New Rattray's Distillery 109 - Small hole in Briar
- Thread starter Wanderlust4life
- Start date
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I would not only return it, I would probably never purchase from this vendor again. This flaw should have been easily apparent in photos of the pipe, and it should have been mentioned in the description. The fact that you only discovered it upon receipt raises concerns for me.
The Distillery series are natural, unfinished pipes—I’m guessing they don’t fill them. It depends on if you consider this part of the pipe’s uniqueness and can live with it, or prefer something without such a deep hole. If it truly bothers you, return it—staring at it won’t change its condition (I learned this from book collecting). If you can embrace the “flaw” and see it as a nice attribute, keep it.
I'm normally not picky and willing to accept a lot but even I don't think I'd be able to live with this. Example, I got a Nording tall poker recently that does have some flaws which can be felt but not seen due to the rustication and staining. I'm fine with that. On something like this that I"m going to see all the time, probably not.
I am not familiar with this series but if it is a raw series and pretty affordable then maybe it is what it is. I have a couple of the Morgan Bones pipes. They have flaws but are fine smokers and very reasonably priced. They range between 40 and 55 bucks. If you paid more and were expecting more, then I would return it.
It is not likely to burn out so there's little risk in smoking it. It would have been nice if you told us how much it cost. Like several guys have said if it didn't cost too much you should at least try smoke it. If you spent an amount that makes this uncomfortable then send it back.