The Friday Pipe

[PLANofMAN]

I recently purchased an estate pipe, to add to my growing collection of Stanwell 63 and 64 pipes. By rights, a sterling mounted pipe with a hand cut stem ought to be just a tad better than the average run of the mill Stanwell, right?

...eh, not really.

It smokes like a dream. Visually, it falls a bit flat. It's rather clunky. Feels rather like it was the last pipe made on a Friday afternoon.

The pictures don't show it well, but the back silhouette of the bowl doesn't follow the strongest grain line. It needs a millimeter or two of material removed where the bowl meets the stummel, to make the bowl shape graceful.

Examples of better bowl shaping on the same series of pipes:

My other gripe is that the stem is wider than the stummel, and visually, It just doesn't fit the pipe well. Perhaps if it was 'tavern' or 'demi-churchwarden' length it wouldn't be so jarring. The previous owner was a gnawer, and the bite guard is covering a hole on the top of the stem for now until I decide whether to fix it or replace/rework the stem entirely.

I do appreciate the teflon or delrin mortise under the sterling band. That was an unexpected bonus on this pipe, and is something I will look for on future pipe purchases.

Am I being overly critical of this factory pipe? Do you guys have a pipe that stir the embers of discontent whenever you smoke it? How did you resolve the issue?

 

[Idlefellow]

I guess I don't understand your frustrations. Very attractive pipe to my eye. Perfect? I don't know, but then did you pay a "perfect level" price for it? And if it smokes as well as you say, then...? JMO.

 

[PLANofMAN]

I guess I don't understand your frustrations. Very attractive pipe to my eye. Perfect? I don't know, but then did you pay a "perfect level" price for it? And if it smokes as well as you say, then...? JMO.

I paid $50 for it. So no, I didn't pay perfect pipe price.

This is after being cleaned up. The outside of the pipe was in fairly rough shape, though for a wonder, the innards were meticulously maintained, and aside from a layer of dust, the bowl needed no reaming or other cleaning.

The draft hole is about double the size I've seen on a Stanwell pipe before. There's a lot of features on this pipe that point towards this being a custom or semi-custom build to a person's particular specifications. Maybe I should just appreciate it for what it is.

For once, I took 'before' pictures. Here's what it looked like fresh from the estate:

 

[Timbo]

You've cleaned that one up very nicely, lovely job there. To me it looks AOK for the price.

Who cares what it looks like if it smokes fine. Have seen similar in the synth world, "it sounds great but looks like a toy." Who cares, just play it.

 

[Idlefellow]

Great restoration job!

 

[PLANofMAN]

You've cleaned that one up very nicely, lovely job there. To me it looks AOK for the price.

Great restoration job!

Thank you gentlemen.

I've finally figured out what I have. This is part of the Stanwell Sterling Smooth line of pipes. Introduced in the 1970's and still manufactured today as one of their higher priced lines.

The Sterling line is bare bones on nomenclature, but has a golden brown stain, rather than the typical reddish brown of most of their other pipe lines. This one is probably from the late 1980's. The wide saddle stem type bit is actually pretty common on the 63 and 64 pipes, but not common on the military mount versions.

I think I will continue to focus on the military mount versions for the rest of a seven day set of 63/64 pipes.