237. Chamfering Tenons for a Cooler Smoke
As you'll be able to see in my restoration of the 1896 Kapp & Peterson catalog due out later this year from Briar Books Press, K&P has made non-System army mounts since 1891. There were, in fact, three of them. I've always liked the look of a great army mount, although very few have have reciprocated. Army mounts had completely dropped out of the catalog by the 1930s, returning in small numbers during the 1950s, with vulcanite ferrules, believe it or not. After those disappeared, there simply weren't any until the comeback in the mid-1970s. Since then, they were a constant until the final years of the Dublin era, roughly 2014 to mid-2018, when they began being issued in ever-greater numbers but on what seemed like every new line or commemorative, always with a colorful acrylic fishtail.1 As each new issue appeared, I would look and sometimes find one I couldn’t resist, but time after time I experienced a hot, acrid smoke and while it wasn't "once burned, twice shy" (more like a dozen-times burned), I finally woke up and realized that army mounts weren't for me. The 160 entered the catalog in 1906 as a "Peterson Patent Lip" shape Then I saw the stem bend on this little 160 Sterling Army back in May. I fell quick and hard. I’d like to say it was a considered, rational decision, but it wasn’t. It spoke to me with the kind of piercing beauty that outweighs all other concerns. I didn’t care about the small bowl, the thinnish walls, the acrylic stem, the military mount. All I saw was the total package: beautiful bend, well-articulated P-Lip, sterling mount, rich ruby stain. I knew we were meant for each other, and before long it arrived from across the Pond. If you’ve read this blog for long, you'll know it's my proclivity for virginias and va/pers that has kept me from this style of Pete. I’m not surprised that among those who don’t smoke these tobaccos there there are a great number who have no quarrel with an army mount. I’m a bit envious, but not to the point of giving up virginia tobaccos.I have also been interested in fluid dynamics (which I blame on Charles Peterson) and have long had a vague idea that chamfering helps reduce the friction of air flow and thereby cool pipe smoke. So I set out to give it a whirl, and sort-of succeeded, but also made a few bungles. At that point, a dim light bulb finally came on and I knew it was time to get on the Bat Phone and dial up "Professor" John Schantz. As always, he came through. Everything useful in this post is due to his patience in explaining to me the ins and outs of chamfering and its benefits. He writes: “Many of my pipes benefit markedly by chamfering the tenon, which also pretty much eliminates any stem gurgle. Chamfering works especially well in non-System pipes (whether army or navy…