Pipe clenching

[Argonaut]

I was out at the Smithsonian natural history museum and saw some interesting pipe clenching evidence from early American Colonists. Several skulls had round holes in the teeth indicative of clenching a pipe.

http://anthropology.si.edu/writteninbone/pipe.html

This skull was from a 25-29 year old man.

Clenching clay pipes was not for the timid man! That makes my teeth hurt.
I prefer lightweight bent pipes for clenching. I can't stand softie bits, I feel like I have to bite down harder to keep the pipe from waggling around if I turn my head.

[nrdoty]

Ouch, I'm 26 & that's exactly where I tend to hold most pipes. But I'm gonna guess he'd had a pipe in his mouth 8+ hours a day since he was old enough to milk the cows & such.

Honestly, ever since I started following this thread I have been more & more conscious of how often/hard I clench. I can get over some extra wear on the chompers when I'm 80, but I'd rather not be snaggle toothed with a stiff jaw by the time I'm 50. You know you multitask/clench too much when you've smacked a pipe into a door frame & the pipe didn't budge. That rung my bell a bit.

[TheClassicGentleman]

Usually I don't clinch my pipe unless my hands are busy doing something else; Hehehe, that didn't come out right. But weh I do clich the pipe, I have it gently nestled between the teeth like shown in the pictures...

[jdto]

Nice pipe.

[CptBlueBear]

This got me thinking about exactly what I do when I clench. It's a little more complex than just jamming the thing in my mouth and biting down. There are three parts to my "clench": the lip of the stem tip is hooked under an upper incisor, the lower lip supports the weight and a lower incisor holds it in place under the stem lip to stop it falling out. Because of the angle the pipe sits at I don't need to thrust my jaw forward (no doubt thanks to some expensive othodonstistry when I was a teenager) and no real pressure need be applied. The weight of the pipe holds it in place. I little pressure stops the pipe moving about when I turn my head.

OK I've now devoted far too much time to analsying this.

Ouch, I'm 26 & that's exactly where I tend to hold most pipes. But I'm gonna guess he'd had a pipe in his mouth 8+ hours a day since he was old enough to milk the cows & such.

Honestly, ever since I started following this thread I have been more & more conscious of how often/hard I clench. I can get over some extra wear on the chompers when I'm 80, but I'd rather not be snaggle toothed with a stiff jaw by the time I'm 50. You know you multitask/clench too much when you've smacked a pipe into a door frame & the pipe didn't budge. That rung my bell a bit.

I wouldn't worry, mate. The owner of that set of mandibles would have smoked a clay pipe - much harder and heavier than the modern item. A pipe stem is much softer than your teeth (or you have bigger things to worry about!). I believe it's pretty common among working men of the era, sort of like how you can identify the skeleton of a bowman by the arthritic damage to his right shoulder joint.

[TheClassicGentleman]

Nice pipe.

Thanks its a vintage Loewe Bravo from London, England made in the late 40's early 50's. Its a nice featherweight smoker, I really enjoy it a lot.