black” the end of the workpiece. Grind the workpiece inside and until mirror clean outside. Cut the workpiece from the wood.
Then start making the mouthpiece. Before connecting the tube to the mouthpiece, coat the joint with PVA glue and then with a light blow with a wooden hammer on which thick rubber is attached, the mouthpiece is hammered into the hole of the tube. In this case, there should be no visible gaps between the tube and the mouthpiece. The finishing of the tube is carried out at the request of the craftsman.
The use of a double filter placed in the stem or mouthpiece when using a pipe can reduce the incidence of illness from harmful substances emitted by tobacco products. The best wood for making a mouthpiece is juniper, apple, pear, birch, cherry, acacia, and oak. And also a good material is birch cord (a growth on the trunk of a birch tree, quite rare, but high-quality material).
The technology for making a mouthpiece is not difficult and serves as good practice for a beginning woodcarver.
The workpiece is clamped in the chuck of a lathe and processed along the end and outer diameter (roughing). Then, using a drill with a holder (through a threaded hole in the tailstock), a through hole with a diameter of 4 mm is manually drilled into the workpiece. In this case, vibration of the drill with the holder is not allowed.
Process the mouthpiece along the contour and draw two or three transverse black stripes with a hacksaw (back side) - indentations for decoration. After this, the mouthpiece is polished to a mirror finish and cut off from the workpiece. Drill a hole with a diameter of 8 mm. To make it easier to hold the mouthpiece when smoking, grind off two chamfers. Cover the mouthpiece with a solution of natural drying oil. According to American studies, a significant portion of harmful substances (including nicotine) settles in the mouthpiece when smoking.
The pipe allows you not only to smoke tobacco, but also cigarettes. For this purpose, you can make an insert that is inserted into the pipe while smoking cigarettes. While smoking tobacco, keep the insert from the pipe in place.
The insert is a conical plug with a hole inside for a cigarette. The insert should fit snugly against the walls of the tube and should not allow air to pass through when closing the cigarette hole with your finger.
Profitability of a home business making smoking pipes
The cost of making custom tubes varies from person to person. Therefore, the profitability of this business greatly depends on the capabilities of the master. A good craftsman makes tubes from high-quality material that cost 11,000...100,000 rubles each. A novice master can count on 2 - 10 thousand rubles per pipe.
You can increase your profits by manufacturing additional accessories - pipe stands, cases, covers, ashtrays, replacement mouthpieces, pipe fillers, tobacco boxes and so on, so on, so on. Smoking tobacco is a long process, surrounded by all sorts of traditions and devices. Having studied the topic well, you can understand that pipe making is only a small part of this entertaining home business.
By the way, for those who have almost completely studied the topic of smoking pipes, a hookah is also considered a pipe for smoking tobacco.
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Many would agree that smoking has become commonplace in our Everyday life. Nowadays it is fashionable to smoke vapes, hookahs, cigarettes, bongs, and some still prefer to plunge into the atmosphere of the past with the help of a smoking pipe. In this article we will talk about what a genuine smoking pipe is, we will figure out what this smoking accessory is made of and we will try to determine which device from yesteryear should be preferred by a real gentleman.
What is a smoking pipe
The smoking pipe is special device, intended for smoking tobacco, which is pre-prepared and cut. It was the smoking pipe that was the very accessory with the help of which all of humanity became addicted to the addiction. This type smoking was very popular almost until the middle of the 20th century, until it was replaced by cigarettes and cigarettes. And although this method of smoking is not very popular at present, European smoking pipes made of wood still find their true connoisseurs and are popular in narrow aristocratic circles of society.
An eastern modification of a smoking pipe is the hookah. Only it has a more complex device and is intended for smoking not dry tobacco, but moist tobacco and tobacco-free mixtures, smoking stones and creams.
All smoking pipes have a similar structure and consist of the following parts:
- bowl,
- camera,
- chibouk,
- mouthpiece,
- bite,
- mouthpiece neck,
- smoke channel;
- filter
Each part performs a specific function. But now we will not dwell on this.
