Long Stemmed Wooden Pipe

Ok, so this is not entirely a wood pipe. It's a stylish wooden pipe with all metal interior pieces to make it more durable and have cleaner smoke.

This is a culmination of ideas I've been having for a while about a pipe project, and I'm glad it all came together so easily.

It's cheap too! Even if you bought all the materials fresh, it would probably be around 10-15$ US.

This pipe is intended for tobacco use, like most long pipes are. Don't use it for things you shouldn't smoke, etc, etc. Smoking is bad, don't start, and lets leave it at that.

I wanted to make a Gandalf-style pipe, but it just didn't turn out that way, but I still like how it looks.

Let's make one!

Step 1: Materials

• A piece of wood about 1.5 inches long and in diameter. You can use really whatever kind of wood you want, since the wood won't be burning, but I used walnut.
• A thin shoot from a pithy-centered tree about half an inch in diameter, maybe a bit more, I also used walnut, It helps tremendously if it is still green. Straight is highly recommended.
• A 1/4 inch piece of brass or steel tubing. Normally, brass is discouraged for pipes, but in this case it is being used for the stem instead of the bowl, and will not get hot enough to release toxins.
• A standard 12-gram CO2 cartridge. You can pick these up at a bike shop for refill kits, or in the airguns section at a Walmart or other store. Please disperse the gas safely, either by shooting it in an airgun or by filling a tire with it.
• Gorilla Glue Wood Glue, found at home centers.

Comments

[robbert.]

Yes, i did burn the inside, i think i used a copper cartridge, maybe that wasn't really smart, i still have a chemical taste in my mouth :). I will try it again tomorrow with a steel cartridge.
thanks,

[ilpug]

Oh god, copper is really bad man... like toxic. I'd do some reasearch and see if you should be worried.

But yeah, steel or nothing else.

[robbert.]

It is a very nice idea, And it looks very cool.
But DON'T smoke it, i build one and it tastes very very chemical.

[ilpug]

Did you burn out the inside of the bowl with a torch or gas burner like I said? Also, did you make sure you had a steel cartridge?

If you have a clean steel bowl it works fine, all the ones I have made people say are awesome and adds no taste.

[Phil B]

Nice job. I was trying to understand how you get the long tube inside the long stem, but you said you used a piece of wood with a soft pithy center, so I am assuming you simply pushed the tube into the pith until you were able to push the pith out and the tube in. I am a little surprised you can make that work.

[ilpug]

To be perfectly honest, I didn't think it would work either, but it did.

You need the stem to be green wood, I cut mine directly off the tree. It was originally about 3/4 inch in diameter, and it definitely had a pithy center. Our tree was an English Walnut, but some other fruit woods, reeds, willows, flowering woods, or root woods have a pithy center that can be pushed out easily.

I used a thin metal rod from an old whip antenna and just pushed it through the stick a bunch of times, then jammed the brass tube in. If you use a dry stick, it's nowhere near as flexible, and you need a much straighter stick.

If you are having issues finding a stick with a pithy core, drive along a country road and snip off a few shoots from random plants until you find one, it's how I got mine, just don't cut anything that is in front of someone's house. Conversely, if you live in a city, go to a nursery and ask when they do their prunings, and if they have any sticks left over that you could grab or buy. They know their stuff.

[Phil B]

Thank you for all of the information. I doubt I will ever make a pipe, but I was very curious about how you made a passageway for the smoke in the stem.