That's who your avatar needs to be.
Perfect Draw has lowed price of their Tool & Glue
- Thread starter SurfnSafari
- Start date
bwhite220
Brandon | BotM Jan 2038
Even if it did cost him $1.00 to make, what do you care what his margins are? He's a businessman who makes a product that works better than any on the market at a fantastic price to me while making a profit. As a consumer, I only really care about what it costs me and $25 for this tool is well worth it. I also don't care about the quality of the first one. The one I have I ordered 3 months ago and it has saved 5 cigars for me already.
Even if it did cost him $1.00 to make, what do you care what his margins are? He's a businessman who makes a product that works better than any on the market at a fantastic price to me while making a profit. As a consumer, I only really care about what it costs me and $25 for this tool is well worth it. I also don't care about the quality of the first one. The one I have I ordered 3 months ago and it has saved 5 cigars for me already.
bwhite220
Brandon | BotM Jan 2038
So sticky
bostoneo
The Chosen One
I know, I AM Mr. Wonderful...That's who your avatar needs to be.
Oh I don't care what his margins areEven if it did cost him $1.00 to make, what do you care what his margins are? He's a businessman who makes a product that works better than any on the market at a fantastic price to me while making a profit. As a consumer, I only really care about what it costs me and $25 for this tool is well worth it. I also don't care about the quality of the first one. The one I have I ordered 3 months ago and it has saved 5 cigars for me already.
I cant afford $25 for a modified screwdriver, maybe $10 spit works great, maybe I should bottle mine
Cigar Fan 29
PerfecDraw guy
Well, I have to say I’m amazed. And I’ll say that a couple here have been pretty blunt…so I’ll be blunt too.
You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth! (ala A Few Good Men).
Ok, so I thought it was supposed to be a GOOD thing for manufacturers to actually LISTEN to their customers and make changes based on those suggestions.
First suggestions I received was that $39.95 was too costly. I get it. Problem was that at $39.95 the company was LOSING money. The PerfecDraw was originally launched at $65. But of course that was too costly. I kept lowering the price until some started to sell at $39.95. I’ll admit it – I own one of the premier companies in the dental industry, so taking a loss for a while was OK.
Prior to dentistry four decades ago, my background was in mechanical engineering. The original design of the PerfecDraw was with the blades in a spiral pattern. And quite obviously the comments from the cheap seats tells me that some here enjoy making comments about such things that they have zero knowledge of. Manufacturing costs of $1???? Are you shittin’ me?
For those who don’t understand anything about CNC manufacturing, when you have such a long, thin shaft, and at the very end of the shaft you mill a spiral pattern with UNDERCUT, very sharp blades and an ultra-thin shaft within the blades – in a SPIRAL PATTERN – this creates tremendous torque. So much torque in fact that over 80% of the shafts ended up corkscrewing or breaking toward the end of the milling process. With the machining being so difficult, automation was not a possibility.
So even just this one part of the PerfecDraw required a machinist to make each one individually, and still more than 80% ended up breaking. The first manufacturer refused to make anymore after the first manufacturing run. You think that’s cheap to do?
Also, they were not able to create the “pitch” that I wanted. In other words, my drawings called for the spiral pattern to be stretched out so there would be more distance between the spirals of the blades so more tobacco could accumulate between the blades without clogging the blades. But the more you stretch out the spiral, the MORE TORQUE is created during milling.
As for ew1439, who stated so profoundly that you could twist the original design to make it work. All I can say is, if all else fails, read the directions. If you watch the videos – which are still the original videos, I plainly show to NEVER continue twisting the PerfecDraw once you have inserted it to the desired depth.
Twisting does pretty much diddly-squat! When you use it by twisting, the blades get clogged up almost immediately and nothing happens other than making some noise. No, the correct way to use the PerfecDraw is to insert it, and screw it slightly ONLY while inserting. Then STOP twisting so that when you pull the shaft straight out of the cigar, the blades can cut the tobacco and the three longitudinal “tobacco pulling channels” can “grab” the surrounding tobacco to loosen it up a little.
So ew1439 – the blades are a sharp 30-degree angle, and the edges in the longitudinal “tobacco pulling channels” are a sharp 90-degree angle. When PULLING (not twisting), these sharp 30-degree blades CUT tobacco, and the sharp 90-degree angles grab and PULL the tobacco. So what do you really think you’re doing when you just sit there twisting, twisting, twisting? For the design to work, you must not clog the blades, and these NON-clogged blades must be pulled straight out of the cigar.