(function(w, d, n, s, t) ( w[n] = w[n] || ; w[n].push(function() ( Ya.Context.AdvManager.render(( blockId: "R-A -219849-21", renderTo: "yandex_rtb_R-A-219849-21", async: true )); )); t = d.getElementsByTagName("script"); s = d.createElement("script"); s .type = "text/javascript"; s.src = "//an.yandex.ru/system/context.js"; s.async = true; , this.document, "yandexContextAsyncCallbacks");Before you start smoking, you must first clean the device from burnt tobacco and dirt, and only then fill it with new one. It would seem that a smoking pipe is a very simple device and nothing else is required to smoke it, except tobacco. But that's not true. There are many necessary accessories that simplify the process of preparing for smoking, as well as those designed to care for this device. These are various stompers, brushes, knives, etc.
Over the entire existence of the smoking pipe, its appearance and attitude towards it have changed a lot. From a simple and cheap device, it has turned into a part of the image. And this is no longer a mass-produced product with low quality, but an expensive single product, in Lately author's performance. Collecting rare items is gaining popularity, and communities of their connoisseurs are being created.
Materials
Anyone who wants to join the culture of pipe smoking should know that there are a very large number of varieties. They are classified according to the following parameters:
- material of manufacture;
- form.
In this article we will describe in more detail the materials from which these devices are made, and we will tell you what forms they come in next time.
Tree
One of the most popular are smoking pipes made of wood. In order for them to serve well and for a long time, it is necessary to carefully select the wood from which the pipe is made. The type of wood affects not only the strength and shape of the device, but also the taste of tobacco smoke. Most the best wood is briar, but it is not cheap.
Briard is a dense tree-like growth between the root and trunk of a shrub from the heather family. The best wood is Mediterranean briar, grown on silicon-rich soils. The high silicon content does not allow the pipe to burn, and the porous structure of this wood perfectly absorbs moisture that forms during smoking. The best specimens are obtained from 80-100 year old plants.
Briar pipes are not only fire-resistant. They have the ability to collect and return the aroma of the tobacco that was smoked in them. This is the taste of the pipe, which the device acquires during its operation. What this taste will be will depend on the quality of the wood, the quality of processing, how often the device is used and, naturally, on the tobacco that is smoked.
Inexpensive smoking pipes are made from pear or beech. Other wood is less suitable, and coniferous species are not suitable for this purpose at all. Cheap pipes can be made from various fruit trees, birch or beech, but you should not buy them. Because when smoking they burn out, giving the smoke an unpleasant taste, and moisture collects and flows out of the mouthpiece along with resins and ash.
Sometimes you can find smoking tubes from morta– bog oak that has lain for centuries in peat or clay soil. This wood is very durable and well suited for such devices. But since the reserves of this material are not large, morta is not used for industrial production.
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Meerschaum
An excellent material for smoking pipes is foam (Meerschaum). The word Meerschaum is translated from German language as “sea foam” and well characterizes such qualities as lightness and whiteness. Foam is called sepiolite - it is a porous white mineral, the highest quality is mined in Turkey, near the city of Eskisehir. Meerschaum tubes have the same properties as briar tubes - they are heat-resistant, weakly thermally conductive and hygroscopic, which is very important for these devices. Due to its high moisture absorption capacity, the meerschaum tube changes color over time from white to golden, cherry or brown. It is impossible to guess how long it will take for the device to change color - it could take 2 months or a year. This will be influenced to a greater extent by the frequency and intensity of smoking, and to a lesser extent by the type of tobacco.
The advantage of meerschaum pipes over briar pipes is that a meerschaum device can be smoked several times a day, while briar pipes must be dried after each smoking session. But sepiolite products are very fragile and must be handled very carefully.
Pumpkin
There is also a smoking pipe made from a pumpkin, which is called a calabash. Calabash translated from English means bottle gourd or gourd. For a long time made gourd pipes with meerschaum or porcelain bowls, but their creation is very labor-intensive and, today, these devices are very expensive. That’s why they use mahogany or briar to create smoking devices, giving them similar shapes, and pass them off as calabash.
The main feature of the pumpkin pipe is the presence of an air chamber, which is located below the bowl. In this chamber the smoke is cooled and softened.
Pumpkin and foam pipes are functionally very similar, but the smoke from calabash is much softer and cooler.
Corn
Smoking pipes made from corn are considered one of the inexpensive devices. They are made from corn cobs, which are pre-dried for about 2 years. They are then formed into bowls, dipped in a gypsum-based mixture, and then varnished.
