I normally don't do this sort of thing but I have to say I have just had a fantastic experience which Chuck "RC" Sands and his pipes. For those of you who don't know, Chuck makes and sells his own pipes (Smoker's Haven has a few) under the name RC Sands.
What you get are good solid pipes, machine made stems, low price, and fantastic guy to deal with. I ended up grabbing two of his pipes off of ebay for about $75 total. Now I knew before I got them these weren't blemish free pipes, but Chuck doesn't seem to fill in the pits or try and hide imperfections in the briar. That's more then fine with me, especially at this price point. The pipes were drilled well, airways WIDE open, and had uncoated bowls.
Long story short, both pipes smoked very well but I noticed on one of them that an imperfection in the briar was causing the sturdy shank to develop a crack after about four smokes. Looking closer I could see that it was on the verge of going halfway around the shank. I hadn't taken the stem off since I first inspected it so I was sure it was due to the briar's inherent weakness.
I contacted Chuck via email to see what he could do and he immediately with no questions asked, offered to either refund the pipe for the full amount or swap it with another. He even sent his phone number in case I wanted to talk. Since I was really impressed by the pipes I was more then happy to swap it. I sent the pipe back and he sent me a picture of another pipe similar to it asking if I would be happy with it.
Well the new pipe arrived today and I couldn't be happier with it. I think the pot shape is a bit under rated in the pipe world.
Anyway. Chuck was a FANTASTIC guy to work with, his pipes smoke very well (solid is a word that comes to mind), and I would love to do business with him again in the future.
Oh and here's a REALLY bad cell phone pic of my new pipe...the blast is much better in person.
What you get are good solid pipes, machine made stems, low price, and fantastic guy to deal with. I ended up grabbing two of his pipes off of ebay for about $75 total. Now I knew before I got them these weren't blemish free pipes, but Chuck doesn't seem to fill in the pits or try and hide imperfections in the briar. That's more then fine with me, especially at this price point. The pipes were drilled well, airways WIDE open, and had uncoated bowls.
Long story short, both pipes smoked very well but I noticed on one of them that an imperfection in the briar was causing the sturdy shank to develop a crack after about four smokes. Looking closer I could see that it was on the verge of going halfway around the shank. I hadn't taken the stem off since I first inspected it so I was sure it was due to the briar's inherent weakness.
I contacted Chuck via email to see what he could do and he immediately with no questions asked, offered to either refund the pipe for the full amount or swap it with another. He even sent his phone number in case I wanted to talk. Since I was really impressed by the pipes I was more then happy to swap it. I sent the pipe back and he sent me a picture of another pipe similar to it asking if I would be happy with it.
Well the new pipe arrived today and I couldn't be happier with it. I think the pot shape is a bit under rated in the pipe world.
Anyway. Chuck was a FANTASTIC guy to work with, his pipes smoke very well (solid is a word that comes to mind), and I would love to do business with him again in the future.
Oh and here's a REALLY bad cell phone pic of my new pipe...the blast is much better in person.
