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Every piper will enjoy piping even more when they are playing a well-selected, well-tuned, broken-in, comfortable-to-play pipe chanter reed.  Reeds are made from cane -- a natural material -- which breaks down as you play the reed, as the reed ages, and as the reed is exposed to moisture from your breath.  In today's post, we'll discuss the way that too much or too little moisture can affect the long-term playability of your pipe chanter reed. Everything about how I reed sounds and feels is affected by moisture:  pitch, volume, strength, efficiency, stability, sound clarity and the tuning of individual notes. A reed that is too dry will sound shrill, sharp and thin and won't produce the full, rich, resonant tone that we strive for.  A reed that is too wet will sound flat, muffled and rough, will be unsteady over time, and can create unwanted sounds like a crowy high A or collapsing F. Synthetic ...