Please Explain Your Love of Peterson Pipes

I like the look of Peterson pipes. Smoking them, on the other hand and at least for me, is a totally different ball game.

As with the previous times I acquired Peterson pipes, the general trend seemed to have been that the first 5 or 6 pipefuls weren't too bad, but then, things quickly went downhill, always ending in increasingly more awful smokes. Then, I would give up. This time around, the same looks like it's happening.

Last year, I had bought 6 or 7 Standard System fishtails. It was the first time I tried them. Besides the first few pipefuls being a bit tough on my mouth, they were smoking really good, and I was really happy with them. Enthousiastic, even. But then, around 10 pipefuls or so, they all started to smoke badly.  Like the previous ones.

Consequently, for the enduring fans, I am trying to understand this love for the brand. I have purchased several Peterson over the last 12 years and failed to keep one among all the 60 + I have bought.

I am not seeking, with this post, to beat my grievances against the brand to death and I am not seeking to insult people. I am trying to understand what people find in them that makes them appreciate those pipes. Because, did I ever try again and again and just don't get it as my experience with them has always been negative, more so than with other brands I have tried.

The last ones I acquired over the last 2 months are:

- POTY 21 blast
- Standard System 301 rusticated (fishtail)
- Standard System 302 rusticated (fishtail)
- Standard System 305 smooth (fishtail)
- Standard System 312 smooth (fishtail)
- Deluxe System 2s smooth
- 9s w/silver cap blast
- 20s w/silver cap blast

The 9s has been returned as it was not the one I bought. The blast on it (as I've shown in another thread) was atrocious.

For the ones I smoked, so far.

- The POTY is an acceptable smoke, which means it's not good or great. The boring in the mortise starts at the 2nd section (which I understand that's where it should start, for the well to do its job). Despite my good packing technique and despite always using tobacco that is not moist, the smokes are very inconsistent from one to the other. It tends, however, to become harsh and unpleasant in taste starting at the mid-bowl every time. I have smoked it a dozen times.

- The Deluxe 20s is a really bad smoker. Sadly, it was pretty expensive. The airway starts high in the mortise so the moisture mostly accumulates in the top section of the well. The boring (I had not noticed adequately as the silver band can be blinding when I'm trying to have a look under direct light) is quite large, but vertically wise, as if the lad started to drill, stopped, and resumed a bit lower. Such a more than normal open airway always generates extra moisture which makes the smoke unpleasant before I hit the mid bowl point. The airway in the tobacco chamber is about 3mm too high and wider than normal. Right from the start, the smoke does not taste great and it quickly goes downhill. I have endured about 10 pipefuls.

- The 305 has 2 sections for the well. The boring is high in the mortise. Like the POTY, past that mid -bowl point, the taste changes significantly with the exception that it seems to smoke on the wet side. I have smoked it 8 or 9 times.

None of them has delivered nor a dry, nor a cool smoke as is advertised about the System's system.

For the unsmoked ones, now. I did not smoke the 301, the 302, the 312 or the 2s. However, I made the following observations:

- I have noticed that none of the System wells are drilled alike. Some seem to be drilled okay, others are all to whack.

- The boring on the 312 is high, as with the 20s, and very large as well, still vertically wise. And, on top of that, the mortise's drilling is wide and deep and then, there's a small section at the bottom that is narrow. So it has 2 sections instead of 3.

- The 302 boring is also fairly large, at the top of the mortise, and the well boring is misaligned.

- The 2s has a large boring in the mortise but, in the tobacco chamber, the airway is probably under 3mm wide. The airway starts at the 2nd section.

- The 301 seems to be the one, with the POTY, which is the best bored, overall, as much on the airway level than the well.

From what I've observed, there doesn't seem to really be any precise standards established when it comes to drilling the airways or the wells. That, rather, it seems like everything is decided in a spur of the moment. 

I understand tastes are a subjective affair.  But, today again, I smoked the POTY, the 20s and the 305 and was, alas, once more disappointed. I am not sure I am willing to put up with 25 - 50 smokes of this as someone suggested, or to even start smoking the unsmoked ones.