Freakin' bummer

[zanthal]

The pipe I'm puffing on in my avatar isn't a month old ... I was just putting a 2nd char light on a full bowl of 7 seas Royal blend while on the job today, and I decided to turn the stem a bit in the shank.
The thing broke off in my hand
It was a fairly tight fit in the shank, enough to wear it made a little squeeking sound when you moved it... but this isn't unusual, that happens with all my pipes. Does this happen sometimes with a quality stem, or is this Ukrainian crap? This has never happened to me before.
Anyhow, I'm just going to upgrade this pipe into a churchwarden, provided I can find a 11mm churchwarden stem, does anyone have any idea where I can find one?

 

[hobie1dog]

Turning it into a churchwarden is a great idea.

 

[kennerth]

11mm on the tenon or shank?

 

[kennerth]

I get reasonably priced warden stems from Tim West at JH Lowe.

 

[zanthal]

I read my micrometer wrong ... shank outer diameter is 17mm, inside diameter is 10mm
Thanks for the tip.

 

[zanthal]

I think I may be in the need of more tips.
The interior diameter of the shank is a few thousands of an inch over a half inch.
I found a churchwarden stem (at JH Lowe, thanks again for the info kennerth) that is 31/64 of an inch.
I imagine getting a stem that is just slightly smaller is a safe bet. Now my question to the wise and knowing is, what do I do if it's a loose fit?

 

[jcsnaps]

It's tough sometimes to make your stems bigger. :wink: I usually opt for a slightly larger stem and carefully sand it down to fit.

 

[bigvan]

Before you sink even more money into this "Ukranian experiment" I'd give it some thought. It's a broken tenon now, but what happens if you get a burn out?
Personally, I'd cut my losses and file this under "lessons learned".