Problems With Recent Era Peterson Pipes?

[mrenglish]

Bigvan, Dunhill's are not artesian pipes either. They are factory produced for the most part. They just have higher QC standards than Peterson but their prices show it. I'm not saying you are not right, one definitely needs to check any Peterson pipes out carefully before purchase.
I know I will definitely not hesitate to purchase another Peterson, I have a few more to go before my rack is full.

 

[petes03]

I just received my newest Peterson in the mail today, a smooth Barrel P-lip! I went over it with a fine toothed comb. The fit and finish is great, the drilling is spot on, and the draw is nice and open! I did find one tiny fill, but for a $70 pipe I can't complain! It also has pretty nice grain for its price range. I'm fixin to fill it up with some Carter Hall and give it a try, I'll let y'all know how it goes! This is my 11th. Peterson now, by the way!

 

[bigvan]

Sorry English, I was unclear (again). My point was that Petersons aren't artisan-made, NOR are they Dunhills, NOR are they Castellos (both being examples of high end factory-made pipes).

 

[numbersix]

There is no excuse to have issues like having stain inside the bowl. Look at savinelli, they make as many if not more pipes than peterson and their pipes are rock solid.

I agree with this statement. It does bug me that their Q/C isn't up to par; but they are addressing the issue and I am seeing improvements.
I can't fault anyone who passes on a Peterson for that reason alone. Still, for someone like myself, who really likes them. I can forgive it. If one examines a new Pete carefully, one will have a fine pipe.

 

[mrenglish]

Oh, my apologies Bigvan. I understand what you mean now. Sorry, its been a rough day. I 100% agree with you.

 

[bigvan]

I think we're all in agreement, I just feel bad for flakeyjakey; he spent a LOT of money with very high expectations, only to be disappointed.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

I have a Peterson House pipe that is rock solid. I would smoke it over any of my Dunhills any days of the week. Unfortunately, some of the issues Peterson has had with their lower grade offerings have eroded the brand value - at the higher end, they really do make some fantastic pipes that, in my view, punch well above their weight in terms of price.
There was a thread on here in recent weeks that detailed a serious stem issue with a lower grade Savinelli, so even they are not immune from QC issues it would appear.
I hope numbersix is right and they now have their shit together. Hey, even GM, Ford and Chrysler are making some high quality cars now, so it is not impossible to address serious issues of this type.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

Well, I don't know about Europe, but I guess maybe it's possible they send their top notch pipes to the Peterson flagship store in central Dublin, which is where I bought this one. I am a fan of the brand and really want to see it overcome these issues.

 

[easygoer]

They are such a popular brand. I'm new to the hobby but I can see that just by reading these forums. But it seems because they are so popular they are no go change there ways anytime soon as they just don't seem to care about the product they put out.

 

[flakyjakey]

I must preface the following by saying that I am a Peterson's fan; all my Peterson's high-cost pipes are great smokers and my concerns about two bought new fairly recently are cosmetic only but IMO reflect poor 'build'. I blame only myself for not inspecting them VERY carefully before smoking them.
The first is the 'Hansom' of the new 'Sherlock Holmes' series referred to above. The other is another high price pipe - a slightly bent Rhodesian style with a silver cap. To me the cap did not look like it had been put on quite square. Both have the same light walnut staining which has an 'odd feel'.
So when I met reborn and Peter (see my "Flaky Meets Reborn" thread" earlier) I showed them these pipes. Reborn is Irish and has restored hundreds of Peterson's, and it turns out that Peter is currently restoring a box of forty, the proceeds from the sale of which will be given in charity to a children's hospice - truly a labour of love.
They both agreed with what I described above regarding the Hansom. They also said that the cap on the other pipe had been put on slightly off square, and something that I had not noticed - there were only three pins securing the cap to the bowl; one forward, one to port and one to starboard but none aft!!
Finally they thought that both pipes had been COATED (!) in something, possibly a shellac-like substance?
I will be paying much closer attention in future!! LOL (sort of)

 

[petes03]

Sorry to hear that, Flaky. I've acquired two new Petes in the last couple of weeks, a St. Patrick's Day "606" and a Barrel, both are wonderful smokers! Each pipe has one small fill apiece, no big deal IMO. They are barely noticeable.

 

[plateauguy]

I have 4 Petes, and love 3 of them. The Kapet was inexpensive, and smokes like it.
I've been lucky, I have never had a quality issue with the Irish Sea, Killarny Red, or the Kildare. They are all good, solid smokers. There is something about the classic styles that appeal to me. I look at, and have bought other brands, but a Pete is the pipe I come back to.

 

[blackbeard82]

I have one on the way should be here in the next few days, I will post some pics when it arrives.
Aran #264

 

[jlmdoval]

I have 4 Peterson Sherlock Holmes Pipes (Watson, Mycroft, Professor and Hopkins), 3 Freehand Plateau, 1 Donegal Rocky XL90 and 1 System Premier 301. All of them range from 2004 up to 2012 and I have absolutely no complain about quality or finish issues. I am either a lucky customer or have vision problems (not that I am aware of), but the thing is, I always recommend Pete pipes to whomever asks my opinion.

 

[foggymountain]

As I have mentioned before, I bought almost 40 high end Petersons and have 14 left. Those were the good ones. All the others had problems. Common problems were inadequately aged briar, bad tasting stain, stem that kept falling out, stain inside the bowl and draft hole, large space between the tenon and briar, bad fitting silver band. I am not likely to buy another Peterson. Great tradition, poor product.

 

[flakyjakey]

@foggymountain, apologies, I have only been on site three weeks. It seems that my recent experiences chime with what you have described.

 

[pianopuffer]

Resurrecting this thread as I too had a question regarding Peterson's QC as of late.
I recently purchased a 69 shape from Peterson in their Clontarf line. Great looking pipe, but tends to burn wet, despite my slow smoking cadence. Any attempt to use a pipe cleaner down the stem only gets so far, never into the shank/draught hole. Upon further inspections, I noticed that the drilled hole is noticeably higher than center.
I hit up SPC customer service, who told me that this was common in Pete pipes of this style....???
So what the heck do I do about a gurgling pipe? Remove the stem and quickly swab out the shank and then re-attach? I don't think so. Broken a pipe before doing that.
Any suggestions? Is this the sort of thing that I should return and ask for a replacement or am I bound to run into a similar issue with another Pete of the same shape/style?
FWIW, I usually only smoke stragith or slightly bent styles, so the realm of bent pipes is still new-ish to me. Thanks.

 

[jensen]

Cut a funnel up in the tenon.

 

[pianopuffer]

Jensen- I like it. How do I go about doing that?

 

[noquarter]

@pianopuffer

Might want to put some pipe mud to raise the bottom a bit. Building a little more cake might also help on the gurgle. With a little patience and familiarity with a non system bent Pete, one can maneuver a pipe cleaner up to the drought hole with some twisting and turning.