Corn pipes do not require smoking like briar pipes, so they can be recommended for beginners as a first pipe. Among the disadvantages, we can note that they need to be dried for a long time, as well as their short service life - they burn out in less than two years. But, since these are cheap smoking pipes, they can simply be replaced with new ones, because in terms of taste qualities they are a worthy alternative briar devices.
Other materials
Clay pipes are not a popular smoking option these days, although they are durable and easy to make. In most cases, such specimens join private collections. The same applies to porcelain devices.
Tubing metal is used mainly as a finish or for some parts. Smoking devices with a metal bowl are not very convenient for smoking tobacco, since they get very hot, but for smoking narcotic substances they may well be used.
Also, recently, plastic tubes have appeared. But this is a completely unsuitable material for such a device and cannot be used for its intended purpose; they can be bought as souvenirs.
We have looked at only some of the materials from which smoking pipes are made. But in pursuit of a low price, do not forget about your health. After all, the right smoking pipe will not be cheap, but it will filter tobacco smoke better and bring you pleasure from the taste of your favorite tobacco.
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11 Jan 2013What are smoking pipes made of?
Many people, when thinking about their first purchase, most often imagine a smoking pipe simply as a kind of wooden product with a mouthpiece. However, when we come to the store and see a wide range of pipes, we understand that not everything is as simple as we imagined. So what are pipes made of? What are they?
Clay pipes | Clay Pipes
Clay is perhaps one of the most ancient materials from which smoking pipes have ever been made on the mainland. This is not surprising, since clay products are hardened by fire and the combustion temperature of the tobacco is unlikely to harm the tube material in any way.
Clay pipes are still made to this day and such pipes have their own circle of admirers, but these pipes also have a number of significant disadvantages: clay pipes, like many products made from it, are quite fragile, in addition, they easily heat up even on such pipe, you can get burned. Sometimes you can find clay tubes with double walls and a layer of air between them, which significantly reduces the risk of burns.
Also, the disadvantages of smoking pipes made of clay include high humidity smoking and the absence of such a factor as “pipe taste”. These days, clay pipes are essentially more decorative than utilitarian. They are most often found in various museums, but in the everyday life of the modern smoker they have given way to pipes made of other materials.
Porcelain tubes | Porcelain Pipes
Smoking pipes made of porcelain were very popular in Europe until relatively recently. In fact, only the bowls and sometimes part of the chibouk were porcelain; everything else was a flight of the master’s imagination. The tubes could be small and neat, or they could reach a length of half a meter or more. The bowls of porcelain pipes are often hand-painted, but modern porcelain pipes mostly belong to the class of souvenirs.
Meerschaum pipes | Meerschaum Pipes
Smoking pipes made of foam (meerschaum, German - sea foam) appeared around the first third of the 18th century. Most large deposits This mineral (sepiolite) is found in Turkey and off the coast of Africa. There are also sepiolite deposits in Feodosia. Foam from different regions differs in density, but in general it is a porous and light mineral of almost white color. Foam absorbs moisture well and is a heat-resistant material. This and also low thermal conductivity sepiolite, made this mineral popular for making smoking pipes. The malleability of the foam during processing allows you to make tubes of the most unimaginable shapes, decorated with figures and patterns with an amazing amount of detail.
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Tanzanian meerschaum (Africa) was popular as a material for making pipes. The mineral mined in this region had sufficient porosity, and at the same time its strength made it possible not to “tremble over the pipes.” But due to the constant political instability of this region, which led to interruptions in the supply of the mineral, manufacturers were forced to abandon purchases of sepiolite in Africa. Then foam from Turkey appeared on the scene. It is noticeably softer than the Tanzanian one and the pipes made from it are more fragile, but even today sepiolite pipes are quite popular among smokers.
There are several types of foam on the market that are used to make pipes, and two of them are worth talking about separately - block and pressed foam. In the first case, the tube is cut from a single piece (block) of mineral. In the second, the foam crumbs are pressed and filled with an adhesive substance. Tubes made from pressed foam are much cheaper, but their quality is much inferior to tubes made from a solid block.
Corn Tubes | Corn Cob Pipes
Corn pipes owe their birth to a Dutch artisan who moved to America for permanent residence. He settled in a small village on the banks of the Missouri, which is why the pipes received the name “Missouri Meershaum.” Initially, this name was a proper name, which was and continues to be worn by a company that produces corn pipes, but gradually “Missouri meerschaum” began to be called all the pipes made from corn, making this name a common noun.
