Yeah... I am looking at a few pipes from Meerqueen, AKB, Altinok and WGM/IMP.
I even started a thread "can I go wrong with the following..."
I guess you really can't go wrong with one of these brands...
Solid Block, reputable, experienced craftsman, briar-type tenon with 4mm draft hole... all seem to have the characteristics members here said were important...
Now my issue is with pricing and details. For example, with WGM's I see prices all over the place for pipes that seem the same... are they the same? Am I getting an IMP stamped pipe from a wgm site? or... Altinok seems to have descriptions of pipes that are written by different people.There is a lack of descriptive constancy that leaves me wondering if the pipe am looking at has all of the qualities I seek... Or with MeerQueen... What is a diamond grade versus what is not. None of their pipes explicitly say Diamond grade... does 6/6 mean diamond grade? I was just about to pull the trigger on this Meerqueen for an order when the sales girl told me the stem I wanted was unavailable... does that mean Tekin isn't carving it? Because his name was on the stem... so, is that why my discount is so big?
and lastly... the AKB's... nothing mentioned about the tenon... are they the briar types with the 4mm draft holes that members said I needed? ...and why do the plain jane AKB's seem to be $100 more than the intricately carved ones? On other sites, it's the other way around.
Seems like with each one of these 4 companies I am lacking one piece of info that wounds my confidence ordering.
Should I buy direct from Turkey or from a USA middleman?
This is confusing.