Just sitting here this Saturday enjoying all the fine posts on this wonderful board. Sipping on a red white and blue beverage (Budwieser of course, Guiness is best from the tap don’t ya think)Playing my Overton A and wondering about fipples. All this Tully talk has got me wondering how much does the material matter? I love my Overtons and will continue to order from Colin, but I’m kind of digging the Tully whistle. Wouldn’t mind ordering one myself…after I get a second job just for whistle purchasing…any comments on this subject?
Fipple matieral deals with the following:
How it reacts with water.
Does it bead up?
Does it rust?
Do strands of it come off an curl up in the windway?
Does it rot after awhile?
Does it expand (swell) and split the fipple head?
Does it shrink up and fall out, or leak air?
Does it shrink up and change position?
Does the expansion or contraction cause the airstream to reposition and change the way it sounds from time to time.
As you can see, there are a lot things to consider here.
To the manufacturer, there are other concerns about workability of the material, cost, etc.
Heya… back from the never worlds. 
I can give a few personal experiences with fipple materials…
I tried (and still use) metal for the mouthpiece itself, and then I tried various different materials for the fipple plug.
I really liked hardwoods at first, and I never had any trouble, but some people tend to be a bit more of a umm… ‘moist’ player than others, and I came accross the swelling problem. Even if I tried to coat it really well, just temperature and humidity conditions from different areas made a difference in the plug, and wasn’t consistent enough.
SOOoooo I tried Lexan plastic… worked great until I found out how sensitive it was to warping in the heat of a car for instance.
I finally tried, and am now happy with, Delrin plastic. Once formed and cut to preference, it seems to be VERY stable in most conditions, and keeps a nice finish that works and tools a lot like the metal surronding it, so it all meshes together quite nicely.
No matter what though… I’ve seen just about every kind of material work really well on different whistles and different makes. I think it just boils down to preference.
It’s all good.
Anyone know what Glenn Schultz uses in his water weasels? I don’t believe it’s Delrin, but it seems to work really well too.
Loren
Materials not recommended for fipple use:
Stale bread (swells up,goes mouldy)
Blue vain cheese(is mouldy)
Brussel sprout(good fit but tends to rot)
Bees wax (only if circular breathing technique used)
Compressed hemp(toxic or intoxicating..depends on age and where one lives)
Bubble gum ( could work) 
Mike
Mike have you ever tried dirt clogs, works great for awhile but then turns to mud…Has anyone ever seen or used a fipple that has small channel grooves that might collect the moisture? With a flat surface the fluid doesn’t realy know where to go…just an idea. Would it work?
Delrin really seems to be the winner.
I had a survey on my website once and delrin seemed to be most popular.
It turns easily, it doesn’t have heat conduction problems that metal has.
Regarding the little drainage grooves question. It would have to be set up to not affect the windsheet in a detrimental way.
I know that some recorder people have experiemented with making dessicant adapters to catch the moisture, maybe then they could be microwaved to get the moisture out.
Of course, then I wonder if the alumina-silicate dessicant would create a fireworks show in the microwave?
The “Chiff and Fipple” advisory on the peppermint soap stuff works pretty well.