Weird drill job- will it smoke strangely too?

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hiplainsdrifter

Part of the Furniture Now
Jan 8, 2012
977
14
I recently bought a new pipe- respected English brand- I noticed that the drill job seemed weird. The drill in the shank seems really big- larger diameter then any other pipe I own, including several pipes of the same brand. The stem drill is a lot more narrow- in fact near the bit it seemed like it hadn't been drilled through cleanly, when looking down the stem hole I could see a little rind of stem material constricting the opening near the bit. I took care of this by running the butt end of a drill bit in and out of the stem, but I am wondering if this pipe will smoke crappy. I can return it until I smoke it. Thoughts?

 

hiplainsdrifter

Part of the Furniture Now
Jan 8, 2012
977
14
It is an Ashton. It is a bummer because the pipe is otherwise phenominal- excellent blast, very clean exterior stem work. I am just worried that it is a polished turd. I have several Ruthenbergs that definitely have a wide open draw, but this Ashton has a BIGGER shank drill. But the actual draw is a lot less then my Ruthenbergs due to the stem drill I guess.

 

escioe

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 31, 2013
702
4
I have one Comoy pipe with a wide open shank and a regularly-drilled stem. It smokes great and is a workhorse for me, though I suspect it's for different reasons than engineering.

 

buroak

Lifer
Jul 29, 2014
1,867
14
Take it back. If you are going to spend Ashton money, you should get Ashton quality.

 

saltedplug

Lifer
Aug 20, 2013
5,194
5,097
I would at least let the maker know now, perhaps negotiating a fact-finding-by-smoking arrangement whereby you smoke a dozen times, and if it's not acceptable to you, have the privilege of a return. Depending on who you ask you'll get different opinions, but mine is that the drilling is the most important factor in how a pipe smokes.

 

seacaptain

Lifer
Apr 24, 2015
1,829
7
It is an Ashton. It is a bummer because the pipe is otherwise phenominal- excellent blast, very clean exterior stem work. I am just worried that it is a polished turd.
Interesting. I bought an Ashton last month and it was one of the best looking pipes I had. Something was wrong with the drill though. It had a tight draw and when you ran a pipe cleaner through it, it would knock the fuzz off the cleaner. You could blow pipe cleaner fuzz out of the bowl. I suspect it had some sort of rough drilling job but I never saw anything when looking at it.
One of the worst smoking pipes I've had. It's gone now thank goodness.

 
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