The Official BoB 2016 Pipe of the Year thread.

[Richard Burley]

Brewdude --  http://m.ebay.com/itm/FALCON-pipe-Shillelagh-stem-Chrome-color-tube-White-mouthpiece-New-and-RARE-/131876892898?nav=SEARCH

I have seen ersatz Falcoons somewhere, but those look legit. Anyone ever ordered anything from Estonia? Particularly from this vendor, with free shipping? (!)

 

[Blackhorse]

It looks like the cost plus shipping for an Askwith Morta bowl could be as low as £30 + £10 = $52 USD. Not too steep IMO.

Link below:

http://askwithpipes.com/handmade.html

 

[Blackhorse]

Put that Askwith Morta bowl on the following for a pretty cool looking Diablo kinda thing...at around $85 total.

 

[DGErwin11]

As I recall, there are a couple of Brothers that can make custom Falcon bowls. Briar Spirit comes to mind, but I might be wrong. Just saying though, it might be cool to have a custom bowl.... Someone made some cob ones too. I just can't remember........

 This will be great. Thanks for having the faith in my abilities...  

I think it would be pretty rough engraving a cob bowl.

 

[Blackhorse]

Ozzie has an engraving tip for his burner. I bet that would work pretty well actually. Not that I'm suggesting it, mind you. 8)

 

[Brewdude]

So I'm leaning towards either a meer bowl or a meer-lined bowl. Can anyone with experience on these tell me if the bowl screws in without damaging the meerschaum? It would seem to me that meerschaum being somewhat brittle, might have a tendency to crumble where the bowl mates to the stem.

This might be more of a problem with an all-meer bowl however, as one of the sites I looked at had several views of all the Falcon bowls, and the underside of the meer-lined briar bowls looked as though this might not be as much of an issue. But I've never seen one of these in person.

:?:


Cheers,

RR

 

[Puff Daddy]

Mine came today

Might have gotten a little carried away with the extra bowls (have a meer Algiers smooth coming from the UK as well).

 

[Brewdude]

Mine came today

Might have gotten a little carried away with the extra bowls (have a meer Algiers smooth coming from the UK as well).

Please lmk how that attaches to the stem PD.


Cheers,

RR

 

[mark]

So I'm leaning towards either a meer bowl or a meer-lined bowl. Can anyone with experience on these tell me if the bowl screws in without damaging the meerschaum? It would seem to me that meerschaum being somewhat brittle, might have a tendency to crumble where the bowl mates to the stem.

Yeah, I stayed away from the full meer bowl because of the soft nature of it, but I know a guy that has one and says he's had no problems with the threads. Maybe I worry too much.

I have a meer lined bowl, the threads are briar. No worries.

 

[DrT999]

One of my falcons is a meer bowl, and in over a year of use I haven't noticed any problems. Granted, you have to be a bit careful with any falcon not to over-tighten.

 

[Blackhorse]

BD - PD's new bowl will screw onto the stem...just like all Falcons.  8)


And BTW - that's some fine lookin'gear there.

 

[Brewdude]

BD - PD's new bowl will screw onto the stem...just like all Falcons.  8)

Yes of course. But what I'm wondering is if the meer will be a problem due to its brittle nature while screwing in.


Cheers,

RR

 

[Blackhorse]

Honestly, I rather doubt that Falcon would produce and sell a product that failed to perform well. Also, I would not take one person's experience with a new item as indicative of overall performance. Just sayin'.

I plan to order a solid meerschaum bowl. I plan to be careful with it...like I am with all my meerschaum items (1 other...lol). I have no doubt that will provide many years of excellent service.

 

[Puff Daddy]

I'll let ya know as soon as it arrives.

 

[Puff Daddy]

Btw, just finished my first bowl of burley in the bulldog bowl. Smoked perfectly fine. No gurgle, not hot, no off taste, no problem. To be honest I'm surprised it smoked so well. The only negative I can offer is that the button is a bit tall with sharp edges, but I'll tape it off and file it down a little and it'll be good to go. I got the one with the two grooves cut into the stem, actually was quite pleased with that, helped when clenching.

 

[Blackhorse]

I'm rather liking this one:

 

[Ozark Wizard]

I have a question for all you Falcon owners out there. I have yet to try this myself, as it just came to mind, but are all the threading jobs started at the same point? What I mean is, if a bowl is set to full center and marked, and then set on another stem, will it stop at the same center point? So say, I engrave a bowl centered on my stem, will it be centered on yours? Oh crap, hang on, I'll check and be right back.....

Ok, checked 4 bowls and four stems by building the pipes, then put a piece of masking tape over the seams. I made a center mark on them, then took a razor and cut the tape at the seams. Swapping bowl shows that all but the originally marked pair were off, some by as much as a quarter inch.

If someone else could try this and confirm, it would be good to know........

 

[Blackhorse]

Great minds. I was just about to ask members to send in stems along with their bowl so this wouldn't be a problem. Or, I thought they might mark the center line with a soft pencil line of bit of tape, etc.

 

[Ozark Wizard]

Great minds. I was just about to ask members to send in stems along with their bowl so this wouldn't be a problem.  Or, I thought they might mark the center line with a soft pencil line of bit of tape, etc.

A bit of blue painter's tape with a mark on center works for me.

 

[Blackhorse]

I'll add that to the "directions" I post.