**IT HAPPENS . Brands of over all good luck

[Ruffinogold]

It does at times , doesn't it .

Having read a current post of a pipe mishap , I figured to write a quick post of brands that , in general , seem to have few issues

For me , I have had great luck with Savinelli . On the old psf , I remember one person having an issue weith a new one he snagged . **it happens

Medico and Yello Boles ... real good luck . The Medico cavalier is usually pretty exceptional

My favorite not expensive pipes that I've always got a great smoke from is the Calabresi Metamorphsi . They aren't made anymore , sadly , but there's a guy on ebay that ran into a bulk of them and WV has some in stock . I truly love them

Mastro de Paja has had mostly great production with some spotty years here and there . The spotty years were late 90's and it was not passing cleaners is all . I don't know about the new production these days , as the newest one I own is 4 years old .., however , it's just the base model job , a clasica, and it smokes as good as my best high end Mastro . The pipe is a masterful smoker .... The kind where the smoke is waiting for you at the end of the stem .

The old Belgium made Hilson pipes .... excellent

Never had as bad Dunhill nor a bad Sasieni , though ive never owned new production of either

There's more and you guys can fill in the rest of what you've had over all too luck with ..

[Houtenziel]

Vintage Grabows have all been good for me. New production, I've had 3 so far with bad finish bubbling issues. Still smoke amazing though.
Medicos all good.
Kaywoodies Vintage and Modern all good.
Brebbia Good.
Savinelli have been good, although I did have a Tre that gurgled pretty bad.
Rossi is great, but the finishes seem to dull quickly, and the dip staining takes a little bit of work to clean out of the shank.
Nordings have been 50/50 for me. One of my favorite pipes for a long time was a Classic.. but I also received a recent production Nording that would make the drilling guys at Peterson blush.
Peterson has been mostly miss, aside from two, including the 314 that I traded off because the P-Lip wasn't my thing. Their aesthetics though.. I can't deny they have that down.
Johs good, but most have conical bowls which I don't like.
I've had two of the post transition Barlings, and neither lasted more than a couple weeks before I sold them.
Paykoc and SMS meers have both been good, although I am not a big fan of Meerschaum.
Chacom - all good, but I have noticed that they tend to have a slightly tighter draw than I am used to.
Recent Bruyere St. Claude - Good.
Recent Ropp - Good.

That's about all I can remember.

[unregistered1]

@houtenziel: The draw is tighter because Chacom bores the air hole at 3mm vs 4 for the great majority of other brands.

My Stanwell Made in Denmark (I owned close to 20 at one point) have all been fantastic smokers, especially a sandblast Buffalo Lovat I had for a while.
I have 4 Savinelli (Impero, Oscar Toger, Dolomiti & Alligator Brown) and they are just great.
My Ben Wade Town & Country and Dr McQuade are really good smokers and very well made for the price I paid for.

[MikeDennison]

Every Sav, every Kaywoodie, and every Grabow I have are great smokers. Also, all my Calabresi's

[avid]

i must be doing something wrong...i call my Sav's the gurgle sisters

[Kevin Keith]

i must be doing something wrong...i call my Sav's the gurgle sisters

My Sav and Rossi pipes all gurgled until I pulled the old honey and ash trick, building up that heel.

[Tsal]

I can't really complain about my pipes or brands, sure I own a couple with bad drilling but that hasn't stopped me from smoking and enjoying them. If a pipe gurgles I run a cleaner through and it goes away.

[Whalehead King]

Wanna good pipe?

A briar pipe is made from a plant but a brylon pipe is a work of science. The first is made by hand with all the possible flaws that may entail when trusted to inexperienced hands. The second is engineered, with all the expertise and industrial calibration that entails.

Smoking science. Let that thought sink in for a few moments. I'm not plugging brylon pipes here. I'm just saying....

[Longshanks]

Wanna good pipe?

A briar pipe is made from a plant but a brylon pipe is a work of science. The first is made by hand with all the possible flaws that may entail when trusted to inexperienced hands. The second is engineered, with all the expertise and industrial calibration that entails.

Smoking science. Let that thought sink in for a few moments. I'm not plugging brylon pipes here. I'm just saying....

Man, Brylon = ugly IMHO, but I do own one and I will say one positive thing about it... you can't ghost it. Brylon makes a great "samples" pipe because you can wash it out and try different tobacco untainted. I like using my square panel Medico Brylon (in the privacy of a dark garage) when trying out new tobacco. Then I just toss it in the sink or dishwasher, wash it, dry it, and it's ready for the next sample.

[Fr_Tom]

I have had good luck with pipes I guess. As a rule, I won't buy one with an acrylic stem or a small bowl, but that is a preference thing. The ones in my box of unsmoked pipes either have clunky bits or narrow bores. If it won't sit well in the teeth, I am just not going to get very attached to it.

I have not experienced the QC others have with Petersons. I am very fond of GBD pipes. Older Grabows are a winner. They made some great vulcanite bits in the day. I have never really warmed up to the ABS ones.

I have never had a Castello. The price point and the acrylic stems make it pretty unlikely I will give one a try some day. You never know.