New Peterson 999 (Smokingpipes.com) with Sour Taste

[dochudson]

Do folks not break down a new pipe and clean it before the first smoke?

 

[cwpiperman]

My Savinelli coated pipes have no "coating taste" that I can detect (including 2 Roma 673KSs, a Quandale and another churchwarden 601 Smooth. I'm not yet sure what I'm going to do re: the Pete; thinking about it at this point.

I am slowly winning the fight, and it would never occur to me to cry about it.

Uh.....Ok?
CW

 

[mawnansmiff]

"Carbonized: blackened due to application of heat, so the chamber is lightly charred. Don't know if any maker is doing that currently."
John, Mike Billington of Blakemar Briars still uses the gas nozzle method. There is a YouTube video that shows him doing it.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[carolinachurchwarden]

Do folks not break down a new pipe and clean it before the first smoke?

I usually do, for every new pipe, or new to me pipe. I treat new ones not much differently than if I buy an estate. I thoroughly clean it, but that doesn't help when a pipe has been dipped like that with the stain.
Cleaning is one thing. Entirely scrapping away at stain that shouldn't be in a certain place is completely different and you should not have to expect to do so when you purchase a new pipe. Breaking a pipe in should not include reaming out the shank or bowl of your new pipe. I was heavily weighing a purchase of a new Peterson pipe, but now this, along with other QC issues I've read about recently, are making me lean away from making a purchase until after we see how things progress under the new management. Still only one way to know if changes are going to be made or not, and that's to buy a new pipe.

 

[dochudson]

The point was you would have seen the stain before smoking it and could have simply returned.

 

[thehappypiper]

I would never buy a pipe that looked like that.

It's ludicrously bad.

 

[mso489]

My last pipe purchase was an unfinished Pete in a Dublin zulu shape, but it came pre-carbed, and has no ill flavor, so I suspect the bad tastes on other pipes come from dip staining. This little pipe is light weight, has a good sized bowl, and even has a nickel band. Kind of a charmer. I don't see unfinished Petes that often.

 

[craiginthecorn]

Achhh! And I knew better! I'm smoking a previously unsmoked 1980s Sherlock Holmes Professor for the first time. It's part of a complete set I bought last weekend. These pipes have no bowl coating. My Goodness it's bitter! Being a big bowl, there's a goodly amount of Dorchester burning in it right now. I guess I'll tough it out and hit it with alcohol tonight.

 

[bullet08]

8 peterson in last 4 months or so. no issues. two of the pipes were strangely sweet. that was surprising, but wasn't a bad thing. all sherlock holmes pipes, one is system spigot.

 

[craiginthecorn]

Geez. No wonder it tasted horrible. Here's what came out of my STEM after the first bowl.

 

[ashdigger]

Craig, I feel your pain. I had one like that, but after I cleaned it I haven't had one issue.

 

[kola]

They're still dippin' those Petes, damn shame.

 

[craiginthecorn]

Kola,this pipe was from 1988 or so, but unsmoked.

 

[craiginthecorn]

I cleaned both unsmoked 1980s pipes that I "restored" today. I had assumed that the stain I found in the stem of the pipe I'd already smoked earlier today had been carried by smoke and steam from my smoke. That is, until I cleaned the second, which remains unsmoked. Same ridiculous amount of stain in that stem! Bloody hell! What did they do?
Thank Goodness that practice has stopped!

 

[krizzose]

I had a similar experience with a Pete 999. The bowl was coated, so that wasn’t the issue. There was a bit of stain in the shank. After 5 minutes of alcohol cleaning with bristle brushes and qtips, 90% of the bad taste was gone on the next smoke. After 2 or 3 bowls it was completely gone.

 

[donjgiles]

I clean ALL new pipes this way. The most recent Savinelli pipes arrived with stain in the shanks. I would bet most new, stained pipes have some stray stain in their shank.

 

[craiginthecorn]

As I write, I smoking the same tobacco in the same pipe as yesterday, following a cleaning with alcohol. The bitterness is much less evident. It’s smoking like a champ, too, using Fred Hanna’s airpocket method. Cool, even, and with zero relights. I’m sold on the method for ribbones.I bet I loaded a full 4-5 grams and the pipe isn’t full, due to the airpocket. Like Don suggests, it’s not a bad idea to at least stick an alcohol-soaked pipe cleaner down the shank of any new pipe.
For the most part, I’ve been buying artisan pipes over the last year. This last weekend, I succumbed to PAD and bought the original issue Sherlock Holmes series, complete with two racks. Having been in the shop for literally 30 years, the stems were very badly oxidized, bowls dulled from second-hand tars, and the bowls dinged a bit here and there, undoubtedly from repeated tumbles from the rack. But after cleaning up the first three, I’ve very pleased. These pipes a generously-sized and thick-walled, but are comfortable in-hand and the bents clench beautifully. The draw is quite good — something I was worried about with the p-lips. The p-lips of this era had especially nice “buttons”. I overpaid, even if the owner thought I gave me a bargain, but I’m still very happy I bought them. It’s a very, very handsome 7-day set that will bring me untold hours of smoking and visual pleasure over the rest of my life.