Question of pipe repair ethics

addamsruspipe · Jun 26, 2017

So I bought a pipe off ebay that said it had been sanitized and refinished. I liked the look and bought it. So the pipe arrived and looked good. It had just a light coating of cake inside the bowl. No issues that I noticed and have been smoking it for a year or so. Well the pipe ghosted on me and I decided to due a salt/everclear treatment and ream it out to get rid of it. Well what I found was there was some pipe mud under the cake on one side of the bowl. Now it looks like it was done to fill in a crack and it was done well. Was just wondering if the seller knew about it, should it have been disclosed or is repairing a crack inside a bowl just a normal part of refurbishing a pipe?

ashdigger · Jun 26, 2017

Your question is actually about the ethics of the seller, not a pipe repairman per se. If the seller is the repairman, then you bought your pipe from a crook. Undisclosed repairs are, to me, an act of criminal fraud. This completely is the sellers responsibility. Contact them and demand a refund.

georged · Jun 26, 2017

should it have been disclosed or is repairing a crack inside a bowl just a normal part of refurbishing a pipe?

If the crack was known to the seller it absolutely should have been mentioned.
No way to know if that was the case, though. It could have been done before the seller YOU bought it from acquired it, and HE wasn't told.
What you describe is a big part of why many smokers hate bowl coating. The potential for hiding damage is always there.

pipesmokingtom · Jun 26, 2017

100% if the seller knows of a repair, it should be disclosed. Too bad there isn't a Carfax for pipes.

warren · Jun 27, 2017

Carfax can only report what is known. "Shade tree" mechanic repairs aren't known. So, when buying anything, particularly used items, remember "caveat emptor". Most especially where no protection is provided such as warranties, a return policy, credit card protection, etc. And, even where certain protections exist, one who feels cheated still has the hassles of all the "hoop jumping" often involved in recovering moneys or achieving other satisfaction. Adam hopefully purchased from someone reputable or he may have to rely on eBay to become whole.

buroak · Jun 27, 2017

Whoever made the repair should have disclosed it to the next buyer. This story probably does not involve a Greatest Generation fellow who applied some pipe mud decades ago, passed away, and had his pipe sold in an estate sale to the seller from whom you bought the pipe. Odds are the repair is fairly recent and was intentionally not disclosed.

tozert · Jun 27, 2017

Fixing a partially burnt-out pipe or weak wall with pipe mud and then selling it without full disclosure is indeed foul play. You mention having owned and smoked the pipe for a year or so now, so there is probably nothing you can do at this point except for repair the wall again yourself and keep smoking it.

ashdigger · Jun 27, 2017

Whitewolf, exactly, I've sold pipes that turned out to have concealed cracks or fissures in the bowl and when contacted about it I issue an immediate refund. I don't do repairs so it would have come from a different seller that unwittingly purchased it from.

woopigpiper · Jun 27, 2017

I find that most eBay sellers don't want any negative feedback. So if you complain back stating this obviously is a defective product they may be willing to meet you in the middle with a partial refund and etc. I've had to do this a couple times, actually.

jpmcwjr · Jun 27, 2017

But this was a year ago. Unless the seller represented that it was pristine, I'd let it go.

mawnansmiff · Jun 27, 2017

"So if you complain back stating this obviously is a defective product they may be willing to meet you in the middle with a partial refund and etc."
Complaining one year later? Might just as well whistle into the wind.
Regards,
Jay.

mso489 · Jun 27, 2017

A real stand-up guy would give you your money back in exchange for a return of the pipe, or give you some of your money back for the repair. But as jpm' notes, this was a year ago. By the ethical standards of ebay, i wouldn't expect much.

addamsruspipe · Jun 27, 2017

It's a good smoke, so I will just keep on smoking it. Thanks for all the feedback.

pitchfork · Jun 27, 2017

Whitewolf, exactly, I've sold pipes that turned out to have concealed cracks or fissures in the bowl and when contacted about it I issue an immediate refund.

Same here. I had a buyer contact me one evening with pics of the unnoticed fissures. Before he could wake up the next morning and get all battle in Seattle, I just apologized and issued the refund. For an inexpensive pipe, it seemed the logical thing to do.

fitzy · Jun 27, 2017

Sorry to hear that.
I'm curious to find out if you contacted the seller and if he/she responded.

addamsruspipe · Jun 27, 2017

No I haven't contacted the seller. Since I have had it over year and it is a good smoker, Not to mention I think I paid less the $20 for it. I think I will let it lie and just keep smoking it.

oldmansmoking · Jun 27, 2017

Sadly these things sometimes don't become viable until sometime after we have owed them. A year is a long time unfortunately so I think you're going to have to stick with your purchase.

I had a new Peterson with a chamber fill, but kept it as carbon filled it quickly. The original defect was hidden by the coating they put in the chamber, after a few smokes a piece of fill fell out. Still love the pipe. We have to live with an imperfect world.

drwatson · Jun 27, 2017

I curious how do you know for sure that it was "pipe mud". Could it have have been bowl coating and fill from factory?

addamsruspipe · Jun 27, 2017

I've done some pipe mud myself in the past. Also it covered a area that to me seemed to be to big to be a fill. It covered the area of about a dime. When I reamed the bowl I was getting briar everywhere else but this one spot stayed black but with some grey streaks in it.

jpmcwjr · Jun 27, 2017

That's a pretty severe reaming for a pipe you've been smoking a long time. Why take it down to wood?

Question of pipe repair ethics

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