Bondarev Pipes / Engineering / Tenons

Pipe tenons

I use two types of pipe stem tenons:

  • Ebonite tenons, turned on a lathe from a solid rod with a stem.
  • Glued teflon (delrin) cones.

Choosind tenon type depends primarily on the diameter. If the shape allows me to make a tenon diameter greater than 8 mm, I prefer to turn it from ebonite on a lathe. With a 4 mm chanel diameter there will be 2 mm walls - tenon will be strong enough.

Тефлоновая цапфа для курительной трубки

If the tenon is necessary to make thinner (for example, Canadians or other pipes with a thin shank), I glue 7mm delrin pin. Delrin is much stronger than ebonite, a tenon is almost impossible to break.

There is a minus of delrin (teflone) cones: the material can't be glued with any glue. I use epoxy to fix them, but epoxy doesn't work as glue with teflone, it just holds cone to some grooves on its back part. In some cases when a connection is unreliable, the tenon gets out of the mouthpiece body during disconnecting of the pipe. This failure can be fixed elementary, unlike the broken ebony tenon.

I still have no clients who returned pipes with such problem, and I have not encountered this problem myself. I make the connection reaaly reliable, accurately maintaining technology (blowing hole with compressed air, degreasing, etc.).

But some cheap factory pipes with glued tenon sometimes get broken in that place. And sometimes they have another problem: a cavity inside the stem, which can not be cleaned with pipe cleaner. This cavity is formed due to inaccurate drilling holes while inserting teflone cone. A hole is drilled too deep. In my pipes such problem NEVER exists. I drill a hole with a flat end cutter precisely to the depth I need for cone inserting. There can not be any cavities inside my stems.

Now about consumer differences

  • Ebonite expands with temperature. A stem may become difficult to connect in the heat or connection may become too loose in the cold. In the heat problem may be solved with a graphite pencil. This will reduce friction. With teflon such problems do not happen.
  • It's a bad idea to disconnect a solid ebonite stem from stummel while pipe is hot. If it goes hard, it's better to wait some time while pipe cools down. If there is teflon cone, you can connect and disconnect a stem whenever you want.

It's all. No other differences if both variants are made technically correctly.

Alexandr Bondarev

Sasha Bondarev 🇱🇻 🇪🇺 Latvian pipe maker

I started making pipes in 2011, and now it's my only job. I make about 5 to 8 pipes per month, spending 2 to 3 working days on each one.

For my pipes I use Italian briar and German ebonite or acrylic rods. I pay special attention to pipe engineering: accurate drilling, fine stem fitting, comfortable mouthpiece button, deep V-slot.

Every single one of my pipes provides a perfect smoking experience. Just try one of them, and I’m sure you will want to get a second one soon.