Yes, I live in California, and NO, I don’t mean THAT hemp for THOSE joints 
. I have seen an increasing number of bellows blown pipes with heavily waxed “hemp” thread topped with Teflon plumber’s tape, nylon cord, dental floss and various other abominations, adopted from GHB (mis)practice, holding them together. The yellow “hemp” from GHB suppliers is actually dyed linen thread and has been since the early 1930’s, due to anti-cannabis pressures. It is a medium weight thread, suitable for GHB and other larger tenons. It is usually a 6 or 8 lea (or thicker) weight. A lea is a 300 yards, so 8 lea is 2400 yards per one pound; so a two ounce spool is 300 yards. Hemp has the advantage, in mouth blown pipes, of not rotting, as flax can. The thread, linen or hemp, is is made from the spinning of the plant fibers into various lea threads. For our use the thread should not be wet spun to a smooth finish but nubby or fuzzy with fiber ends sticking out along the thread. On dry joints the fuzz helps provide air-tightness without excessive tightness in the joint. Silk thread is used by some pipe and flute makers. UP players commonly used No. 10 (10 lea) shoe thread, a bleached flax linen thread. It has almost disappeared as the principle manufacturers have quit making it. It is being spun in Sweden, Hungary and the Slavic area, as well as China. I have some larger rolls which are 250 grams and are impractical for a pipe case. I ordered a winder so I can make up small spools out of the larger ones. I don’t have a lot on hand but have some more ordered. I have single spun 10, 16 and 20 lea unbleached and bleached linen which I can wind onto smaller spools. The 16 and 20 lea threads are good for very small tenons such as NSP, SSP and UP tenor drones. The yellow stuff is too thick for these joints. I also have some 12 lea 2 strand, which is twisted up from two single strands that I black wax and use in reed making. Also available is a larger amount of unbleached Romanian hemp, single spun at 16 lea. It would be great for mouth blown SSP etc. It would be fine for UP and other bellows pipes as well. Misc. other threads are on hand. As no one is producing small spools of these light weight threads, I thought I might try to fill the gap. These will be available at $10 per 50g spool, plus shipping, with a max. of two per piper. PM or email ( bigsurtapes@sbcglobal.net ) me with your requirements or to order some of what I have. No bulk orders until I can have the stock in house to fill them.
Hey Ted !!!
I’ll take some spools of the different lea weights !!!
I hate dental floss and Plumber’s Tape on Tenons myself
as the Floss un-ravels so easily, and the Teflon Tape
doesn’t “catch” until at some crossover point the Tape
achieves a Large enough Diameter to Crack the Socket
where the Tenon is inserted (and maybe Crack the tenon
as well)
Thank You so much for making this available Ted,
you’re a kind heart-ted Piper all around !!!
Sean “Wrap-em Up” Folsom
I have gotten more thread stock. Due to popular demand for smaller spools, I am selling 25g (a little under an ounce) spools of any weight at $5.00US each. Discount for bulk orders. I have linen and hemp in various weights, bleached and unbleached. I am also hand-making black shoemakers’ wax at $5.00 per 1/2 oz. It is pine pitch and rosin based. Great for waxing thread wraps to tenons, reed-making and has been used to fill in the channel on sewn bellows paddles. This is similar to Thermowax, which C. E. Kron is making, but will not dry out as quickly. It keeps its’ consistency for years, as will Thermowax, if stored in water to prevent it from drying out. I make a softer and a harder version.