Why Are the Stems on Many Petersons Not Pushed in All the Way?

[jonasclark]

I'm sure there's a very good reason for it, be it aesthetic or functional, but coming from someone who's never known much about British pipes, having the stem appear to be pushed in only partway looks slightly odd. Not bad, just odd. Can a Peterson fan please explain?
Edited by jvnshr: Title capitalization (please check Rule #9)

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

That would be the Peterson Deluxe. The stems are actually made like that on purpose to allow many years of wear, eventually fitting flush after being removed and replaced I would guess many many times.

 

[jonasclark]

Thanks very much? It seems like every time I see a group of Petersons a few of them are like this.

 

[ssjones]

A good question! Mark Irwin covers it nicely in his blog:

https://petersonpipenotes.wordpress.com/tag/peterson-space-fitting-stem/

 

[leacha]

Saw the title and Al beat me to it.
Warning!
There's a seller on eBay who has Deluxe Pete's with the stem pushed all the way in. Either they were modified or are errors from the factory.

 

[jonasclark]

That article was perfectly helpful. Thanks very much! My respect for Peterson (they're not my personal style, but I understand that they have history and are great pipes) just went up.