Loose stem

[Ruffinogold]

Didn't see any topic covering this. My pipe is loose at the stem. Itys loose to the point of almost falling out. I read somewhere that smoking it can tighten things back up but that is not working. What can I do? Thanks

This was a tip I got from Tim West, but it only works on vulcanite. Pour some water fresh off the boil into a cup, and submerge the entire tenon into the hot water and hold it there for about 60 seconds. Remove from water, set it down and allow it to cool fully. Do not touch the tenon, or attempt to put it into the pipe before it is fully cooled, as you can deform the tenon.
The reason this works, is that vulcanite becomes more elastic when heated and tends to "puff" back up to it's original uncompressed size. This is also why direct heating removes chatter.

I do the same but with an alcohol lamp , or even a Zippo . Just can't hold it in one place too long