The pipes are literally made from corn cobs, which are dried for a long time and from which the kernels are beaten. A tobacco chamber is drilled in the middle of the cob, a shank with a mouthpiece is inserted, and the pipe is ready. Corn pipes are essentially disposable smoking tools, but their cheapness and unusual appearance make them quite popular among smokers.
You can read more about corn pipes in one of the issues of our magazine.
Calabash, pumpkin pipes | Calabash
Initially, calabash were made (and continue to be made) from pumpkins, which were given the necessary shape during cultivation. The cavity inside the dried pumpkin acts as a large air chamber in which the smoke cools. The tobacco itself smolders in a chamber made of meerschaum or porcelain.
The original calabashes are fairly large tubes, U-shaped and with a characteristic “mushroom hat” made from the insert. Sometimes instead of pumpkin they use wood of various species with inserts of briar or meerschaum. Also, “miniature copies”, devoid of air chambers, of the original calabashes are cut out of meerschaum or briar, repeating general shape calabash. Structurally, such pipes may have little in common with pumpkin pipes, but the characteristic contour lines give one form of smoking pipe its name.
In the picture on the left you see just one such pipe: a magnificent work by the Danish master Tom Eltang - a pipe made from briar in the shape of a calabash.
Falcon Pipes
Called Falcon, the pipes are hybrid pipes with a metal base and interchangeable meerschaum or briar bowls that screw into the base. These pipes do not stand out in anything special and are, in general, the next and completed stage in the evolution of smoking pipes.
I deliberately included the Falcon tubes in the article describing the materials used to make the tubes, rather than in the section on tube shapes. The use of metal in the design does not allow me to omit mention of these tubes in this article.
Briar pipes
Briard(bruyere, briar, etc.) is a spherical dense growth at the base of a heather bush that turns into roots. The main regions supplying briar for pipes are Corsica, Algeria, Italy and Greece. Distinctive Features briar is its relative heat resistance. However, new briar pipes must be smoked - during the smoking process, a thin carbon layer is formed on the walls of the tobacco chamber - soot - which provides additional protection to the tobacco chamber, and also collects excess moisture generated during smoking. Well-dried briar is quite light, which allows you to hold the pipe in your teeth without much effort. Unless, of course, it is the size of a house.
For all its density and difficulty in processing, briar, like any wood, is penetrated by capillaries, thanks to which the pipe can “breathe” - collect and return the taste of the tobacco smoked in it. This feature, which is generally only found in heather pipes, has given rise to the term “pipe taste,” which the pipe acquires as it is smoked. Whether it will be good or bad depends on the quality of the briar, the quality of the pipe, the degree to which the pipes are smoked and, of course, the nature of the tobacco smoked in it.
Due to its properties, briar Today it is the most popular material for making smoking pipes. Many smokers consider it the best, which is well deserved, and even the only acceptable material for making smoking pipes.
Post Scriptum
Nowadays you can find smoking pipes from where more materials than listed in this article: entirely made of metal, carbon fiber, pressed shavings and heat-resistant plastic, various types of fruit and not very wood. Electronic filling many modern (aspiring to become fashionable) pipes, their hi-tech design or, on the contrary, the desire to simplify and reduce the cost of pipe production by all means, has given rise to a large number of “monsters” that are completely devoid of what we love smoking pipes for - their ability to give pleasure to the smoker its taste and the taste of smoked tobacco. If our aspirations are similar to yours, then, it seems to me, there is no point in even paying attention to such “crafts”.
As promised, I am publishing an article about making a smoking pipe. I photographed the blank at every stage, but still couldn’t get around to writing text for each photo. A huge job, as it turned out.
UPDATE!!!
The article is already very outdated, but write a new one
I don't have time all the time :) But there is a more recent video, or rather,
whole movie. It's 2015. As soon as I find the time, I will definitely
I’ll make a new video, and separate videos for different stages
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This ring is from. It is prepared in advance. Sometimes you have to spend a whole working day to prepare such rings from different materials with different sizes.
One end of the ring is ground strictly perpendicular to the axis. This side will be facing the bowl. The other side is not ground off - it will be ground off on the spot.
This is what the tusk itself looks like.
