How to Fix a Broken Pipe Bowl
Introduction
A pipe bowl is the removable section of a tobacco pipe. They can be made from clay, wood, or metal, but most commonly, they are made from briar. The main purposes of these bowls are to hold the tobacco and provide an airtight seal that stops any smoke from entering or leaving your pipe without being screened by the tobacco packed inside. It is also important that a good-quality bowl should not impart flavor on the smoking experience (unless it is designed to do so). Unfortunately, sometimes these pipe bowls get broken, and it is needed to fix them immediately. For this reason, today, I m going to discuss a technique on how to fix a broken pipe bowl.
Why Pipe Bowl Breaks?
There are a variety of reasons why pipe bowls break. The bowl is often broken during shipping or handling in storage, but there can be other causes as well. Let’s take a look at some of them:
Impact –
The most common reason for a broken pipe bowl is impacted. Imagine dropping your pipe or having it fall off a shelf onto the floor, and you’ll get the idea. Sometimes even just setting it down too heavily on a hard surface will cause damage to the fragile briar material that makes up the bowl of your smoking pipe–or any other kind of pipe for that matter.
Some people consider this “normal wear and tear,” while others feel more strongly about it being unsmokable after such rough treatment by its owner. Unfortunately, these aren’t really repairable, so if you suffer this sort of mishap, look into replacing the pipe rather than putting in a time-consuming and difficult-to-fit new bowl.
Lack of Care –
Knowing how to care for your pipe is important–not just when it comes to cleaning and storing but also concerning breakage. This isn’t as common an issue these days since most briar bowls are stabilized by drilling several small holes through the bottom of the bowl (to allow water to reach hidden cracks). Still, before all that was done naturally, there were plenty of cracked and broken pipes around being tossed aside because people didn’t know any better at the time. Don’t be like them! Instead, read up on pipe care, paying special attention to how not to break your pipe.
Improperly Storing Pipe –
The best way to protect your pipes when you’re traveling is to store them in an empty mayonnaise jar. This will help to prevent them from breaking and will make them easier to carry around than a heavy glass rack.
You can also check it out to Make a Clay Bowl by Hand
Step-wise Guide on How to Fix a Broken Pipe Bowl
- First and foremost, you need to know whether the bowl is broken or not. If it is a normal break, like in an acrylic pipe, it might require super-glue or adhesive material. But if the bowl has been severely cracked inside and some other parts falling off, then the only way out with that particular pipe will be by getting it replaced.
- The first step is to remove the bowl from the pipe using needle-nose pliers or any other tool that you have at your disposal like tweezers, but make sure that there is no glue stuck between the two parts, then do not force them off. Doing so will increase the damage to a great extent.
- Now clean the pipe thoroughly with hot water and soap. You can use isopropyl alcohol too. Just take care that the inside of your pipe does not get wet as this might cause rusting, especially in metal pipes or any other material that falls under the category of non-porous materials. After cleaning it off really well, allow everything to dry completely, including the bowl inside and out!
- If you can see through when looking from the top end of your bowl into its hollow chamber, try turning it around and seeing if there were no cracks on the inner part that holds all the broken pieces together inside. If so, then try to think of an adhesive substance that could glue the bowl together. It should preferably be non-toxic, strong enough, and ideally water-resistant too! A simple example would be super-glue. Of course, if you fit a new bowl instead of repairing your old one, there is no need for any adhesive or anything like that, so just go ahead on to the next step already.
- First, remove the broken pipe from its case. Then, using a drill, make holes at the spots where the pipe was previously attached. Be careful not to damage the pipe while drilling.
Precautions While Fixing a Broken Pipe Bowl
- Don’t use the pipe till you fix it properly
- Keep out of kids or others who are not allowed to smoke.
- Do not ever light the pipe with broken pipe bowl as it can cause fire accident due to leakage of toxic fumes and poisonous gases from the tobacco or inner metals of pipe
- While fixing a broken pipe bowl, be sure not to inhale any air from the mouthpiece that is leaking or causing a gap. Inhaling oxygen from this air can cause dizziness or a headache. Also, if you inhale unused or oily tobacco juice, be sure to clean your mouthpiece thoroughly with hot water before smoking again.
- Keep out of reach of children and be careful while repairing a broken pipe as it may cause injury or damage to eyes due to small pieces of the broken bowl that can fly off in the air when cutting the bowl etc.
- Try to contact your nearest local store for getting help or assistance from any professional pipe repairer like a carpenter, watchman, plumber, or mechanic who understands the work with metals and can fix pipes according to their respective line of work.
Conclusion
Lastly, I hope that you have obtained all the adequate information about how to fix a broken pipe bowl from this article. Thank you, and have a good day!
