I went and did it !

[Lostmason]

That book really opened my eyes too. Before I read it I felt it would be an insult to the artisan who created it to make alterations, but now I don't hesitate to drill it out or file the stem to make it more comfortable. I may have destroyed the resale value on some but I didn't buy them as investments, I bought them to smoke and enjoy.

That is a really good read. I caught a few post mentioning it on other forums, and they weren't complimentary.
They try to paint Mr Newcomb as an elitist, but I caught where several places he stated that you could find
wonderful pipes for less money and that he has several machine made pipes that are great smokers. I did
think that A.Menedez who wrote the epilog, is a bit of an elitist. But it's not his book. I've decided that I'm
going to go thru all my pipes, and those that are a bit on the tough side will get some modifying.That Dunhill
definatly doesn't need it though. It smokes like a dream,kind of the standard I'm looking for in the rest.