In addition to mammoth ivory, I also use other materials: cow horn, elk horn, various varieties wood (I love boxwood and bubingo root), acrylic imitations of all kinds of materials. Interestingly, the mammoth ivory pipe cannot be shipped to the United States. To protect rare animals, their laws prohibit the import of ivory products, and customs officers cannot distinguish an elephant from a fossil mammoth, which it is already a little too late to protect. Therefore, only acrylic imitation ivory is used on the American market.
On lathe I turned a cylinder at the end of the shank for inner diameter ring. I glued the ring with epoxy glue, then ground off the end and drilled the mortise. It is very important to do this in one installation so that the mortise axis is exactly perpendicular to the end. Otherwise, there would be a gap at the junction of the shank and the mouthpiece.
Precisely because the workpiece cannot be removed from the machine at this stage, rings have to be prepared in advance. The work would be simplified by a second lathe, even the smallest one, but for now there is more necessary equipment, which requires free funds.
If you don’t make a ring, then you can do without a lathe, having only a drilling machine. In this case, the end of the shank is sharpened with a Forstner drill. This is a cutter used for drilling under furniture hinges, For example.
The next stage is drilling the smoke channel. I drill it, feeding the workpiece with my hands onto the drill rotating in the lathe. By resting the rear stock in the right place, I do not allow the drill to go to the side.
To do this, you need to make a hole on the back side of the workpiece. The center of the rear stock will rest in this hole. There is another hole at the bottom of the mortise - the drill will fall into it.
The smoke channel is drilled to the required depth to the intended meeting point with the drill of the tobacco chamber.
Drill - 4mm. The diameter of the drill is a controversial issue. Most factory manufacturers make the channels narrow, about 3 mm. Danish craftsmen prefer a little wider - 3.5 mm. Most of our craftsmen drill at 4mm. American craftsmen also love wide channels.
A pipe with a wide bore smokes, in my opinion, tastier and drier. The probability of tobacco particles being sucked into the channel slightly increases, but for filterless pipes this is not a problem: the channel can be easily cleaned with a brush without disassembling the pipe. I myself have not encountered this problem, since I smoke mostly coarsely cut tobaccos of the English group. Danish tobaccos are usually cut smaller, which is probably why Danish masters prefer narrower channels.
The hole is drilled just below the center of the bottom of the mortise. In bents, this is necessary so that the brush can easily pass the assembled tube. When grinding the channel, the hole will be slightly bored upward to an oval.
For the next installation on the lathe, I drill the tobacco chamber and sharpen the bowl cylinder. The shape of the tube is not cylindrical at all, and will be drawn out with another tool, but there will be something to start from.
In the background is a drill for a tobacco chamber. This is a perk re-sharpened into a parabola.
The camera is sharpened until it meets smoke channel. The channel should enter the center of the chamber along the very bottom. A little to the right or left is not a big problem, and within reasonable limits I can make such a mistake. A little lower, with a groove along the bottom - not entirely correct, I try not to leave such a groove. A little higher is definitely a marriage. A pipe with an over-drilled bore will not finish smoking until the end and will begin to “sour”, which will ruin the taste.
In this case everything is perfect. The exit of the channel will be even neater after grinding.
It can be seen that the glued corners have worn off and will not become part of the tube.
The next stage is turning the shape. In the background is a sanding disc with Velcro. I install it on a lathe, but you can adapt any motor, or even use a grinder.
Using a lathe for this is not even entirely correct. A turner who loves his machine will never use any abrasives on it. But my machine is already old and not accurate; many generations of students from some vocational school worked on it before me.
A couple of black dots are visible in the picture - these are sandpits - grains of sand that got into the briar from the ground. These sandpits wear off, but even if they hit the surface of the tube, they are quite acceptable. Smooth tubes without sand pits are sold at a higher price.
First I sharpen the curves of the bowl only on four sides.
Then I roughly draw out the entire form.
If you wet the workpiece, the grains are visible - the natural pattern of the briar. Later I will make these grains contrast with successive sanding and coloring.
The stammel was sanded a little more with coarse sandpaper (150 grit), and a piece of ebonite was cut off for the mouthpiece.
The mouthpiece will be slightly curved, but first it is made straight. Ebonite bends easily when heated, then hardens. But that's later.
