"I don't have the slightest clue what pipe mud is but it sounds awful...
I'm only speaking from personal experience here, many people use pipe mud with great results.
The reason it sounds awful is because it is awful. I tried using it on a bent billiard whose draft hole was too high. I followed the instructions carefully and gave it plenty of time to dry. It did not set up "hard as cement" as many would claim. (For further mythical misinformation, you may want to check out the thread on "Pipe Myth #1.) In fact, it was flaky and shitty and smelled like an ashtray. I attempted to smoke the pipe; it was what I imagine trying to smoke a wino's shoe would taste like. When I realized that for that horrid skid-row/ashtray taste to go away, I would have to cake the entire heel of the pipe (another unobtainable Arthurian legend of pipe smoking when the draft hole is high), I decided that the draft hole was exactly where it needed to be. I dug that nasty crap out of the pipe, and after only a short 47 bowls later, it stopped smelling like shit.