Should I Return This Pipe

[bigpond]

Perfectly fitting tenon to mortice is a time consuming step that most factory pipes don't do

Hogwash. Missing the depth by 1mm makes sense. Blowing it entirely does not. Just look at how the burned out that mortise during drilling.

By way of experience, all my peterson's have a large gap here. None of my Sav's have a gap. I only buy pipes from one of the above now.

 

[ericusrex]

They're all drilled to fit filters....(deja vu!)

 

[milestone11]

Perfectly normal for a Peterson. I've been smoking them for 40 years and all "Peterson System" pipes are exactly the same, it's the design. Peterson who joined as a partner with the Kapp brothers invented the system. Check out the system on this Peterson video.
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[kola]

Damn sloppy work..and covered up with ...."by design."
If anyone knows anything about simple machinist workings it's not all that difficult (or time consuming) to set the drilling depth to the length of the tenon of the stem.
Real Craftsmanship? It's a rarity these days.