I picked up these two Doodler bowls that needed stemming. They were made by Tracy Mincer of Custom Bilt fame. They are unique in the pipe world, and often have been copied by others. The basic design involves deep grooves cut into the bowl and then holes drill from the rim to the bottom of the pipe. These tubes around the bowl and the open grooves are designed to cool the bowl as the pipe is smoked and deliver a cool dry smoke. These two were a mess when they arrived and need quite a bit of work. The shanks on both bowls were crack with hairlines crack in several places. They required gluing with super glue and then a pressure fit nickel band on each one. The bowls were reamed and cleaned and then restained with a medium brown aniline stain. I buffed them both with Tripoli and White Diamond to polish them.

I took two stems out of my can of stems – one a saddle and one a taper stem. I used the PIMO tool to turn the tenons to fit the shank. Then I used my Dremel to fit the stem to the shank. I took off the extra material until it was the same diameter as the shank. I used a variety of sandpapers to bring the stem down to the perfect fit. I used 400 and 600 grit wet dry sandpaper and water to remove all of the scratches. I used Micromesh from 1500-6000 grit to polish and smooth the stem. Both pipes and stems were polished with carnauba wax and a soft flannel buff.