By twisting, twisting, twisting you don’t accomplish much at all. But if it worked like you think it does when twisting, all you’d do is drill an open hole. That’s not what is intended. The intent is to remove some tobacco and loosen the surrounding tobacco.
So listening carefully to all comments I received…I set about redesigning (improving) the blade area. So instead of four twists around the shaft, I now have four separate rings of blades. This meant that I was able to move the rings of blades apart to the exact distance that my original drawings called for. This means more room between the rings of blades and therefore more space to collect tobacco – and less potential to clog up the blades.
AND…without having a spiral pattern, this greatly reduces torque during milling, so now I was able to decrease the diameter of the central shaft between the blades by 20%. This too provided more room for collection of tobacco debris.
The FACT is that the new version is more efficient than the original. That’s not an opinion. It’s a scientific fact. I don’t know if ew1439 above is one of the two folks that have contacted me about not liking the new design, but since his post was virtually identical to one of the two complaints I’ve received, I believe it was probably him. Other than the above post by ew1439, I’ve received exactly TWO complaints about the new design.
The first one was a guy that had purchased several PerfecDraws in the original design. He then received the new one and simply made the assumption that since the price went down and the design had changed, it must be cheap crap now. He didn’t even try it. So he contacted me pretty pissed off. I apologized and explained the changes that were made and offered to provide him a prepaid shipping label to return it for a full refund.
But he said he’d like to try it first. A week later he emailed and apologized saying he’d had the flu at the time and now sees that the new design does work better. That takes a classy guy to take the time to contact me again like he did, and I appreciate his effort.
The second complaint, which I’ll bet was ew1439 above, I responded to and never heard anything back.
HOWEVER, I’ve received now more than 40 messages from cigar smokers that have used BOTH the original and new designs that have raved about the new design.
Next, the materials. Exactly the same heat-hardened aerospace grade 6061-T aluminum housing and handle. Same 25 micron deep black anodized hard-coat of the aluminum casing. The shaft is the same surgical grade 304 stainless steel.
Personally, I didn’t like the original electrostatic coating of the shaft. It made it look like it was chrome instead of surgical stainless steel. I didn’t like it probably because I had a hospital surgical residency and have done tens of thousands of surgeries in my career. And surgical stainless steel does NOT look chrome. So, the current one is uncoated. But as I said, it’s surgical grade 304 SS and will never corrode. I think it looks better now.
Several told me they wanted the handle to be easier to grasp. They said the round, smooth surface cylinder shape was not easy enough to grasp. So I changed it to a hexagon shape, which I’ve had rave reviews about.
The previous orange icon was silk screened and could scratch. So now the logo is LASER ETCHED, which certainly ain’t cheaper to make.
A very few said they liked the pocket clip, but the vast majority (over 90%) said there should be no pocket clip because they keep the PerfecDraw in their cigar tool kit with their lighters and cutters. Some even said they were afraid the spring steel pocket clip would scratch their other tools. So I eliminated the pocket clip.
Some complained that when tobacco debris got inside the long sheath or inside the handle, it was difficult to get out. So since the pocket clip was discontinued, I made a cap on the end of the sheath (where the logo is and the pocket clip used to attach) that can be unscrewed so you can simply blow through the barrel and clean it out.
And I made the threads of the sheath, where it screws into the handle, significantly larger in diameter, which made the hole in the handle larger, making it easier to remove any tobacco debris that might get in there.
And finally, some said that the PerfecDraw was not long enough to effectively use it to clear a hard knot dead center in a Churchill. I didn’t want to make the PerfecDraw much longer and lose the convenient, portable size, so I made it just ¼” longer. That was just enough that when you insert it from both ends of a Churchill cigar, it will overlap in the middle by ½”, making it much more effective at clearing the knot dead-center in the cigar.
However, if you think that making the current design is now cheap to make with the quality that you see, you’re dreamin’. I feel like asking how the view is from the cheap seats. It seems like no matter how hard you try to please people and do the right thing, there’s always those very few that simply get a kick out of acting like they know everything.
