Peterson Warranty

[KevinM]

My new Pete St. Paddy's Day arrived with a crack just below the bit on the mouthpiece. It looks like a 1/3" lucite splinter, shallow enough that it doesn't extend to the air passage. To my eye, it is unmistakably a manufacturing defect that got through final inspection.

Does anyone know the most efficient way to get a satisfactory adjustment?

The e-retailer is usually excellent on service, but says they won't take a return since I smoked it. (Well, yes, once, -- actually a half bowl -- and that's how I found the lucite splinter. Ouch!) The Pete Web site says to send the pipe back to Dublin for repair for a nominal charge. (Not encouraging on time, and I shouldn't be charged for a manufacturing defect.) Alternatively, I can send the pipe to a Pete-designated repair shop in Florida. (No info on charges, but I assume the repair person doesn't work for free.) This customer service strategy seems to be based on attrition -- wear the customer down, and maybe he'll decide to live with it.

Has anyone navigated the Peterson waters previously? How was the result?

 

[KevinM]

I'd like to report that the Peterson warranty process worked fine. I emailed with Angela Fortune at Peterson who sent me two new stems for a DIY fix, but neither one fit perfectly. So I shipped the pipe over to Sallynoggin and got it back, better than new, in about two weeks. Whoever put in the new stem knew his stuff. Perfect draw, no whistle at all. And Peterson tossed in some goodwill pipe cleaners which are always welcome.

 

[Zeno Marx]

I like to hear these kind of stories. The repeat customer model is the one for me.

 

[williamcharles]

I had a weird situation with a Pete I bought. No matter what I did it would only burn tobac on the right side of the bowl after it reached mid point. The drilling was pee poor but since I bought it online I had no way of knowing that before hand. How can you tell if a pipe smokes well unless you smoke it? The manager at the shop told me to send it back to him and he'd replace it even tho it had been smoked. He mailed my replacement the same day I talked to him without waiting for me to mail the original. He said that he'd send it back to Peterson for replacement. Gene at OutWestTobacco.com is a fine man. He also told me that Peterson is great to do business with.

 

[Trifecta13]

I've been wondering about this. I'm still confident that the fault is my own. I have a system pipe that gurgles no matter what I do. It's not the end of the world as I run a cleaner down into the "well" and all is right in the world. Was just wondering if it may have been drilled too shallow.

 

[williamcharles]

I have a Pete that gurgled. I opened up the draft hole and no more gurgle. Now, based on the fact that the Petes are specially designed to lessen the velocity of smoke entering your mouth, you may not want to do it. It worked for me so I opened five more of my Petes that smoked ok but felt too restricted and all are great smokers now. Four of the six are system pipes. I didn't have to do anything to the other six. Now I have 12 Petes that smoke great.

 

[Trifecta13]

Hey WC. Thanks for the feedback. What did you use to open the draw? I've read that 5/32 tapered bits are the way to go, I am only assuming that a hand bit is used as opposed to anything powered. Also with a system pipe, how do you line up the bit properly?

 

[Anonymous]

Use a drill the same diameter as the draft hole to show you the proper alignment. Go very slowly, keeping it going in on-axis.

Snap a drill bit off in there (easier to do than you'd perhaps suspect) and you've pretty much got what used to be a pipe.

:face:

 

[williamcharles]

Hey WC. Thanks for the feedback. What did you use to open the draw? I've read that 5/32 tapered bits are the way to go, I am only assuming that a hand bit is used as opposed to anything powered. Also with a system pipe, how do you line up the bit properly?

Like Yak said, go slow. I use a T handle to hold the bit and go up in small increments. I stop at 5/32 usually but have gone to 11/64 on a couple of pipes before the magic happened.

 

[KevinM]

My problem was a defect in the mouthpiece, not drilling, so I can't say much to the latter problem.

I have at last count ten Pete's plus three "Irish seconds." My test for "good draw" is to "sip" the bit while the pipe bowl is empty and pay attention to how much resistance there is in the unimpeded draft. Also, I don't want whistles and such. Generally, the less resistance the better.

My smoking style is slooow, with practically no clenching, and the smoke
is an event in itself, not something that accompanies another activity. imho smoking while working or whatever leads to uncontrolled puffing, a hotter smoke and drooling down the stem, but your results may differ.

I've found that the Pete fishtail bit passes my sip test more consistently, smokes drier, gives better feedback on what's going on in the bowl, and better suits my smoking style than the P-lip. The extra little bumps on the P-lip sometimes bug me. I do okay with the P-lip, it's just that the fishtail is my all-around preference.

 

[stormwulf133]

Remind me not to buy from that e-tailer.

 

[KevinM]

Far as I can see, "no returns of smoked pipes" is pretty much standard across the board. My "learning by experience" is to carefully examine a new pipe, resisting the urge to load it and smoke it immediately. Also, the e-tailer in question once took back a pipe I returned just because I liked it more on the monitor than in person. The L.L. Bean warranty approach isn't used in the pipe business, I guess. So I was annoyed and skeptical at first, but Peterson was helpful and responsive.