The Quality of Sandblasting at Retail Shops

Last night I went to a bunch of different on line retailers looking to see if there were any artisan pipes I might want to buy. What really struck me was all of the lousy sandblasted pipes these retailers were trying to sell for top dollar. It is interesting that when I look at the artisans own website, these poor blasts do not show up. I personally think it sucks that these artisans seem to be dumping their not so good work on these retailers and it makes me wonder why these retailers are putting up with it. When I look to buy a sandblasted pipe, I want to see an awesome blast that has great definition all around the pipe. I don't want to see half assed blasts especially for the prices they are charging.
I think retailers need to tell these artisans to stop unloading their crap on them and force them to eat those pipes that are below their best work. I cannot believe some of the shoddy blasts I see for 400.00 plus. Hell if I was an artisan, I would be embarrassed to put my name on those pipes. Now I do understand what goes into making a pipe as a good friend of mine is a pipe maker. I understand how sometimes the briar just doesn't cooperate and sometimes you just cannot get a good blast on a particular piece of briar. If my friend ever tried selling blasts like I saw last night, I would tell him to either keep the pipe for himself or give it to a friend, or even sell it at a discount to friends so that his name will not be associated with a poorly blasted pipe. I would strongly advise him to never sell it to a place like SP where the entire world sees it.
So am I being too critical, am I not taking into account the amount of time and energy an artisan has put into a poorly blasted pipe and asking too much that they not try and dump it on the public? When I spend 400.00 plus for a blasted pipe, I want a damn fine blast and I don't think I am asking too much. What really burns my ass is when I see a pipe selling for 600.00 plus and it looks like an amateur has blasted the damn thing.

daimyo, I totally agree with you about Trevor and his grading system, it is much fairer to the consumer. I bought one of his Ligne Bretagne pipes that had an awesome blast and paid 315.00 for it which is at the high end for that line. I thought it was more than fair because of the quality of the blast. I have no problem paying for a great blast, I just don't feel it is right for people to charge the same price for an inferior blast as they charge for a great one. It is like paying top dollar for a smooth pipe with lousy grain. That is another subject we could discuss as I see a lot of that as well. I agree they should not thrown out a pipe with an inferior blast, but either sell it a big discount or sell it to friends. I saw pipes from 600-800 with lousy blasts.
Jason, I hear you buddy. I have had 8 commissions done with Rad Davis and everytime he came through with a great blast. I ordered a pipe from a younger pipe maker and the first one he did had a lousy blast so he made another and it was lousy as well. I felt badly so I ended up buying both pipes and fortunately for me I was able to sell them for a small loss. I did learn a valuable lesson from it so it was no big deal. Now that Rad may be out of pipe making for a while I have also been thinking about who I would want to do a commission with. I honestly was looking to buy a pipe when I was searching last night but there was not one pipe that fit my criteria for a pipe that had a great blast. I must have looked at over 60 pipes and was really disappointed at what I was seeing. I also was checking out a bunch of the artisan sites but no one had much on their own sites as the Chicago show is next week and everyone is taking their best stuff with them.

peck, you would just love me to start an all out war wouldn't you? lol In my cigars days I would be outting people left and right but this is the kinder gentler me and I do not want to hurt someones business. I will post a picture but no name. This pipe retails for 625.00, and if you like that kind of blast then good for you, I think it is a weak blast myself.

Here is another pipe that goes for 600.00. I could do this all day but I have better things to do, like scratch my nuts. Again, if someone loves this type of blast then I think it is great, and it lets the pipe maker have a different market.

raevans, I will respectfully disagree that the artisan is in demand as he has more unsold pipes on a number of different websites than any other artisan out there. I have seen lots of his pipes sitting unsold for over a year and some are sitting for 2 years.

I am totally with you about any blast costing 600.00 plus, I would never pay that personally but that is me.
When I see a blast going for 1550.00, I just shake my head. Here is a pipe from Former, that is nice but 1550.00, no way. I have owned 6 of his pipes in the past and yes they are good smokers, but not better than my Rad's or other American artisan pipes for a whole lot less.

http://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/new/former/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=160453

peck, the lighting on that pipe is not the best, the blast is nicer in person, but still not as deep as I like. Also it was a pipe of the year with a retailer, and I only bought it because of who was selling it. I normally would have passed as the blast is not as defined as I normally like. The price was also comenserate with the less than perfect blast.

chalbach72, I respect your opinion and yes people may like a blast with no definition or ring grain, but it is well known that a really nice ring grain blast is much more in demand than a blast with no definition. Some like Trevor Talbert charge higher prices for a fantastic ring grain blast and I have no problem at all with his pricing as I don't mind paying extra for something that I consider to be beautiful to look at. Some may not like the really deep ring blast of a JT Cooke, but if you have ever noticed, he never sells a pipe that does not have an awesome blast. Yes he gets 900.00 plus for them(out of my price threshold) but he sells everyone of his pipes within 4 minutes of it being listed. I am sure he has to eat plenty of briar to insure he only sells his best work, but maybe that is why he is in such demand. His name goes on the pipe and he really protects that by never selling a pipe with a blast he feels is weak.
I feel that an artisan should put his best work out there and if a pipe has a blast that is weak and undefined, it reflects on his reputation. I have been buying pipes for 15 years now and the really great ring grain blasts sell so much faster than a weaker blast. Yes I will say weaker because I know exactly what goes in to making a pipe. People of course have their own likes and dislikes, but in general, people love a great ring grain blast and I have seen this for the last 15 years.
In reference to my taking hard hits at artisans, I am entitled to my opinion and I feel that there are way too many WEAK blasts being sold to the public especially by new artisans who have priced their pipes as high as guys who have been making pipes for 10 plus years. I feel it is wrong for some guy to be carving pipes for a couple of years, producing weak blasted pipes and charging 400.00 plus, just as I feel it is wrong for a guy who has been carving 15 plus years to be charging 600.00 plus for a WEAK blast. I pay good money for my pipes, and it honestly pisses me off to see some new guy with little experience selling a pipe for 400.00 plus when a guy like Rad Davis who has paid his dues and creates really nice pipes and only charges 400.00. I spent hours looking to buy a pipe the other night and it sucked seeing all the crappy blasts for the money being charged. You may feel I don't have the right to criticize these artisans but I feel I have every right when it comes to how I spend my money. Let's just agree to disagree and leave it at that, as I certainly respect your opinion and the right to voice it.