On a lathe I turn out the trunnion - the tenon of the mouthpiece to connect with the stammel - the wooden part. The trunnion has the exact diameter to fit snugly in the mortise without getting stuck. And the length is precisely adjusted to the depth of the mortise, so that there is no cavity inside the assembled pipe. To be completely precise, the length of the trunnion is still slightly less than the depth of the mortise, by approximately 0.2 mm. This is necessary due to thermal expansion, so that a lye does not form in the warm tube.
The mouthpiece channel is drilled with three drills: first a little 3.8 mm, then 2.5 almost to the end, then 1.5 mm towards the mouthpiece side.
Then I bore out the mouthpiece slit. The following tools are used for this:
The Dremel drill attachment is needed to sketch out the direction of the gap. Most factory manufacturers and some craftsmen (mostly Italians) stop there. But if you do everything wisely, the slot needs to be bored out with a deep cone deep into the mouthpiece. To do this, I use a piece of an electric jigsaw file.
The third tool is called a cone rimmer. This is a triangular file with a ground notch. In a wide area, the cross-section fits into a circle with a diameter of 4 mm - just under the diameter of the stemmel channel. By rotating this rimmer in the channel, I remove the “steps” between the drills with different drills. The result is a smooth narrowing from 4mm at the entrance to 1.5mm at the mouthpiece. Again, many manufacturers omit this step, and these steps accumulate condensation from the smoke.
Then I roughly sharpen the shape of the mouthpiece with the same grinding disc Velcro. Further - only hand tool: files and sandpapers.
This photo shows a rough outline of the shape of the mouthpiece. I do this with a flat file.
I worked a little more with a file, and then - 150 grit sandpaper on a block like this. I use different blocks: round, rectangular, complex profiles. It will not be possible to grind on your fingers, at least because of the different densities of the materials: briar will fail, mammoth and ebonite will bulge.
I sharpened it some more.
I reached 240 grit. Got it wet. The grains are visible.
The channels of the stem and mouthpiece were sanded with sandpaper on a wooden skewer. On the mouthpiece side - skins folded into a sharp corner. I grind the Stammel channel to 320 grit - there is no need further. The only task is to get rid of drill marks that make cleaning difficult. I not only grind the mouthpiece channel to 800 grit, but also polish it with paste on a long brush (visible behind the tube).
Then I heat up the mouthpiece construction hairdryer and I bend it. Then I cool it with cold water. While there was no hairdryer, I used a simple candle. A hairdryer is more convenient only because it is impossible to accidentally set fire to ebonite.
Sanded with 320 grit sandpaper. Brought out final form mouthpiece I make the mouthpiece physiological, like a boxing mouth guard.
Starting with 320 grit I color the tube between sandpapers. I'm using black now water stain. After painting, I wash off the remaining stain with a damp cloth.
Here the black painted tube is sanded to 400 grit. As you can see, part of the stain that got on the more porous fibers was absorbed a little deeper and remained after sanding. This is how the contrast of grains appears.
The procedure was repeated with 500 and 600 grit sandpaper.
I apply the main color. This is already an alcohol-soluble stain. Again, the excess stain is washed off with a damp cloth so that the tube does not stain your hands.
I polish the tube with paste on a polishing wheel. The polished mouthpiece shows small grinding marks - I regrind it, bring it to 1500 grit, and polish it again.
I sand off stain stains in the tobacco chamber with sandpaper on a stick like this. I use 150 grit coarse sandpaper. Some craftsmen polish the camera into a mirror, but I think this is not only unnecessary, but also harmful. Soot deposits faster on the rough surface of the chamber.
I mark the tube with stamps. His name is A. Bondarev. Grading A-B-C, A is the highest. And the date of manufacture, in this case 2013-09-13. Traditionally, craftsmen use the Latin alphabet for stamps, but I prefer native Russian letters. Perhaps I will have to temper my patriotism when I enter foreign markets, but for now my pipes are sold only in Russia and the CIS.
I apply carnauba wax to the finished tube, a natural substance that adds gloss to, for example, M&Ms candies. In fact, this is just pre-sale preparation, since the carnauba will wear off over time. I use the same cotton pad to apply the carnauba as I use for buffing.
All that remains is to sew the leather bag, and the tube is ready. There is a drop of black stain left in the chamber - no problem. Light up. I have erased most of the splashes and can no longer rub without distorting the geometry of the camera.
