Interesting Peterson on Ebay today.

[forsooth]

Hi, folks ---

Interesting Peterson on Ebay. Take a look.

http://tinyurl.com/4tw9ybq

:| It seems that it would be a bit difficult to smoke.

Thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

Someone replaced the stem with an off-the-shelf one that wasn't bent yet.

:face:

 

[forsooth]

I figured.

 

[Harlock999]

I love EBAY pipe auctions, you see some "interesting" things...

 

[forsooth]

The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well. 8)

 

[GCook]

What really bugs me more than it should is when the seller rotates a bent stem 180 deg so that the pipe is like a "U". Gawd, that annoys me! Are they trying to look dumb and vulnerable? Subconscious contempt? Actual ignorance? (and why does it bug me so?)
I love eBay, especially the sellers who think any pipe is "rare". Come to think of it- given public smoking laws- I suppose they are.

 

[forsooth]

:lol: Amen to that!

 

[Harlock999]

It's true! Everything on EBAY is so precious and "rare"...Well, the stuff I sell really is rare, I'm talking about everyone else's junk! :lol!:

 

[emerald]

What really bugs me more than it should is when the seller rotates a bent stem 180 deg so that the pipe is like a "U". Gawd, that annoys me! Are they trying to look dumb and vulnerable? Subconscious contempt? Actual ignorance? (and why does it bug me so?)
I love eBay, especially the sellers who think any pipe is "rare". Come to think of it- given public smoking laws- I suppose they are.

I see that first part a lot. It defies logic to assemble a pipe that way...

 

[Cody V]

What really bugs me more than it should is when the seller rotates a bent stem 180 deg so that the pipe is like a "U". Gawd, that annoys me! Are they trying to look dumb and vulnerable? Subconscious contempt? Actual ignorance? (and why does it bug me so?)
I love eBay, especially the sellers who think any pipe is "rare". Come to think of it- given public smoking laws- I suppose they are.

I see that first part a lot. It defies logic to assemble a pipe that way...

I find that most people don't even know the stem comes off. If they get it like that from an estate, they just assume thats how its supposed to be

 

[KevinP]

I'm holding nearly the exact same pipe in my hand, same finish and everything, except mine has a bent stem and is stampted 317. Except for not being bent as you'd expect, I'm sure that's a legit stem. Everything else is exactly the same, and of course it has the famous Peterson bit. Although the shape number is different, the bowls look the same to me.

 

[Anonymous]

Three basic stems pretty much cover all Peterson system pipes except the 80S.

:face:

 

[Thomas Tkach]

I want to say that certain storage conditions might lead to something like that happening. Perhaps it was left in a hot attic and the stem straightened itself out when heated. I believe I've heard of something like that happening from some forum or other. Anyway, it's a simple thing to fix, I fixed up a copy (vintage and in storage for a long time) of a similar shape that had the same thing going on.

 

[Jeff10236]

Sorry for dredging up an old thread, especially for my first post, I hate to be "that guy" but I actually joined to comment on this thread. I have been lurking for a while and planned on joining, but when I ran across this thread today I had to post because

I was actually the person to buy that pipe. Yup, that was me.

I had been reading up on refurbishing old pipes to bring back the luster to some of my old pipes, and then after reading and practicing on some of my pipes I got bit by the bug. This pipe was my first that I bought specifically to fix up.

They do say in the auction that it probably isn't the original mouthpiece. I believe it- the thing is very thin with a very narrow draw hole (this is my fourth Pete, and second "System" pipe, so I know it isn't just what the P-lip is like). I thought about bending it some more, but I don't want to risk closing it off any more. The seller tried to be very upfront and I give them points in that they have in the ad that it was very tight and they didn't try to remove it- they emailed me to tell me it was stuck to give me a chance to back out (I didn't, and it took less than 5 minutes to work it off the pipe- cleaning with an alcohol dampened pipe cleaner loosened the gunk that had it stuck).

However, it was definitely in worse shape than the pictures would have you think. The mouthpiece was very green and brown, and the p-lip was a little damaged (like it was partially filed on one side). The "silver" band was much more stained than it appeared in the photos- and despite the description calling it a silver band, it is nickel (I thought I was getting a great deal spending $40 with shipping on a Pete with a sterling silver band, turns out I only got an OK deal overall, and not great considering the condition). Oh well, I bought it to fix up.

It has been a lot of work, but the bowl looks good. The nickel band came off while polishing it so I do need to glue it back on. No matter how much work I do, the mouthpiece still looks pretty bad, even if it was perfectly shiny black it would still look bad (so I haven't bothered with sanding and doing the work to make it perfectly shiny).

I haven't smoked it yet so I don't know how it will smoke. Hopefully it will smoke well, I am actually giving it away to a guy on a pipe and cigar forum who is new to pipe smoking. However, I have suggested to him to send it back to Peterson to get a correct mouthpiece fitted and not judge it based on the one on it.

 

[SpeedyPete]

I want to say that certain storage conditions might lead to something like that happening. Perhaps it was left in a hot attic and the stem straightened itself out when heated. I believe I've heard of something like that happening from some forum or other. Anyway, it's a simple thing to fix, I fixed up a copy (vintage and in storage for a long time) of a similar shape that had the same thing going on.

Does this mean that, if I should go sit in a hot attic, my stem will also straighten out? My wife's gonna love this one (if it's true).

 

[Anonymous]

Procedure :

1) insert pipe cleaner into stem bend area.

2) Dip part to be bent in nearly boiling water for 15 seconds or so.

3) Bend.

4) Remove pipe cleaner when cool.

5) Smoke :cheers:

:face:

 

[forsooth]

Just a thought...Is it too late to send the pipe back to the seller and get a Paypal refund (assuming you used Paypal)?

 

[Jeff10236]

Just a thought...Is it too late to send the pipe back to the seller and get a Paypal refund (assuming you used Paypal)?

I don't know, but I got what I wanted out of it. It was meant to be a practice pipe and I was in a hurry. I might have saved $5-10 on a pipe in similar condition, or spent the same or a little more on one in better condition if I took more time. But, I wanted some practice cleaning one up and jumped pretty quickly. The only place they were "dishonest" was where they called it a silver band (more they didn't know better- they are people who shop estate sales and auctions to buy antiques and other collectibles to resell, they don't really specialize in or seem to know pipes). I don't feel that they took advantage. Heck, I had fun cleaning it up, and I bought it planning on the possibility of having to have the mouthpiece replaced anyway. The briar now looks quite nice.

Now, I'm giving it away to a newbie on puff.com (well, trading it for about $20 worth of tobacco, though he doesn't know that I'm also sending him a corn cob to add to the rotation and several tobacco samples as well). I have strongly suggested to him to replace the mouthpiece (sending it to Peterson, they'll replace it for 22.50 euros, about $33 so he can have a nice fully reconditioned Pete System pipe with a new mouthpiece, a corn cob, and several ounces of tobacco for about $50).

 

[Jeff10236]

Procedure :

1) insert pipe cleaner into stem bend area.

2) Dip part to be bent in nearly boiling water for 15 seconds or so.

3) Bend.

4) Remove pipe cleaner when cool.

5) Smoke :cheers:

:face:

It hadn't really occurred to me until I read your post, that using the pipe cleaner should keep the mouthpiece's draw from closing up. That should work, I'll go ahead and do it before I send the pipe out. The heat from the water may also help get out some of the dents and scratches (I hope). If it does, it may be worth the work of sanding and using Oxyclean on the Vulcanite so I can get it to a nice polish (though it will still have the look where the P-lip bit has been partially filed down).