New Pipe Smoker With A Question? Ask an Old Fart

[ApexAZ]

Originally Posted by Mister Moo

I gotta add this for you newguys: I recently sent my second "Thank You" note to a Secret Santa that hit me with a modified MM Country Gentleman* pipe last December. He started with a bent version, pitched the stem and filed a MM freehand stem to replace it. I have hardly been without this pipe (when smoking virginia/vaper tobaccos) for nearly as year. It is absolutely teriffic. It was puffing some nice Magnolia Avenue from Pipe & Pint this morning and will do the same on the way home from work this evening. MM corncob pipes can last for decades (with some care and maybe a little mud) and may have bowl sizes and smoking qualities that rival your finest briars. For the 20-something bucks it took to put this pipe together I am awed each and every time I use it.

*

I got the CG with a straight stem, which was what I was using last night.

So how do you get the freehand stem in it? You have to file the tenon down? Also, I noticed that yours has a very even thickness around the entire circumference of the bowl. Mine has a thin area in the back left quadrant. I noticed it was getting warmer in that area, which makes sense. Should I be concerned about this?