When Breaking A Pipe Makes It Better

ghostsofpompeii

One day after posting pictures of my Pear Wood Dragon Claw Pipe as the featured pipe on the Daily Briar Photoshoot I proceeded to break it.

And how did you manage that, you ask?

Quite simply ... by being a jackass.

After a pinpoint artillery strike right between my shoulder blades by a squadron of Kamikaze Mosquitoes I proceeded to use my Dragon Claw pipe as a back scratcher, holding it by the bowl. In retrospect a pretty stupid move. But I had yet to apply pressure when I heard the sickening snap, and realized what I'd just done. The pipe barely made contact with my back so I'd like to think there was a weak spot in the pipe. At least that's what I'm trying to tell myself.

If you look at the pictures you'll notice the middle section which broke was essentially a spacer between the tenon and the stem adding length. From the day of the unboxing I went back and forth between putting the spacer on and leaving it off. I actually liked the look of the pipe better without it but opted to leave it on since that's the way the pipe was intended to look. Now the decision has been made for me.

It took a while to dig out the broken piece of plastic from the tenon, but eventually it came out without causing further damage. Which is what I was actually expecting to happen.

And now without the extension I think it looks better. I wish the stem was just a little longer to balance things out - but it feels better, and can now clench if I wish rather than hold it like a Churchwarden. So who knows, maybe it was meant to be. So from my perspective this might be the first time I broke a pipe and improved it's appearance.

What do you think? Does it look better - or worse?  

  

bluespiper

What a fortunate tragedy! Personally, I like the look of the new configuration. I don't see a whole lot of stubby bent pipes like that but it looks cool. I'm not a huge fan of smoking nose warmers so I would agree on a slightly longer stem to balance it out but on a purely aesthetic level I love it. Either way it is a beautiful pipe.

Woodsman

Looks better.

BigSkyPiping

I do like the look of the pipe better now.  Although I will admit, that like yourself I probably would of been hesitant to remove the extension myself without it breaking.  Even if I like the look without a piece better, there is part of me that feels like I need to leave it how the original carver intended it to look.