Quality Control Going Totally Down the Drain!

[unregistered1]

I have inspected more thoroughly the Castello Sea Rock KK I have received today, after posting an image of it in another thread.
I looked carefully into the tobacco chamber. Saw the air hole. Went: Whisky Tango Foxtrot, Over?



Gentlemen, in over thirty years of smoking a pipe I have never seen such a formidable case of Quality Control # Failure from the manufacturer, distributor and online vendor.
How this pipe managed to make it to my home is simply extraordinary. This is Epic failure, gents.
It seems that more and more, people simply care less about essential notions such as: taking pride in one's work being well done; establishing enviable standards of quality; performing basic due diligence by accurately inspecting the merchandise received at the online vendor's establishment.
I have 15 Peterson and seen some really funny boring. Peterson, most of us know, is notorious for its creative boring.
But this, this is, er, something else.
Now I'll have to go through all the hassle of contacting the vendor, explaining the situation, providing compromising pics, packing the darn thing, shipping it, and probably end up receiving a reimbursement because there is no suitable replacement.
This should have never happened in the first place. What is wrong with people, I wonder?

[Ruffinogold]

I hear ya . The way I see it is that it got out of their shop when it shouldn't have is all . The rest of the hassle you mention is more a sign of the times , basically shopping online .
When I had my smoke shop , I selected most every pipe for it myself . At times I would get an order of basket pipes or a special from a wholesaler sight unseen . But id look them over before they went out in tbe store for sale
I imagine , in a shop Like smoking pipes etc ... they receive boxes of pipes and they are put on an inventory shelf and get yanked when an order pops off the internet . I have a lot of respect for a large scale shop like that but the downside is .... is it what it is compared to a single individual shop owner
However , these days I hear horror stories of b&m owners , though I assume these aren't true tobacconist ( ? ) a good shop owner looks things over and its no skin off his nose to get credtvfrom a vendor etc .. if a product is defective .if it is an issue , then he's dealing with BS vendors and doesn't know what he's doing

Anyway , it shouldn't have left the Castello shop ,given the draft hole and the centering of the chamber which are both horrid .. but beyond that , given the online thing , I don't see fault other than the Castello shop

Italians are usually on the ball but there's these things called women and alcohol that can throw a guy off his game:)

[Thelonious monkfish]

Ouch. Pride of work and ownership isn't economically viable, cutting corners is though. It's the new style, Wabi Sabi, the ancient Japanese art of flaws. Chamber should be drilled over on the east side anyway, better feng shui for improved happines in tobacco prefecture.

[Longshanks]

Ouch. Pride of work and ownership isn't economically viable, cutting corners is though. It's the new style, Wabi Sabi, the ancient Japanese art of flaws. Chamber should be drilled over on the east side anyway, better feng shui for improved happines in tobacco prefecture.

Interesting. I hadn't heard of the Feng Shui pipe drilling method, though I have seen air-holes drilled off center.
Out of curiosity, assuming the air hole should be drilled on the east side... is that with the shank pointing north or south?

[Thelonious monkfish]

Ouch. Pride of work and ownership isn't economically viable, cutting corners is though. It's the new style, Wabi Sabi, the ancient Japanese art of flaws. Chamber should be drilled over on the east side anyway, better feng shui for improved happines in tobacco prefecture.

Interesting. I hadn't heard of the Feng Shui pipe drilling method, though I have seen air-holes drilled off center.
Out of curiosity, assuming the air hole should be drilled on the east side... is that with the shank pointing north or south?

North obviously. Or not, it could be flawed, that is, perfect....

[Mr Beardsley]

And this is why I stopped buying new factory pipes altogether and my only new pipes are hand made. It took me a minute to notice all of the little things that I get when I buy from my friend but the bite, stem width, button, draw, and drilling are always on the money. There are plenty of guys selling hand made junk too, so I think I'm very lucky to have found one I'm happy with

[Middle Earth]

I just got done smoking a KK Sea Rock that Castello nailed right on the money. For the $$$ they charge, it should be dead-nuts right on. That ain't right.
I have a few Castellos, all nice, but lately it has been all Rinaldo and Ser Jacopo.

[Houtenziel]

I have inspected more thoroughly the Castello Sea Rock KK I have received today, after posting an image of it in another thread.
I looked carefully into the tobacco chamber. Saw the air hole. Went: Whisky Tango Foxtrot, Over?

I am looking at the picture, and yes it does seem to be a tad high and to the right. I guess when you are paying Castello money you really should expect dead on workmanship. If that were Savinelli or below though, I would smoke it and not give it another thought. I am used to slumming it in the factory pipes, so my standards are, errr... different.

[unregistered1]

Ok, let's do a few comparaison to really enhance the Castello.

Ben Wade: normal width, slightly off centered.



Savinelli: slightly wider boring, dead on center.



Castello:



Do you see- besides it also being too high, yes- how too wide it is and totally to the right, almost touching the wall?
Truth is, I own three Castello, all bought new. Besides this one, the second is bored too high and a bit off centered. Inside the shank, I can clearly see they inserted the bit once, then reloaded and gave it another try. The third one is slightly off centered.
I have 4 Savinelli, not even High Grades (Impero, Dolomiti, Alligator and Oscar Tiger) and the boring is impeccable.
Weird, isn't it?

[Fr_Tom]

Ouch. Pride of work and ownership isn't economically viable, cutting corners is though. It's the new style, Wabi Sabi, the ancient Japanese art of flaws. Chamber should be drilled over on the east side anyway, better feng shui for improved happines in tobacco prefecture.

I have always maintained the off center drilling produces a "swirl" effect for better burning qualities and a cooler smoke.