Curing gurgling?

[Constantine]

Howdy,
Well, I have had a mario grandi pipe laying around that I scored off of ebay about a year ago. I never really had much desire to smoke it because of the big bowl on it. Now it seems I am getting back into pipe smoking and have picked the pipe up and put some time into it, there seems to be a problem with gurgling. The blend I am smoking is a dry mix of my own, and am confident in my smoking techniques that I do not think I am causing it. I'm not sure if you can tell from the pictures, but there does seem to be some flaws with the pipe. Mainly the stem does not seem to sit flush with the shank, and the shank itself, to my eyes, looks like it is off center a little. The hole of the stem that connects to the mortise seemed a bit small, so I drilled it out a little bit and will see if that helps. But if not, is there anything I can do with this? Or could this just be a badly constructed pipe?

 

[ciggy]

gurgling is something that upsets me as well because it means the bottom of the bolw is wet and the tobacco wont burn that point. Not to mention how the juice slips up the stem to my tongue. Yuk! I've been told a couple things. Either I am smoking it to fast or the tobacco is to wet.

 

[javajunkie]

this is honestly above my learning curve. but a couple questions:
-by "dry mix of my own", what does that entail? what is the blend, roughly? and have you done the "pinch test" on it?
-when you said "i opened up the hole in the stem that leads to the mortise", this is just in the tennon, correct? and have you looked at the draft hole into the bowl itself?
-when was the last time you smoked this pipe? are you trying to smoke it multiple times in a day, or multiple days consecutively?

and, no, i am not entirely ruling out "bad briar". it happens, but i consider that the worst case scenario, as there ain't shit you can do at that point. which is just a shame, doubly so as that looks to be a handsome piece (that's what she said, beat you to it!).

let us know, bro.

 

[Constantine]

this is honestly above my learning curve. but a couple questions:
-by "dry mix of my own", what does that entail? what is the blend, roughly? and have you done the "pinch test" on it?
-when you said "i opened up the hole in the stem that leads to the mortise", this is just in the tennon, correct? and have you looked at the draft hole into the bowl itself?
-when was the last time you smoked this pipe? are you trying to smoke it multiple times in a day, or multiple days consecutively?

and, no, i am not entirely ruling out "bad briar". it happens, but i consider that the worst case scenario, as there ain't shit you can do at that point. which is just a shame, doubly so as that looks to be a handsome piece (that's what she said, beat you to it!).

let us know, bro.

Thanks for the reply's!

- By mix of my own, it was the last of what was left over from about 7 different english/non aro blends along with some two year old cigar clippings I had stored. I did do the pinch test, the burly blend in it broke apart being a little dryer then the rest. But it did not stick together or feel moist at all.

- You are correct, it is the end of the stem that You twist into the tenon. I did smoke a bowl after opening it up and I got about half way through the bowl(bout a half hour or so) until it started gurgling. So I am thinking that it is the stem that is the issue? I may open the hole up a bit more and see how it smokes. Undecided yet. Looking at the bowl draft hole, it looks to be drilled strait and even.

-The last time I smoked it was today, The size of the bowl on this pipe, I can load it in the morning and it will last me all day. If I do smoke a few days in a row or more then one I will usually run a pipe cleaner through it, and let it sit over night.


What a mouthful! lol.

 

[LigaPrivadaFanboy]

Gurgling is part of pipe smoking. I run a pipe cleaner in my pipes at the first hint of a gurgle to help keep things dry. Your pipe is fine. The last owner seemed to think so, judging by the cake on it.

 

[Constantine]

Gurgling is part of pipe smoking. I run a pipe cleaner in my pipes at the first hint of a gurgle to help keep things dry. Your pipe is fine. The last owner seemed to think so, judging by the cake on it.

Not much of a cake, not yet anyways. What is on it is all Me baby ;P . I will smoke some and see if opening the air way on the stem was indeed the problem, maybe even open it up a little bit more. One thing I did notice was the smoke tasted noticeably better after opening it up.

 

[maduro marauder]

Gurgling is a tobacco issue, usually means it wet or youre smoking it too fast. Briar's are designed to absorb the water from the baccy and usually burns hot. You may want to try and slow smoke it. Also, when you smoke a briar you need to let it sit at least 24 hour to dry out (the moister/wetter a briar is the hotter it smokes). Also, with such a big bowl you may want to only fill it half way and get a good cake on the bottom of the bowl as if all the cake is yours the previous owner may have reamed it out to much. Just a few suggestions. Good Puffing!

 

[InspektorGadget]

I have nothing to contribute, just wanted to say that is a cool ass pipe Constantine.

 

[InspektorGadget]

I'm with LPFB, when the gurgling starts, just run a pipe cleaner down there and it helps a bunch.

 

[rev.b]

Can someone explain caking? I'm a new to pipes and learning more each bowl as far as loading tamping etc but caking??

 

[UtahRootBeer]

Its the carbon build up inside the bowl that protects the wood from burning and charring.

 

[rev.b]

Is that the gum like tar? I've read after you clean your pipe put a coating of ash in the bowl shake it about then tap it out and leave it. Is that advisable?

 

[UtahRootBeer]

It depends on what you mean by "cleaning" your pipe. My technique is to shake my pipe with my thumb over the bowl after i finish giving the inside a fine coat of ash then i dump the dottle and leave a pipe cleaner in the stem. Cake is a very personal and highly debated topic, i prefer a very thin cake but that is cause i dont smoke hot so i don't need as much protection. I say just smoke and if or when you get a problem then you can sweat the small stuff.

 

[Constantine]

Sorry I have been abscent from the forum for a while. Here is an update on my thoughts of the cause of gurgling.

From doing some reading on causes or gurgling and browsing posts, and forums. I have came to the conclusion that it is the construction of the pipe? From what I read, the tenon of the bit can cause gurgling if it is too long, one of the pictures below shows the tenon now, I trimmed a good amount off of it. And although it did help with the gurgling, there is still some gurgling going on after I'd say about 5-7 minutes of smoking. And about a minute or two between puffs. I tried to get a picture of the Shank or "mortise", it looks to be off just a bit, and this causes a raise on the bottom right side. I think the raise puts pressure on the bit tenon causing the gap between the bit and the shank. My thoughts now, are do I trim the bit tenon a little more? Or try to level out the shank of the pipe?