Service from Al Pascia

[oldgeezersmoker]

On Sunday afternoon October 30, I ordered a pipe from Al Pascia. At almost precisely 10:30 this morning,Nov. 1, the doorbell rang and Federal Express handed me a package contains an extremely well wrapped pipe. When I cut through the bubble wrap, the box was wrapped in nice paper with an attractive ribbon. It would have only needed a name tag to have looked great under a Christmas tree. Their shipping charge is 10 € , which works out to $11 at today's conversion rates. The VAT refund more than covered that.
And yes, I am very pleased with the pipe. I had high expectations due to familiarity with the brand and grade, and they were exceeded.
I have previously received good service from Pipes and Cigars, Smoking Pipes and Pipestud. This forum has been a valuable source of knowledge to me, and I appreciate the sponsors. Not everyone will be comfortable with ordering from Italy, and I confess to having some trepidations myself, but Al Pascia did everything right to make this a totally pleasant experience. So far, the sponsors of this site are 4 for 4, and you can't bat more than a thousand!

 

[pitchfork]

Their service is fantastic. What pipe did you buy?

 

[gloucesterman]

I've purchased a couple of pipes from them and always been impressed with their service.

 

[fitzy]

I've been eyeing pipes in their site for some time as their prices are amazing since I don't have to pay VAT.

 

[oldgeezersmoker]

@pitchfork, I purchased a rather obscure grade of a reasonably well known brand that is probably best left obscure. Well, a Ser Jacopo Jucunda. I have been looking for two months, and have found a grand total of three others on the Internet, two new ones that aren't my shape, and a smoked one that I may well have used to own, a very, very nice billiard maxima that was too big for me. This was a Group 5 sized Dublin, not my favorite shape, but acceptable. The workmanship is impeccable and the grain is even nicer than it looked in the picture. Other than the fact that I knew from experience that these pipes smoked sweeter than a Snicker's bar and dryer than a popcorn fart, there was no reason at all for me to have bought the pipe. Other forum members can move right along, nothing to see here.
@Hagley, yes, you along with another member, "wyfbane" I believe, did play a part, though I woke up thinking about that pipe Sunday morning before I saw your encouragement. But you might well have pushed me over the edge. There is no one whose opinion about pipes (and other fine things) I respect more than I do yours, though we sometimes disagree.