Ron, some of these collectible estates nowdays are 50 to 100 years old and sometimes even older. It stands to reason that they have been restored multiple times during that period, and visited the buffing wheel even more frequently. As Al stated, the tooth marks can only be reduced in appearance, by reducing the stem thickness in the button area. It's just like buffing scratches out of paint with rubbing compound, in order to remove the scratches, you have to remove some paint, but the key is not removing all of it.
I'll give you a an example of a positive experience I had with 2 pipes I bought from Chance Whittamore back around Christmas. One was a Barling Pre-Transition Billiard, and the other a straight grain Charatan Bent Brandy. If you happen to have a copy of the Spring 2015 issue of Pipes and Tobaccos Magazine, you can turn to the profile they did on Chance, and see before and after pics of both of these pipes. The Charatan had teeth marks that had been reduced to the point that they couldn't be seen, and both pipes had a charcoal coating. Chance is so skilled with his restoration abilities, it is hard for most folks to imagine they were ever in anything but pristine condition. In fact, the stems on both of these pipes shined like glass.
I've been smoking both pipes in my regular rotation for over 6 months, and neither have any internal bowl flaws. As usual, I keep the cake in my pipes very thin, and haven't found any pits or burnouts, but the carbon coating that Chance applied in both pipes, is long gone.
Chance has used this charcoal coating in every pipe I have purchased from him, except for the new unsmoked pipes that needed very little attention. As of this morning, Chance has a 100% positive feedback rating involving 8393 buyers on ebay, with no negative comments about any of his charcoal bowl coatings.
Another example of a pipe restoration expert that uses the charcoal coating is Rob Cooper. The Bruce Weaver Sandblasted Bent Brandy I purchased recently has the carbon coating, and like the 2 pipes mentioned above, has no burnouts or gouges from over zealous reaming. The pipe has smoked fantastic, and I have been very happy with all the pipes I have purchased from Mr. Cooper, as he does fantastic restoration work as well. Mr. Cooper has a 99.9% positive feedback rating as of this morning, with 12,770 positive, and 3 negative. The 3 negative were all left by the same buyer in reference to packing and shipping issues during the same purchase, but no feedback left by any buyers indicate negative responses to charcoal bowl coatings.
The reason I took time to respond to your original post, was because I wanted to point out my personal experience with these charcoal coatings, which bring a smoked pipe bowl back visually to like new condition. Personally I feel that we as pipe smokers are truly lucky to have such skilled restoration experts available to us in the hobby, and I would hate for a new pipe smoker to get the idea that either of these highly ethical gentlemen are trying to cover up flaws in a pipe during the restoration process.
I'm sure there are probably some other pipe restorers who use the charcoal coatings, but I am only speaking of the experience I have had with these 2. I do understand your concerns buying over the internet, as there are some very shady characters who would definitely take the opportunity to cover up a flaw in a severely depreciated pipe. That is why I stated that sometimes it is just better to stick with the reputable sellers, and refrain from bidding on pipes from unknown sellers, even when some of their auctions are very tempting.
The pipe community is a tight knit community that are constantly sharing this type information, so I like to think that most of the unscrupulous sellers have a hard time selling questionable pipes to educated pipemen. The sad part is, that most of the victims of this unethical behavior, are new pipe smokers who haven't had the chance to educate themselves yet.
