Kettle, the first time I read some of the posts of the "big boys" here, I thought "Wow, who the hell does that asshole think he is?" when it came to some fairly subjective criticisms (not even of my work, per se). A bit more thought, and a bit of perspective, and a bunch of kind of crappy looking pipes later, I realized that the criticisms were perfectly valid, and "correct".
This is not to say that there is only one way to make a pipe, or anything like that at all. But just like Bruce said a couple of posts ago, when you DO follow the advice of the masters, all of a sudden the pipe "looks right" and hey, bingo, the thing sells. Does that make it "right"? Well... yeah.
You don't have to tread light here. If you have a question, ask. You'll get answers, and sometimes everyone will agree, and sometimes there's a bit of variation, and that's when it gets interesting. But I challenge you to find me a post here where a newbie has asked a serious question and gotten abused, without dishing something out first.
Mike, the guys who have been making pipes for a long, long time here, make them with great confidence from stinky ebonite. I lurk, and participate, in a LOT of pipe talk, and have friends all over the globe related to the industry. And not ONCE have I heard of a pipe that "got yucky after awhile" with the SOLE EXCEPTION being vulcanite which oxydizes rather quickly and tastes of.... sulphur.
So while I do see that you are trying to get the best ebonite you can, and raising concerns which we can all appreciate, the problem you are anticipating does not exist. A number of very polite master craftsmen of many years tried in numerous ways to show you this politely, and Todd J tried a little, uh, less politely. Maybe he's a zen master, and maybe he's an asshole. It doesn't matter, cuz as a crafstman, he's miles ahead of most of us.
There's 50 years of lineage to the techniques and materials being used by these guys. Direct, one on one, master to apprentice knowledge transfer. While there IS room for new ideas, there is fairly limited tolerance of a) re -inventing the wheel and b) correcting problems that don't exist.
I'm not here to offend anyone, nor to kiss anyone's butt. Fact is, I don't think even one person on this forum cares a rat's ass what I think of them or their pipes. I have learned more here than I thought possible, but I had to accept some things that came hard to me. First, I didn't know my ass from a hole in the ground when it came to things like "balance" or various principles of design and aesthetics. Thought I did, but I just didn't and my early pipes showed it. Hell, I still post half my stuff here, half finished, and ask for help with the details I can't clearly visualize. But I had to swallow some pride to be able to do it.
I hope you post some pix of pipes soon, Mike. You'll still get an honest appraisal, because around here, it's only the pipes that matter. There's no "record", no ledger, no statement of accounts. It's all pipes, and if you want to make awesome ones sooner, post your latest work. Part of the perceived lack of respect you are seeing is I think based on the fact that as far as we know, you've never made even one pipe. Maybe you've made hundreds, I dunno. But if you show up here with a pipe that is fantastic, and drilled to the .00001th of an inch, you'll get wowed at. If on the other hand, all you do is speculate about things that might be, and never actually make pipes, well, no one is too interested, I guess.
I can guarantee as a new pipe maker, I know the kinds of thoughts he's thinking. I was thinking them a VERY short time ago. Mike is a guy who can't stand to be wrong, or even to be called a "hobbyist". Sheesh I sell pipes every week and I consider myself a hobbyist. So be it.
