Care and feeding of Canadians-A warning

mseddon

Many folks have seen my question about breaking the tenon on one of my Canadians. The very next day I did the same thing with my other Canadian. It was at room temperature, I held the pipe by the bit and knocked the shank where it met the bowl to knock out the dottle and the tenon broke. Both pipes are on their way to Ric at Briarville for repairs. But I think I figured out my problem. The long shank on the Canadian provides a tremendous amount of leverage on the tenon. I was treating my Canadians like they were other pipes. From here on out, once repaired, I will be very careful about how I hold and disassemble my Canadians to reduce the torque provided by the long shank. To remove the stem/bit I will hold the stem close to the shank. When knocking out dottle I'll hold the shank close to the bowl and not the bit. I hope this helps other owners of Canadians. I love them, but they need a little extra TLC.

Londy3

@mseddon, wow, very interesting indeed. I am glad you figured out what was going on. It's just a shame your down two pipes for a bit. Thanks for posting.

ghostsofpompeii

@mseddon I think it's a bad idea getting into the habit of tapping the pipe to remove spent tobacco or dottle. It's moments like that when the pipe is most susceptible to breakage. Especially if the pipe might have a weak spot you're unaware of. Once your pipes arrive ... and the same principle should apply to the other pipes in your collection - simply use a pipe tool or pipe cleaner to remove any residue in the bowl. Eliminate tapping the pipe altogether. Even if you have one of those cork tappers in your ask tray. After years of abusing and beating my work pipes to death when I was still working I've since began treating each pipe regardless of whether it's an Irish Second, Dr. Grabow, one of a kind beauty from Corey, or a more expensive Nording or Peterson ... handling each pipe as though they were a brittle piece of Tiffany Chrystal. I no longer pound on it to empty out the bowl, take extreme care when removing the mouthpiece from the stem for cleaning, and never remove it while the pipe is still hot. And if I learn some new piece of advice I'll apply it as well.    

jim102864

This is interesting to me, because I vigorously tap on the bowl with my hand while gripping the bowl only (not the shank or stem) with the other hand to remove any additional dottle or tobacco beyond that which I have already removed with my Czech tool.  Maybe this too is a bad idea and I'm setting myself up for some future disaster?

mseddon

@ghostsofpompeii Yeah, I think you're right. That's the absolutely safest thing to do.

RockyMountainBriar

I think it is best not to tap out the bowl of any pipe while holding it anywhere on the shank or bit.  Save yourself the trouble and only hold the bowl when tapping that ash.  Don't beat the piss out of the rim by knocking it on any hard surfaces either...unless you really don't care about the pipe, your prerogative.  If you have a stubborn ash pipe, use the scraper or pick on the pipe tool to loosen the dottle, that's what they are for. Then you can tap away that ash.  However, when it comes to a churchwarden, I would be extra careful and remove the stem first, before any vigorous ash tapping.  There is quite the lever-arm on a churchwarden.  As for a canadian length.....unless you are going all John Holmes on that ash, I should think you would be fine (unless) there is an unseen crack in the shank or tenon.  Then it would have broke at some point anyway.

Woodsman

A good idea is to scrape out the Dottle and blow through the stem to clear the airway.  

PappyJoe

I'm with RockyMountainBriar. I always loosen the dottle and then hold the bowl when tapping on a pipe cork. Most of the time I just tap it into the palm of my hand.

mseddon

Thanks guys! These are great suggestions for when I get my Canadians back from Briarville.

xDutchx

@mseddon, my first question would be "Where do you live?"

I had a conversation with Steve Liskey a few years back, and he explained to me that when he engineers a pipe in California, the humidity level is drastically different by the time the pipe gets to Alabama. Once you understand that aspect of pipe carving and pipe collecting, you can begin to approach the problem from the angle where it originally exists.

I would try coating the tenon with pencil lead, or even chapstick if necessary, before I took steel wool to the tenon for the final solution.

mseddon

@xDutchx Good point. I live in south-central Texas which has significant humidity. My pipe broke in New Mexico, which doesn't. Those are good suggestions.

xDutchx

@mseddon, depending on the length of time between Texas and New Mexico, your briar could still be holding humidity from Texas. I have had to leave some pipes laying out to dry for a couple weeks, before I could get the stem back in after cleaning.