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Kirsten Pipes
Darmon
Master
What are your thoughts on the Kirsten "radiator" pipes?
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I'm not crazy about their looks, never heard bad about their smoking. The chamber cleaning seems straightforward. I think the Falcons are easier.
That’s an awesome Kirsten.
Make sure you swab it out after you smoke it, the caps and stems tend to stick tightly after the “juices” dry, although the ones with o-rings much less so than the older ones with machined friction fit parts. I have a bunch of Kirsten’s, but not that standing style yet. People bidding against me on E-Bay have had deeper pockets and stronger desire. They get quite a bit of the cashola for them.
Thanks for the tip!
From some of the auctions I've seen on eBay, it's almost cheaper to buy one from Kirsten. You can also pick and choose the parts you want - color and shape of aluminum part, color of the bit and your bowl.
Kirsten pipes were patented about the same time as a Falcon but were put into production immediately while the Falcons weren't really massed produced until after World War II.
I personally like the Kirsten better than the Falcon or any of the other knock-off metal pipes. The way they are made is designed for cleaning. You pull the bit out of the stem and it has a long rod. I just wrap a tissue around the rod and push it back through the stem. Take off the cap at the other end and the tissue comes out.
True, Kirsten started making new pipes a year or two ago after a long hiatus. I have ordered new o-rings, screws and washers from them before they had started making pipes again, they have great customer service.
I believe they started making new pipes again around 2015. I found my Kirsten at a antique junk shop in early March of 2017 and communicated with Stacy Thraser, the great-grandfather of the inventor of the Kirsten pipe, about the pipe and getting replacement parts. At the time, she was operating a small retail shop near the Seattle Center and they were making the pipes in the same Ballard location where the pipes had historically been made. (At least that is what I remember).
Stacy told me that I have one of the "Transition" pipes that were made between 1950 and 1957. She identified it by the stamping, the fact that it had O-rings on the valve and mouthpiece and because the bowls screw directly onto the pipe. Starting in 1958, there was an aluminum bowl that sat between the bowl and the pipe.
I have three briar and one meerschaum bowl for my Kirsten.
For those interested, there is a fairly decent article about Frederick Kirsten, the inventor, on pipedia.org. He designed the pipe in 1936 and filed for his patents soon after. Kirsten was an important figure in aeronautical history also - he invented and built the first wind tunnel for Boeing.
https://rebornpipes.com/2021/05/02/sometimes-you-come-across-something-that-just-has-to-be-restored/