Peterson stamping quality

[kcghost]

Lot of things can go some askew when stamping a pipe.

 

[romaso]

When I toured the Peterson factory about 2009, they were all hand-stamped. The font on the stamps is tiny, so making sure you grab the right one and put it back it the right spot takes care (no pints of beer at lunch!). Plus they've got at least one for the series and one for the shape number. That means you have to be able to tell all the shapes apart, and the different sizes of the same shapes. Just look at how many different straight billiards they have. Is this an x105 or a 106? And you wouldn't want to bring your little kid to work because he might 'rearrange' all the little stamps in their cubby holes!

 

[scloyd]

Wow, that's crazy. Are they stamping out each individual letter? SMH.

There was a indentation/divot in the briar where it was stamped and the center letters didn't show...if that makes sense.

 

[STP]

Today I received my first new Peterson pipe, one exactly like this.

https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/new/peterson/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=509163

I intend for it to be a regular, work-horse type of smoker, one that I can grab regularly and enjoy. Given that, aesthetic perfection is not necessary, but I'm surprised. The stamping on both the briar, as well as the silver, are truly lacking in neatness, clarity and crispness. Not horrid, but "off".

Again, I bought it for smoking, and anticipate good quality in that regard. Given that, the first thing I did was grab some sandpaper and remove that coating I've read so much about here in the forums. Not even gonna try it for myself and waste a bowl of tobacco finding out. It's gone.

Did I take pictures of the stamping "defects"? No, I only had a short time and was more eager to get it sanded out so I could load a bowl when I got home tonight.

I did crack open a new tin of Peterson Standard that I ordered to go with it. Haven't had that blend yet but I like enough of their other blends that it's probably acceptable.

So is it common for new stamps to be a little off or not deeply embedded? I've regularly seen descriptions on smoking pipes that indicate: "stamping worn from buffing"; or similar statements.

This makes me think that not all of the "worn from buffing" is necessarily true, it might be low quality stamping from the start.

Mine is.

Nice Peterson. I have a similar Sherlock Holmes and the stamping on it is very nice… and fine on most of my other Petes, however, I have a Saint Patrick’s Day edition that’s terrible. Here’s a vid I saw a few years ago that illustrates Peterson stamping (7:36 mark):