I prefer vulcanite stems, I have a couple with acrylic but don't like them as much. I have some horn stems too which are very nice and the pipes they're on are very light pipes so easy to clench.
Oxidized stems don't bother me at all, I don't think I've ever bothered removing it on my vulcanite stems. Yeah looks kind of ugly but I'm rying to have a nice smoke, nothing more. Lot of pipe smokers out there care about the aesthetics of how they look while they're smoking imo.
My only maintenance is cleaning the bowl, shank, stem hole, draught hole, whenever I feel a pipe needs it.
Oxidized stems don't bother me at all, I don't think I've ever bothered removing it on my vulcanite stems. Yeah looks kind of ugly but I'm rying to have a nice smoke, nothing more. Lot of pipe smokers out there care about the aesthetics of how they look while they're smoking imo.
My only maintenance is cleaning the bowl, shank, stem hole, draught hole, whenever I feel a pipe needs it.
