Peterson's Mark Twain

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Idlefellow

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I have forgone my interest in most deeply bent pipes, but there's just something about the Pete Mark Twain that tells me I should own one (with a P-lip of course).  But Ai Yi Yi, folks are proud of them!  I missed one on ebay recently that went for a decent price that I should have bid on, but who knows where it would have gone if I had?  Prolly just me; I suppose the prices are reasonable but just seem to be more than I want to pay for a pipe that might just languish in the rack.  Oh well; mini-rant over...
 
They're OK; I have one. I bought it just because it looked cool and because MT smoked one. The things have a distinctly 19th-century look to them. I use it more than some of my pipes, but no longer consider it a must-have. If you want one because Twain smoked one, I would suggest looking at photos of the man with pipe, not too difficult to find. He smoked a wide variety of pipes when he wasn't smoking cigars, and the corncob pops up as often as any. Those are plenty cheap and probably better anyhow.

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Yep; pretty much the reason I want one.  I have a nice old (1970's) Peterson System that probably should suffice but there's just something about this MT shape...and I just don't care for cobs (insert sh!t dodging icon here).
 
I have one, a very decent smoking bent even with the P-Lip. BTW...I do believe all MT's have the P-Lip as did his! FWIW :cheers: FTRPLT
 
Ha! Bid way more than I wanted to for one on ebay and they blew by me like a Porsche passing a '56 Dodge :x .
 
Idlefellow":lld9qqfk said:
Ha!  Bid way more than I wanted to for one on ebay and they blew by me like a Porsche passing a '56 Dodge :x .
If it's any solace, these are not particularly high-grade Petersons. Although the grain is quite good, mine does have two fills on the bowl, for instance. True, they are small and not noticeable to any but the "trained" eye, and I do doubt if Mr. Clemens cared whether his pipes had fills or not, but I thought I'd mention it.

(The same holds true, I believe, for their S. Holmes series. Nevertheless, their sandblasted Squire is one of my absolute favorite pipes and I would willingly pay for another, should someone swipe mine.)
 
i have two from the original issue in the 80's. one silver banded and the other gold banded. both have clean bowl with no fills. however , i have seen some from the new production with small fills.  if you can , get an old one.
 
Richard Burley":137l9nme said:
Idlefellow":137l9nme said:
Ha!  Bid way more than I wanted to for one on ebay and they blew by me like a Porsche passing a '56 Dodge :x .
If it's any solace, these are not particularly high-grade Petersons. Although the grain is quite good, mine does have two fills on the bowl, for instance. True, they are small and not noticeable to any but the "trained" eye, and I do doubt if Mr. Clemens cared whether his pipes had fills or not, but I thought I'd mention it.

(The same holds true, I believe, for their S. Holmes series. Nevertheless, their sandblasted Squire is one of my absolute favorite pipes and I would willingly pay for another, should someone swipe mine.)
The fills are symbolic of Peterson's crappy quality control. My MT has a small, well-hidden fill also as do at least two other relatively high-grade Pete's I own. No more Pete's for me :evil: :evil: :evil: FTRPLT
 
Meh...I don't really care about small, well-hidden fills until $250+ or so. Not on a pipe I intend to smoke hell out of, which is exactly what I use Petes for. Look at Twain's above. Doesn't look like he gave half a rat's. Fills on a new Castello or something similar would be another story.
 
Richard Burley":kcpusa7s said:
Meh...I don't really care about small, well-hidden fills until $250+ or so. Not on a pipe I intend to smoke hell out of, which is exactly what I use Petes for. Look at Twain's above. Doesn't look like he gave half a rat's. Fills on a new Castello or something similar would be another story.
Agreed, except for me that covers every pipe I own.  I'm not a collector and any of my pipes is more likely to be banging around in a bird cover or in a bass boat than it is to be in a rack beside an easy chair, ergo I don't operate in the $250 pipe market.  Besides, some of my best smokers over the years have had a fill or two.

Back in my freehand days I had (and still have, somewhere) a nice little pipe with an almost perfect straight grain, BUT it had a couple of small fills.  They bugged the hell out of me, and one day on a whim I chucked a rotary rasp into my drill and took it to the pipe.  I produced a passible "rusticated" finish and the fills are now invisible, but I never felt the same about the pipe afterward.  I've been sorry ever since, so while I would certainly try to avoid fills in any buy I'd buy, if I like the pipe and the fills aren't too obtrusive, I'll live with them.
 
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