What did I do wrong?

mseddon · January 2018

Oh sage and wise elders, help me learn from my mistakes. A couple of days ago I came in from smoking a Peterson Canadian. It was about 40 degrees F outside. The pipe had totally cooled. I went to twist the very small, acrylic, p-lip, stem off to clean the pipe and with one gentle twist I snapped the tenon in two. I suspect it would cost more than the $100 I spent on the pipe to have it fixed. But I want to avoid making the same mistake. Why did this happen? My only theory was that the pipe got quite cold, making the acrylic brittle and prone to breaking. Was that it? If so, I can make sure to let pipes warm to room temperature before disassembling them. Or, was it something else? I await your erudition.

jfreedy · January 2018

40 degrees isn’t that cold. I bet it was a faulty tenon. Any chance it had dropped in the past? Could have already been cracked and didn’t take much to break it. I’d contact Reborn Pipes and see if its cost effective to fix it.

mseddon · January 2018

Hmm, never been dropped. I've emailed Peterson's to see if they can just send me a new stem. I think I can get the broken end out of the shank.

ghostsofpompeii · January 2018

@mseddon Don't assume it will cost more to fix your pipe than it is worth. Earlier this year I broke the tenon on my Big ben Fantasia pipe and I was heartbroken. After making a few inquirers here at the group I was directed to Ric at Briarworks and for around $28.00 he repaired the pipe. Adding a new tenon that was much sturdier than the original tenon that took a 9mm filter. I told him to forget about the filter and simply give me a tenon with a thicker wall. And he did just that ... as well as shine the pipe up and make it look better than the day I bought it. Check around for prices ... but Ric did a bang up job and I'd highly recommend him. And his process seem to be in line with other pipe repairmen. Don't give up on the pipe ... it just has a booboo that is repairable. Ric can kiss it and make it all better.

mseddon · January 2018

@ghostsofpompeii Well I'll be. That makes it worth looking into. If Peterson can't send me a new stem, I'll try that route. Of course I've already bought a Savinelli Onda Canadian to replace it, but my wife doesn't need to know about repairs, and having two Canadians would be great!

PappyJoe · January 2018

The cool weather had nothing to do with the stem breaking. (It ain't cold until its about 35 degrees F. Stems are easy to replace and Briarworks is a good go to shop. I had him build a stem from scratch for a Savinelli Oom Paul I found at at junk shop and it only cost me $35.

buflosab · January 2018

Actually 99 percent of the time when I have broken a pipe,it was my own stupidity, sitting on it,stepping on it,dropping it on concrete, and one bizarre time a pipe just disappeared never to be seen again. Still can't figure that one out.

Woodsman · January 2018

@buflosab Hmm. Gremlins??

KA9FFJ · January 2018

@mseddon I agree with @ghostsofpompeii RIC @ Briarville does a great job and very reasonable. Check him out on YouTube...

mseddon · January 2018

Thanks for all the recommendations. I'm going with Ric at Briarville. Peterson was willing to do it for almost double the cost and it would have to ship to and from Ireland.

Londy3 · January 2018

...just sayin!

pipeman83 · January 2018

Ric from Briarville is the featured guest on the pipes magazine radio show tonight.

AnantaAndroscoggin · January 2018

Gravity ... Magnetism ... Weak-Atomic-Bond ... Duck Tape -- the hold-it-together forces of the Universe.

KA9FFJ · January 2018

@AnantaAndroscoggin Duck Tape is unique because it is the only VISIBLE "hold-it-together force" on your list...

KA9FFJ · January 2018

@pipeman83 RIC is normally a hoot. I wonder if he will behave himself tonight?...

RockyMountainBriar · January 2018

Sticking a pipe in the freezer for an hour or so when it has a stuck vulcanite or acrylic stem almost always gets the stem to release. I have probably removed a dozen or more really nasty stuck stems without breaking them. I don't think the cold would be the cause unless the shank was wet and it was actually cold enough to freeze. Aluminum, now that's a different story, it almost always takes heat, which is much more dicey to use without "torching" something. As for getting a new stem sent from Peterson, unless it is a system army mount I think you are out of luck. Even factory made pipes of the same shape almost never have the same stem. Each one must be fit to each individual pipe. Mike Meyers over at Walker Pipe Repair uses a very cool mould system so he can fit the stem to your pipe without ever sanding next to the shank. It saves the nomenclature and the finish. He does excellent work. I have made replacement stems for many. many pipes, but even I don't trust myself to keep the nomenclature or finish intact. I have a vintage Peterson Dublin & London #268 Zulu that I sent to Mike to fit a new stem, it turned out beautifully. The repair was around $25-$30, he can even stamp the Peterson "P" on the stem for a bit extra. I had contacted the Peterson service department first about getting a replacement made by them, they could not guarantee they could save the nomenclature on the shank. The Dublin & London series is a higher end Peterson pipe line, I did not want to mess it up.

mseddon · January 2018

@RockyMountainBriar Thanks for the detailed response! Yeah, I contacted Peterson and they said they'd have to make a new stem. They were willing to do it, but it would cost twice as much as Briarville is charging me, plus I'd have to pay the international shipping to and from Ireland. I think I had ignored the extra torque you can put on the tenon by virtue of the long shank on a Canadian. When I get it back, I'm going to be a lot more careful about disassembling it, and try to disassemble it less often. The only challenge to that is that my Peterson Canadian is also a P-lip, which can be hard to run a cleaner through all the way to the bowl.

What did I do wrong?

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