Quality - Workmanship and Disregard

[Buzzard]

I’ve bought 4 new pipes lately. The first one, a Savinelli which looks good and smoked fine from the start. The second, also a Savinelli same model different finish had stain in the chamber, absolutely smoked like $hit. The more I worked with it the worse it got. After reaming it out and relighting it was the worst it ever had been. Not knowing what the problem was I threw it away. Still not knowing about stain in the bowl and foolishly ordering a Rossi. You guessed it, STAIN IN THE BOWL. After many attempts to build cake to cover tand the Rossi still tasting nasty I investigated. After much research deciding it must be stain I decided to take the bowl down to bare wood and start over. The Rossi is now coming along nicely although I doubt it will ever be a great smoker. Why would a company fail to see the utter stupidity of stain in the bowl? Did they not investigate before dipping the pipes in stain? I’ll never buy another Savinelli product. The other pipes were Peterson systems. One is great the other got so hot when smoking it actually burned my hand - I sent it back. The quality and finish on these pipes is not close to the quality of pipes I bought 40 - 50 years ago.

 

[warren]

Why would a company fail to see the utter stupidity of stain in the bowl?

Obviously you are not part of their target audience. You're taking it too personally. They are, perhaps, satisfied with their chosen market and their business plan.

I'm not bothered by bowl coatings. So, I can enjoy pipes from all the manufacturers which meet my criteria. My only suggestion is, not to buy pipes which are coated. Manufacturers try to cater to chosen markets. You'll simply have to be satisfied with fewer pipes to select from.

Maybe you could buy used pipes or restrict yourself to custom carved where the carver will meet your specific needs. I sincerely doubt the manufacturers you mention will notice the loss of your business.

 

[olkofri]

Have to say that my first (and so far, only) experience with Savinelli wasn't pleasant either. After a long time of wanting a Sav, I finally was able to buy a Clark's Favourite semi-churchwarden.

This is how it came:





Must say that their quality control sux.

Too much of a hassle to send it back, I had it repaired by my local tobacconist. It smokes nice and I like it, but what the heck.

If I remember correctly, I think I had an issue with the stain too: it rubs off with water; so, no water cleaning method for this one.

 

[makhorkasmoker]

I find that a bad pipe can turn good with enough smoking. A few dozen smokes will make it ok. A few hundred smokes will make it good. This is not always true but it often is. If I sought out the very best briar and paid for it, I would expect really good smokes from the start, but I don’t, so I am resigned to very long break in periods

 

[AroEnglish]

I was just thinking that I never hear anything bad about Savinelli. I'm surprised they dip stain; I assumed everyone stopped after Peterson did it and everyone hated it.

 

[blackpowderpiper]

I once purchased a Peterson Killarney that had stain in the bowl. It tasted horrible. Not knowing any better I simply smoked it about a hundred times and it finally came around.

 

[AJL67]

I'm still confused by stain in the bowl, are you referring to the coating in the bowl, the starter cake that you can wipe out with a wet paper towel or actual stain? Pics would have helped but since you tossed the pipe that's not an option now i guess. When you say you reamed it out, with like a reamer and scrapping it down to wood or scraping out a thin layer of wood?

My 5th grade teach had a poster and it was Patience is a Virtue .

 

[sablebrush52]

I'm still confused by stain in the bowl, are you referring to the coating in the bowl, the starter cake that you can wipe out with a wet paper towel or actual stain? Pics would have helped but since you tossed the pipe that's not an option now i guess. When you say you reamed it out, with like a reamer and scrapping it down to wood or scraping out a thin layer of wood?

My 5th grade teach had a poster and it was Patience is a Virtue .

It usually refers to the actual exterior stain getting onto the chamber walls. Peterson was infamous leaking dip staining, among other issues. It's happened with other makers, including Dunhill.

 

[Buzzard]

I forgot to mention every one of these pipes, all 4 of them has “hair” on the outside all over, It feels like a days growth of beard. Slip shod care in manufacture

 

[AJL67]

It usually refers to the actual exterior stain getting onto the chamber walls. Peterson was infamous leaking dip staining, among other issues. It's happened with other makers, including Dunhill.

Was just curious because we've had people post there was stain and it was actually the coating, hard to know without pics. And if it was stain i would have contracted the vendor i purchased it from and seen what they could do for me before just tossing it.

 

[georged]

Every consumer product falls somewhere on a bell curve quality-wise.

Humans behaving like humans means that paying more doesn't guarantee the Thing you buy will be good, but paying less almost guarantees it will be bad.

The only way to "beat" the game (so to speak) is by gaining sufficient knowledge to avoid being "took."

Welcome to planet Earth.

 

[Fuelman]

My wife bought me a Savinelli 626 for Christmas last year. It has been one of my best smoking pipes. You never know what you are going to end up with I guess.

 

[didimauw]

I have 2 remaining Savinelli Punto Oro Gold. I love them. The 3rd one I sold cause I didn't like the shape like I thought I would. But wonderful smokers. Each of those were 250 to 300 dollars each.

I also own 4 Ropps, which smoke fantastic, and only cost 50 to 80 dollars.

Not really sure where my post is headed, but out of the 100 pipes I've owned, I've never had a bad smoker. I only get rid of them for size/weight issues from my wimpy jaw.

 

[sablebrush52]

Every manufacturer releases a dud now and then. Nobody can deliver the same level of quality 100% of the time. There are too many variables for that to happen. Hopefully duds are the exception, not the rule. Nevertheless, duds happen even with quality control.

 

[Scottmi]

i'm happy to say I feel I always got what I paid for (and sometimes more!), from basket pipes, to Savinellis, to estates various, to my one Briarville restored Dunhill.
That said, the stain-in-bowl shite is inexcusable.