From my experience there’s no real pros or cons. It’s just a matter of personal preference. My pile of pipes includes both classic Britwood and modern artisan made pipes. It all works.
I’m not of the school that traditional pipe makers didn’t know what they were doing and needed to be corrected. Also, it’s bullshit. So is the idea that all the old makers used a standard narrow draught. Charatan drilled at 4mm for their straights and 4.7 for their vents, this from Ken Barnes, who trained at Charatan before cofounding James Upshall. The widest draught in my collection belongs to a large 1906 French carved Barling at an estimated 6 to 7 mm draught. It smokes wonderfully but is more difficult to clean since I need to twist together a couple of thick pipe cleaners to clean it. It’s a lot more work.
I like the feel of modern open draw pipes, but they can be a little bit of a problem when smoking very fine cuts as the tobacco can, and does, get sucked down the airway and into your mouth.
Overall, my experience is that it all works just fine. Any deficiencies are more a matter of operator error than equipment.
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