First Artisan pipe. Defective?

[roverblue]

I just bought my first "artisan" pipe. From the outside it's beautiful, but upon inspection of the chamber it's obvious that the draft hole is way off center. It does line up with the stem as a pipe cleaner passes freely to the bowl. Should I be as disappointed as I am that It's not centered? Is this a shoddy job or perhaps a special technique to get the flow swirling? Not sure what to do about it... I would include a picture, but I'm not sure how.

 

[roverblue]

 

[ebklodt]

Return it for a refund or exchange if you feel like the maker possibly just made an oversight. Although it looks fairly off center from the photo. I would think thats hard to miss.
Best of luck.

 

[hans]

Hard to call it "artisan" with an obvious mistake like that. Can we ask where you got it?

 

[bigvan]

Wow, that's an obvious f*^& up. Every carver I've ever met has a guarantee for these things, so you should be OK.

 

[sasquatch]

IF the thing is still at the bottom of the chamber, it will smoke okay. I have a few pipes like that. So you can keep it if it won't bother you. But if you'll like the pipe less because of it, by all means send it back to the maker/retailer. That's a full drill bit over from where it should be. Shows all the worse on a diamond shank too. :roll:

 

[cigrmaster]

I cannot believe an artisan would even sell that thing. That is so messed up, I would return it immediately.

 

[cigrmaster]

I don't understand how some one would ever let that out of his shop. You would think that the artisan would have inspected the pipe before shipping it. To me the maker is saying, maybe the guy won't notice and I will get away with it. I think it is really dishonest to let a pipe with that kind of mistake on to the market.
Did you buy the pipe directly from the artisan or was it from a retailer?

 

[ejames]

Granted,it is off center,but it will NOT affect the way the pipe smokes. That hole does not know which side of the bowl it's on. It right down there on the bottom where it should be and being a little off center ain't gonna hurt a thing. The maker should have told you about it before hand though.

 

[pitchfork]

Pipes drilled like that will smoke just fine (ahem...Bill Taylor, Jimmy Craig...), but that's an obvious MISS. If it bothered me, and that's far enough over that it might, I'd return it in a nanosecond. You've got to assume that this was an oversight on the maker's part and that he'd want to swap it for a properly drilled pipe before risking his reputation.

 

[tbradsim1]

I got to agree with Ejames, I have a Mario Grande drilled about 1/2 a drill stems width off its one of my best smokers, so if you didn"t pay big bucks and if every time you fire up it bothers you return it but if its good briar it will smoke good. The old cajun

 

[winton]

I would be glad to get a deal on a fine looking pipe like that, if the drilling was off. The savings would give me a smile everytime I picked up the pipe.
Winton
PS, if any of you carvers want to get rid of some seconds, PM me. I promise not to tell who made it, if that is what you want.

 

[eaglerico]

if any of you carvers want to get rid of some seconds, PM me. I promise not to tell who made it, if that is what you want.

+50 :D

 

[jpberg]

I think that what you paid for the pipe makes a huge difference. "Artisan" covers everyone from Poul Ilsted to the Amish guy up the road from me who turns bowls from apple wood.
If you spent fifty bucks on that pipe, keep it, five hundred, return it.

 

[gnatjulio]

Roverblue, if you don't mind, who was the maker and how much was the pipe?

 

[wayneteipen]

I would agree that that pipe shouldn't have been sold as a first even though it will likely smoke just fine and you'd never notice a difference. A millimeter or two off center would be within acceptable tolerances but that one's pretty far off center. If it's a relatively new carver and you didn't pay top dollar for it, I would keep it if everything else is to your liking. If you paid top dollar for it and you think you might want to resell it at some point, I would send it back for a refund or get a partial refund and keep it.

 

[cortezattic]

I have a similar off-center pipe. It smokes really well -- one of my best.

Like Ejames said, "That hole does not know which side of the bowl it's on."
Which Pipe King ruled that the draft hole has to be dead-center?

Flush with bottom, yes. Centered, doesn't matter.

 

[wcannoy]

Which Pipe King ruled that the draft hole has to be dead-center?

Flush with bottom, yes. Centered, doesn't matter.

A centered draft hole is an indicator of good craftsmanship and attention to detail. An off-center draft hole shows that shortcuts have been taken, and if there's one shortcut, there may be others. Folks don't (shouldn't) pay artisan pipe prices for shortcuts!
If the buyer paid a "seconds" price for this pipe, that's a different story, but still, the drilling issue should have been disclosed before the sale. If there's nothing else wrong with the pipe, the off-center draft hole should make little to no difference in the smoking properties of the pipe.
Use your discression... Weigh what you paid for the pipe against realistic expectations of craftsmanship for that price. If the scale seems to tip out of your favor, contact the maker, express your concern, and work it out!

 

[hfearly]

I don't know about other 'artisans', but pretty much every pipe maker I've ever seen will inspect their newly finished hand-crafted pipes with a magnifying glass and be the most anal about even the tiniest imperfections in their workmanship. At the end of the day, they need to put a price on the piece. A such obviously off-drilled draft hole would have never escaped even a far less thorough inspection. Thus it is quite likely that the pipe was sold in full-consciousness of the drilling error, and I sincerely reject such business practice. That thing is clearly a shop pipe.

 

[sasquatch]

Well, they'll have a bump in the road if that's what they consider okay, that's for sure.