pipe in hand critique

[notow1]

I was wondering if after a novice has made lets say 20 pipes He mails his 21st pipe to one of the more knowledgable pipe makers on this forum. This could only be done with permission but then that person would have a pipe in hand to critique. The novice could list Their tooling and the Expert could give an opinion on the craftmanship considering the tools used. The Knowledgable pipemaker could post pictures and really dissect the pipe, If He was willing. I realize this would be an imposition but the People offering their opinions would be able to see the shaping, drilling,and finishing first hand. They would be able to smoke the pipe and see if the pipe was engineered correctly. Because this would be a very generous thing to do maybe it could be limited to once every 3 months, depending on the number willing to do this. Right now the pipes I don't smoke just get given away anyway. I would rather someone that will give Me good advice get one to critique. Norm

[Ocelot55]

That's kind of the idea of the pipe in the hat trade. If you haven't checked that out yet, I strongly suggest it.

Outside of that, just find someone you respect as a maker and ask them if they wouldn't mind looking over your pipe. It never hurts to ask. The worst they can say is no.