Stingers

[Kazeryu]

I was cleaning up some pipes from the 'bay last night when I found something unexpected - a little doodad attached to the tenon when I pulled the stem out of a kaywoodie drinkless. Thanks to the power of the internet, I managed to confirm that this is a "stinger".

Two questions:

1) There are three holes/depressions in the ball at the tip of the stinger. Are these supposed to go all the way through the metal? Right now they appear to be clogged with something (dried up baccy juice?), but I thought I would ask before trying to force them.

2) Some very brief reading on the 'ole webernets suggests that most people either don't like them or can't even tell the difference without them. What do you think?

[Commander Quan]

IMO all they are good for is collecting moisture and preventing a pipe cleaner from passing through the stem. Here's what they should look like. If it's a 3 hole and you don't care about the collectability of the pipe, I'd cut it off. If it were a 4 hole or it's worth more to you in it's original state leave it.

To clean out the holes set the stem stinger first in a shotglass of high proof alcohol, and then use a pipe cleaner to run through the holes.

[nrdoty]

I have a Willard that seemed to smoke just fine but since the stinger was removable I pulled it. Now that I have it out I wouldn't go back. I appreciate the more open draw.

I also have a Savinelli with a stinger that's a good smoker. I can't remember off the top of my head, but this one might be permanently attached. If so I won't bother cutting it cause it doesn't seem to impede the draw as much; probably because it's shaped more like a large (maybe 10-8g) needle as opposed to the ball-end style.

Overall my take on stingers is the same as "system"-type wells & P-lips: I CAN get a good smoke with them & they SOMEWHAT do what their designed to do; which generally is provide a more care-free smoke. But I don't prefer them at all. More often than not they cause other annoyances and in the end, why bother? If you're really taking your time and enjoying the smoke, you often don't have the problems that these devices try to fix.

All that said, give it a few smokes. If you have similar pipes without stingers to compare to that would be great. Do some research & decide what you like before you cut on that old pipe.

[Red Horn]

I was wondering what that funny metal thing was inside my new Tsuge.