It seems to me that 'perfect' briar is extremely rare and that there's pretty much always something that could cause the resultant pipe to be less than the producer's top grade.
Some artisans only find one or two in a year if they're lucky, from what I've read.
What seems to me to be quixotic, is that the fills are not blended better. They always seem to shout.
An artist should be able to do better. Even on smooths.
I've been reading and listening to the likes of Cooke, Case, Erck, and Eltang and what strikes me about these acknowledged masters is that they've put in thousands of hours dedicated to making the best pipes that they can, and that it takes a toll. Hell, time itself takes a toll, so, I guess they're doing what they want to do...those blasts by J.T. are laborious, time consuming and painstaking. He's got carpal tunnel syndrome in both wrists from all the hand work he's done over the years.