Stanwell 124

[mark]

A while back I bought a stanwell 124 revival. The pipe arrived with a carbon (I assume) coating in the bowl, and completely through the airway too. (odd, like they dipped it) While the bowl was easily sanded free down to the briar, I left the airway alone. This pipe smokes very dry even loading the wettest of tobacco,,,no gurgle, no pipecleaners needed ,,,I'm thinking the coating is sucking up the moisture after it leaves the bowl. Any thoughts?,,,,
Well anyway, the filter comes out almost dry when you use it, and when using the adapter in place of the filter, a pipecleaner comes out almost dry at the end of the smoke. Any other 124 owners have a similar experience?
It's a nice pipe with average grain, no fills and one small sand pit on the front of the bowl, seems to like burley best, and it's a pleasure to smoke, but I've never seen a pipe completely coated inside, ,,,maybe a european thing?

 

[Doc Manhattan]

I have a pair of 124s--the dark smooth and the rusticated--and I use them almost exclusively with a 9mm filter in. Sometimes I have an experience like yours; other times it looks like the filter has caught more moisture. (But I tend to be a fast puffer, so I'm bound to get more steam reaching the user end of the pipe.)