Why is it so Hard to Find a Sub $100 Pipe That is Drilled Correctly?
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Can't say about other companies but I have been to the Dr. Grabow factory twice. Some of the machinery they use is probably 50 years old. This is a place that at one time had several hundred employees,they now have 25 or so,including the office personnel. With what they can produce it's probably not possible to buy new machinery. I buy a new Grabow now and then,but the stuff they made 40-50 years ago is of better quality.
I recently purchased two pipes from Paulo Becker on a visit to Rome. They are perfection itself, perfectly drilled and engineered. But then again I paid over $800 for the two of them. Would you seriously expect to pay under $100 and get a pipe of the same quality? On the other hand many of the factory produced pipes are produced on machinery that has been well tuned over the years and so the pipes will be perfectly drilled. Of course, that says nothing about the quality of the briar the pipe is made from in the first place. So it really comes down to the old adage "you get what you pay for." On the other hand, Stanwell is still a decent pipe, so is Savinelli, and for that matter so is Dr. Grabow. Mr. Borg makes a very good pipe for a price that's almost silly. So it isn't a briar? Big deal. It's still a very good pipe, and you're going to enjoy it. Let's stop knocking Mr. Brog. He makes good pipes. If you want a pure briar, and you are committed to spending more, by all means go ahead and have a ball, but you're still going to get a fine smoking pipe from Mr. Brog, and you'll end up spending a lot less. I have my Paolo Becker originals, and I have my Missouri Meerschaums, and both give me truly great smokes. That's what I'm looking for.
Hmmm, my turn I guess, lol. I wasn't taking offense mate. Hope ya don't think I was. Just a comment on a comment. All in good form and taste. :puffpipe:
I would say that Luciano makes a decent pipe for around 100 bucks. I own one and although machine made, they are hand finished...whatever that means. I'm guessing that the drilling is done with a machine and mine is dead on. I looked at a Peterson Shannon at the same place. Same price but a far inferior pipe IMO. The damn thing was brand new and the stem was so loose that I thought, "If I clench this thing, it'll fall apart." You can keep Peterson. They need to wake up and smell the discontent!
I'm sorry, I don't care if it is a $10 pipe or a $1000 pipe, there is no excuse for it to be drilled incorrectly. Give me a basket with 100 undrilled pipes and I will hand you back a basket with 99 holes drilled dead center (where they come out might be another story, but I'm not in the pipe drilling business). Mistakes happen but I expect them to be in the "no name" basket or board. The difference between a $80 brand name stamped pipe and a $500 brand name stamped pipe should have nothing to do with the accuracy in which it was drilled. If I can't push a cleaner through my hot pipe at the end of smoke the pipe is useless to me.
greatsteaks, I am with you. I think there should be a special prison for those who do not drill a pipe properly. It should be against the law, these people who sell these pipes are blasphemers who need to be punished. We should create a secret society where every city has a chapter and we go into the pipes stores look at their inventories and break every mis drilled pipe. Soon there will be none and the world will be right once more. :crazy:
I crack myself up sometimes, I really do.
I crack myself up sometimes, I really do.
Well my $39 Savanelli Florence's arrived today and they are both drilled perfectly! I would have gladly spent $80 on one of these if my local shops carried them. For the same $80 I now have two. Thanks to all that recommended them. I have only smoked a half bowl of Carter Hall in one of them and it tasted way better then the fifth half bowl in my one and only Peterson did when it was new. Again THANKS!!!
Since we are on the subject, how can one tell if the drilling matches perfectly when the pipe is a real bent? It's easy with a straight or near straight but all of my bents (Dunhills) i cannot get the cleaner all the way through to the bowl.
so when shopping is there a way to do it?
thanks
allan
so when shopping is there a way to do it?
thanks
allan
Sure is mate. This may sound silly, but.... when I am buying estates or even when I would buy new pipes, I take a (clean) pipe cleaner with me.
Just pull the pipe apart and look down the stem and make sure the draft hole is centered. When I say the ones at my local shop were not centered I mean they were drilled WAY off center.
I guess I have been using BJ Long's tapered cleaners; they are too wide at the thick end to go through most of my pipe stems, other than the Rad I recently purchased.
I'm going to buy Dill cleaners and try them.
It seems all of my pipes are drilled dead center, best I can tell.
allan
I'm going to buy Dill cleaners and try them.
It seems all of my pipes are drilled dead center, best I can tell.
allan
I own 7 pipes. 2 Petersons, one Nording, 2 Boswells, a Storient Meer, and a pretty cheap Roma churchwarden. Other than the churchwarden all of the pipes were in the $80-$150 range. Of all these pipes, only 3 pass a pipe cleaner: the straight stemmed Boswell, the Storient, and the Roma churchwarden. That being said all of the pipes smoke fine for me. The biggest complaint I had was with the Nording. The draft hole was drilled so far off that smoke escaped past the stem and it was impossible to keep the pipe lit when I was unable to draw on it without air being sucked in that extra hole.
Unfortunately it was only my second pipe and being very new to the hobby I had no idea that I even had a problem until I had smoked several bowls out of it. That was the only pipe I would return in hindsight now that I know what to look for. A litle bit of JB Weld fixed that problem though. I'll know better in the future...
Unfortunately it was only my second pipe and being very new to the hobby I had no idea that I even had a problem until I had smoked several bowls out of it. That was the only pipe I would return in hindsight now that I know what to look for. A litle bit of JB Weld fixed that problem though. I'll know better in the future...
The pipe cleaner test is a good one but IMO not the end-all. I have run across some half and full-bent pipes that will not pass the cleaner all the way to the bowl but smoke quite well. 2 of my best smokers, an Upshall and a Sav Punto Oro, will not pass a cleaner all the way but do wonderfully (the Upshall will not go past the stem).
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