Quote Originally Posted by WNYTONY View Post
Yes, I should have turned it in the pic so it showed better - it looks like 2 dark spots in the pic I posted. There are 2 slits on each side to help remove some bits of loose tobacco to open it up. They start at about 3/4" and go to about 2", alternating sides.
Indeed, these have GOT to have barbs cut into them! The more the merrier. If you can't excavate tobacco from a plugged stick, once the baccy heats up, you're worse off than when you started.

Back in the day, I consulted with one of the original makers of such tools; "Boom". He was making great looking tools at the time, but they lacked the barbs.

It's nice to know one has, in some way, influenced posterity.