Estate Pipe - Over Reamed Or Something Else?

[d4k23]

I raced home to check out my "new" estate pipe that I took advantage of during 15% off sell at SP. This is another Karl Erik which I think is beautiful. However, when I look at the bowl, it appears that the top of the bowl may be slightly over reamed, or possibly something else. There was no description of over reamed in the detail of the pipe. I am trying to figure out if this is normal or a warning sign.
Picture below (if I did it right). Does this look like any concern? This is my fourth nice estate pipe, and I own a handful of others, but I have not noticed this on any of my other pipes. Just want to know if it is normal and go ahead and smoke it, or if I need to send it back and try again. A lot of money for something that might burn out or is flawed.

 

[azpipe]

should be fine. all cake was removed and they just reamed it down to the briar. a few smokes and it will look fine. SP customer service is awesome so contact them if you arent happy.

 

[unkleyoda]

It's hard to tell from the pictures, as they are tiny, but it looks like it's just reamed to the bare wood. No worries.

 

[d4k23]

I love SP and their customer service! I have probably given them a month's salary or more since I discovered pipes!
And I am going to try to attach a better picture now. Also trying to get it to post the correct direction.

 

[georged]

Looks like somebody went after it with a pocket knife or similar. Those are chatter marks from 9:30 to almost 12:00.
Is the chamber still perfectly circular when viewed from directly above?

 

[Chasing Embers]

Yeah, after a couple of smokes it should be fine.

 

[d4k23]

It looks pretty circular from above to me. Small nuances I thought might be from this being hand made by Karl Erik.

Some rim darkening at 3 and 6 on this picture. Which is the same as the referenced location of the reaming mentioned above.

 

[d4k23]

@chasing embers, how did you make my pictures bigger?
And glad to have good feed back, thanks guys! I really like this pipe and didn't want to send it back! Just didn't want any issues after a few smokes. Now which tobacco do I smoke first with her....

 

[georged]

As long as the lighter, scraped-looking areas aren't actual wood removal (red line below), no problem.
If wood IS missing, the pipe's smoking ability won't be affected, but SP not mentioning it would not be cool.
.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Looks like they went a tad beyond what was necessary in restoring the pipe but imho, is fine. I'm sure though, they get people complaining about not reaming enough. They're damned if they do, damned if they don't.

 

[d4k23]

@georged, the pipe definitely does not have a busted parabola shape, sloped well from bottom up. As noted above, a few smokes and a little cake build I probably won't even think twice about it.
@hoosier, I feel like that is the case with anyone's job. Happens to me at work all the time, people always find something to complain about even when it's near perfect.
Thanks guys for the input. This was something I hadn't seen before and wanted to check with you all that it wasn't a red flag before I smoked it. Now I will enjoy without worry!

 

[headhunter]

I doesn’t look like much of a problem to me. If SP thought there was a problem, they would have mentioned it.

 

[dottiewarden]

I'd be busy smoking that beauty and spending less time looking for perfection! :: Congrats on scoring such a good looking pipe!

 

[whiteburleydude]

I bought an estate 320 KS that was over reamed. The bowl was over reamed on the bottom raising the draft hole up slightly. It's amazing how awful that pipe smoked because of that little flaw. Being over reamed at the top of the chamber seems like it would have much less effect.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I've been posting instructions for some time. Duane (CE)is one who groked it quickly or already knew how.
Images tend to be smaller than hosting site's size, but can be full sized if you remove the pixel limitation, (-600x360)— the numbers and the dash preceding, leaving no spaces, and ending in .jpg
An example, of a thumbnail named "hms-penzance-1940...." followed by "-150x100.jpg" is the name of the photo in my album, and it's the "-150x100" that limits the size.

If I remove the numbers, it goes to whatever size at which it was uploaded, subject to web sized image limitations.

 

[joeman]

From the images, I would concur that it appears they reamed down TO the wood, but not INTO the wood. Nice pipe!

 

[mso489]

I'm with the people who say, smoke it, it's no problem. A reminder with new pipes, if you skip cake building and just scoop, then wipe out the bowl after a smoke with a paper towel or napkin, you'll maintain a nice thin carbon layer, maintain the size of the chamber, and have as good a flavor as with thick cake. I don't own a reamer. A number of us (Forums members) employ this method.

 

[Civil War]

I have bought several estate pipes from SP. They love to over ream their pipes, don't know why. I'd prefer if they left a little cake. Maybe it allows them to make a better assessment of the briar.

 

[d4k23]

Thanks for the picture sizing lesson, will definitely try it out next time. I thought my phone was the issue.
And yes, I have had this pipe saved in my favorites for some time, just waiting for money to fall from the sky or for there to be a 15% off sale. The sale happened first! And I am glad it didn't get swiped. The last one I was watching got picked up before I pulled the trigger.
@mso489, what I have been doing is essentially the same method, imo, but using a bent pipe cleaner (or two) to clear the bowl after every smoke. None of my pipes have a layer of cake, but instead a nice small layer of carbon. I believe its similar to using the paper towel method but I bet the PT's are cheaper, so maybe I'll try that next time. One of my estate pipes I got from eBay had thick cake, it seemed like half the bowl was unusable! I bought a reamer to take care of that one.
I think I fall in the category of little to no cake in my pipes.
Thank you all again!