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While I’m away at the Las Vegas Pipe Show this weekend, I thought it would be a treat for everyone to see some of Fletch Hiner’s amazing stem work in acrylic and ebonite and read his comments on his approach to recreating the famous NAP Patent stem.  In a few weeks I’ll be sharing a bit of DIY tutoring he gave me recently, which has altered the way I restore my Petes.  In the meantime, enjoy!

The Anchor is Fletch’s stamp on work he’s done. 

XL307 Early Republic w/ Amber Acrylic P-Lip.

I wanted to begin with this Early Republic XL307 because the amber-colored acrylic shows off so well what Fletch can do. He said a BC stem would be the way to go with the XL307, and as you can see, he’s right.

I’ll say this again later, but the bulge right there before the bend in the stem isn’t decorative, but functional, giving adequate space for the graduated bore smoke channel.  There’s a reason the stem shouldn’t be bent too close to the button or too close to the tenon, which we’ll talk about next time.

Fletch also turns and taps his own aluminum condensers. He told me he’s cataloged a number of these with different diameters and thread pitches from throughout K&P’s history!

The flat of the surface in front of the clenching shelf makes Fletch’s P-Lip stems the absolute most comfortable I have ever smoked.  Better than the Comfort P-Lip.  Better than the SH Strand (although I like the rounded tip of the Strand a bit better, maybe because its ebonite).  You won’t be surprised to learn that Fletch cuts his clenching shelf to 4.7mm–which is approximately what all the finest Hand Made vulcanite stems once were.

Here is another part of Fletch’s genius as an artisan: the incredibly sharp, well-defined angles of the button itself. The shelves are absolutely vertical, the tongue tuck is precise, the air hole exact. The bend in the smoke vent on the button, which must descend forward and down to the stem’s main smoke channel, demands that the pipeman exert a bit of finesse to push the pipe cleaner on through, just as on the best of the old-time buttons. And of course, the pipe cleaner passes right on through the condenser at the other end without hanging up, unlike so many recent contemporary condensers still do.

1898 Patent w/ Vulcanite P-Lip.

From the same shape group as the 1899 seen below (and a No Prize if you’re the first to correctly identify the shape), this is one of  Fletch’s less frequently seen A mounts.

Bog Oak P-Lip w/ 1930s Catalin Egg Yolk Swirl Rod.

Another example of submerged technology, the bog oak must’ve been something in its day.  If you haven’t read up on these, circle back to Post #419 and educate yourself.

20s De Luxe w/ Ebonite Cumberland P-Lip.

This is a small bowl, but how perfectly the ebonite cumberland meshes with the bowl.

1899 Patent (Birmingham Hallmarks) w/ B Vulcanite P-Lip.

I’ll let you pull out the 1896 and 1906 reproduction catalogs and figure out which shape this is. It sure looks great with Fletch’s B vulcanite P-Lip! There’s something about the thickness of the B stems, as seen here, that really makes these pipes jump out at you.

303 “Bard Style”  w/ Vulcanite NAP “B” Stem.

I remember about when Tim received this, which was not long after the Peterson “Bard” demi-wardens came out.  Like so many Pete Geeks, when the Bard came out, Tim did a, “What if?”  Fletch said, “Can do!”

I want you to notice the slight bulge about half way up the stem here.  You can see it on the XL307 and Fletch’s other stems. “Does that have a function?” I asked.  “Yup,” he said, “the reason the original Patents have the bulge halfway up is to accommodate the smoke channel’s graduated bore.”

I couldn’t help myself: “Um, do you know if the P-Lip acrylic stems Peterson makes now have graduated bore smoke channels?” “Yes,” he said, “I do know.” “And?” I asked.  “No, they don’t.  They smoke okay, but they’re stepped, not graduated.  There’s no real reason why they can’t be graduated, it’s just a matter of what kind of drill bits are used.  Mine can do this on acrylic as well as ebonite rod.”

Patent Cased Bulldog, HM 1907, w/ P-Lip Acrylic Stem.

Per Tim, “Ryan Alden saved the stummel and cut 3 fishtail stems. Fletch make 4 P-Lips!”

Patent Bulldog Meer, HM 1907.

309 Grade 3 w/ Acrylic NAP “B” Stem.

Fletch on His NAP Button Replicas.

11s DeLuxe Early Republic w/ Acrylic Amber NAP “S” Stem.

I can’t end this without showing off my other Fletch creation, a NAP S.  This 11s was gifted to me by Paul Combs CPG some time ago, with instructions to finish cleaning it up, which I did.  After learning about Fletch’s stem work, I asked and he agreed to make a NAP S stem for the bowl. As you can see, there are few better combinations than honey-colored birdseye and dramatic amber acrylic.  Not knocking Silver Gray’s work for an instant, but seeing this combination gives me that “Whoa! So that’s what an amber-stemmed De Luxe System must’ve looked like!”

The smoke vent here, just like the original CP, will not pass a pipe cleaner!  Fletch believes that Charles Peterson’s air flow principle had a lot to do with “less is more.”

My thanks once again
to Tim Lomprey & Fletch Hiner.

More Fletch coming up, but first:

TINTACKER EVENT

We’ve about halfway filled the run of 50 at this point, so if you think
you might want another one, or missed out the first run,
or want to give one to a pipe-smoking friend,
here’s the form:
Tintacker Redux Signup Form

Martin Kollman CPG:

Doug Owen CPG, displaying his tintacker at his shop The Cargohold:

And finally, the electronic strutcards from this past week’s two amazing releases:

I believe there were 24 of these made available. They were all gone with a few hours!

And last Wednesday:

I’ve heard two figures on the number of these released. One was 40, the other 400 worldwide.  The rep at SPC on Wednesday told me they had 60 ready for the drop. I’ve been in love with that fork tail P for many decades! And lovers of Patent pipes should recognize the little filigree between Peterson’s and Patent–it graced the center of the rugby football sticker in the top of the Patent pipe cases.

brought to you by my favorite the divine
DRJAYANTHIKUMARRESH
to welcome KT to the Vegas show