Things Fall Apart And Pipes

[cosmicfolklore]

Just a follow up. After some banter back and forth through Skip at The Briary (I never spoke with Tinsky in person), I had just told him that I wanted my broken pipe back. So, I got a call this morning that it was back, and I went to pick it up immediately.
To my surprise Mark had replaced the broken maple do-dad. I was pleased. This is what I wanted from the beginning. Skip told me that Mark probably thought that I had broke it because I wanted a different pipe. I was struck with what a stupid thought that would be, but... I guess there are all sorts of people in the world. I loaded up my repaired pipe and headed out the door. When I got home I wrote Mark an email telling how happy I was to get my pipe back, praises and kind words... And, after I finished a marvelous smoke in the pipe, I ran a pipe cleaner through it, wiped out the bowl (I despise cake), and went to remove the tenon... tried... tried... umm... put it in the freezer for about an hour... tried... tried... Ummm...

Well, this is my new beautiful decoration for my pipe rack, ha ha!!! I guess Mark had glued in the tenon. But, I'm through with the whole issue. I think that I'll get a Rad Davis next time ::

 

[daimyo]

Some artisans are just not cut out for customer service and are better off if they have someone else to handle the human side of their business. I once knew a great chef who could not keep a restaurant open for lack of this skill. At least if he sent it back as it was, it could have been fixed without ruining it. Sorry you had this experience.

 

[homeguard95]

Well cosmic that's just an all around sucky experience, I hate it for ya bud.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

It's just humorous to me. I probably have the only pipe that any customer of Mark's has ever had trouble with for all I know, and the humor is that I picked the "one" out of the bunch. It's just a pipe.
I'll put it in my vice when I get up the nerve and see if I can't torque that sucker out, ha ha. If it breaks, I will be back to square one. I can always add sterling silver to it, which is what I was going to do if it came back broken anyways.
Skip says that Mark is a real sweetheart guy, and I don't doubt it. Skip and Rad studied under Mark, so he can't be terrible.
Yeh, artists can sometimes be lacking in the social department. I know that I am not comfortable talking to customers face to face. I deal with all of my emails myself, but in the shop my girlfriend and my daughters are much better at customer service than me. So, I don't write him off completely for the experience. However, I would be mortified if I sent a ring out to a customer where the stone fell out or a weld broke. Stuff happens.
The most important lesson for me is to be weary of these extra woods added to the pipe's shank. I will always check to see if the briar comes all the way through to the tenon next time. Well... and, I will always check to see if a stem comes out before walking out of a shop with it, ha ha!! ::

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Oh, and he buffed or sanded his name off of the stummel, which kind of cracked me up, ha ha.

 

[homeguard95]

Oh, and he buffed or sanded his name off of the stummel, which kind of cracked me up,

:rofl:

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Well, at least I got the same pipe back. That would have gotten my Irish up to have gotten a different pipe. he did offer me a smooth pipe, but I wanted a blast, this blast.

Maybe all is not terrible. I might be able to wrench that baby out, ...when I get up the nerve, ha ha!!

Hmmm... I wish he had sent me a muzzleloader back :D that would have been cool.

 

[misterlowercase]

I'm glad everything turned out okay, it is indeed a beautiful pipe.

The most important lesson for me is to be weary of these extra woods added to the pipe's shank.

It does remind me why I don't usually like shank adornments, just more stuff that can break, especially these weird exotic woods that everybody likes to use...the longevity issue is also a concern, who knows how these oddball woods hold up over time and etc. etc.
That's why I just like clean basic design.
You can't go wrong with minimalism!

8)

 

[numbersix]

I enjoyed reading this entire saga but what a sad tale. That is (was) a beautiful pipe but I doubt I will be buying a Tinsky anytime soon, not very impressed.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Thanks guys, but like I said, I may have gotten the only bum pipe in Tinsky's arsenal. Skip assures me that he's a great guy.
But, overall, I am more impressed by the work of Skip and Rad, who studied under mark.

 

[misterlowercase]

You're lucky to be so close to The Briary, it looks like a killer shop, and Skip sounds like a great guy, he's a super pipemaker himself too...
...I'm only about 3.5 hours away, I will make it there someday, hell, I've even been thinking about immigrating to Alabama,

y'all got it goin' on over there!

 

[peckinpahhombre]

He buffed his name off the pipe? For real?
8O

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Ha ha, well, we have our faults, lots of them. But, smoking isn't one of them. But, if you come to the Briary, let me know. I don't need much of an excuse to drop what I'm doing and heading over there. Skip is a wealth of pipe information, and it never fails that I learn a book's worth of information while hanging out there.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Yep Peck, it could be that he did it when he was leveling the maple to the briar, or maybe he just didn't want his name associated with such a bunk pipe, ha ha ha!!

 

[numbersix]

He buffed his name off the pipe? For real?

I know. That for me was the clincher - that is IMHO, an unethical thing to do. Cosmic paid for a Tinsky and got a butchered no-name pipe. Tinsky may be a nice guy, but he showed extremely poor judgment on this one.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

Cosmic, you are a far calmer person than I am. If that had happened to me, I would be using Tinsky's nut sack as tobacco storage device.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Honestly, I value my friendship with Skip more than a pipe. And, Skip sweated this out more than I did (especially when I got fed up and told him to tell Mark to just send me back the freakin' broken pipe), so I don't want to be the problem customer. Skip has given me pipes, stems, and boxes of books and magazines about pipes worth more than this cheapy Tinsky. It's not like this was a Rad Davis or an Elliot pipe that would have been a big deal on my bank account.
This all just gave me a frustrated chuckle. Life is good, and I'll get that stem out, even if I have to soak it in acetone overnight. And, obviously the brand on the pipe doesn't make it smoke any better... or prevent it from falling apart, ha ha!

 

[bwithers55]

What a saga! -bw

 

[mso489]

'Like cosmic's allusion to the Yeats poem in his headline; I think the full line is, "Things fall apart. The center cannot hold."

Just didn't want that to get lost in the shuffle. I'm surprised Tinsky didn't insist upon making it right.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

:D Great!! Yes, I'm a nerd, ha ha.

However, as mentioned above, he did offer to have me choose one from his website for a discount. ...and then for the first time ever I wondered how it would be to order a Peterson instead, ha ha!!! Just kidding, the thought never entered my mind, ha ha.