Well, I lowered the price down to only $24.95. Compare that with the retail price of $18-$19 for those cheap plastic pens that are converted with a simple, dull-tipped shaft that they call cigar pokers. Really? And you’re going to complain about the construction of the PerfecDraw that will probably last your lifetime, but more importantly, works like nothing else ever invented? I just don’t get it.
I lowered the price all the way to $24.95 because I wanted to make it easier for people to buy so that the word would spread a lot faster. But at some point I would like to make at least a few bucks for all the work I’ve put in on this for the past several years. So at some point, the price will absolutely be going up a little.
OK, call me blunt. But hey, a couple of you have been pretty doggoned blunt yourselves.
And by the way ew1439, I don’t care if you’ve lost the original packaging. You want a refund? Glad to do it! I’ll even pay for you to ship it back to me. Just message me through the PerfecDraw site, and we’ll get it done.
And it is the NEW design that has been introduced in Europe. But of course far, far fewer numbers than here in the USA, and only over the past few months. Yet the PerfecDraw was not only nominated for the Cigar Trophy award for Best Cigar Accessory of 2018, but we’re now among the five finalists! The Cigar Trophy is the only award in the cigar industry based on the voting of real cigar smokers. This is by the Cigar Journal, which is an international publication. Only 20% of their circulation is here in the USA. And we have no affiliation with The Cigar Journal and certainly have never done any advertising in any magazine.
So with 80% of their readers being outside the USA, and for us to be voted into the final 5, I’d say the new design of the PerfecDraw has been very well accepted. We only just found out about this Cigar Trophy voting two days ago when The Cigar Journal contacted me. Go figure! The voting by any cigar smoker is currently doing on until June 27 at www.CigarTrophy.com.
Anyway, sorry for my rant, but I’ve really busted my hump to get all this done for all the right reasons. So I just had to chime in.
Thanks for readin’,
Rod
You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth! (ala A Few Good Men).
Ok, so I thought it was supposed to be a GOOD thing for manufacturers to actually LISTEN to their customers and make changes based on those suggestions.
First suggestions I received was that $39.95 was too costly. I get it. Problem was that at $39.95 the company was LOSING money. The PerfecDraw was originally launched at $65. But of course that was too costly. I kept lowering the price until some started to sell at $39.95. I’ll admit it – I own one of the premier companies in the dental industry, so taking a loss for a while was OK.
Prior to dentistry four decades ago, my background was in mechanical engineering. The original design of the PerfecDraw was with the blades in a spiral pattern. And quite obviously the comments from the cheap seats tells me that some here enjoy making comments about such things that they have zero knowledge of. Manufacturing costs of $1???? Are you shittin’ me?
For those who don’t understand anything about CNC manufacturing, when you have such a long, thin shaft, and at the very end of the shaft you mill a spiral pattern with UNDERCUT, very sharp blades and an ultra-thin shaft within the blades – in a SPIRAL PATTERN – this creates tremendous torque. So much torque in fact that over 80% of the shafts ended up corkscrewing or breaking toward the end of the milling process. With the machining being so difficult, automation was not a possibility.
So even just this one part of the PerfecDraw required a machinist to make each one individually, and still more than 80% ended up breaking. The first manufacturer refused to make anymore after the first manufacturing run. You think that’s cheap to do?
Also, they were not able to create the “pitch” that I wanted. In other words, my drawings called for the spiral pattern to be stretched out so there would be more distance between the spirals of the blades so more tobacco could accumulate between the blades without clogging the blades. But the more you stretch out the spiral, the MORE TORQUE is created during milling.
As for ew1439, who stated so profoundly that you could twist the original design to make it work. All I can say is, if all else fails, read the directions. If you watch the videos – which are still the original videos, I plainly show to NEVER continue twisting the PerfecDraw once you have inserted it to the desired depth.
Twisting does pretty much diddly-squat! When you use it by twisting, the blades get clogged up almost immediately and nothing happens other than making some noise. No, the correct way to use the PerfecDraw is to insert it, and screw it slightly ONLY while inserting. Then STOP twisting so that when you pull the shaft straight out of the cigar, the blades can cut the tobacco and the three longitudinal “tobacco pulling channels” can “grab” the surrounding tobacco to loosen it up a little.
So ew1439 – the blades are a sharp 30-degree angle, and the edges in the longitudinal “tobacco pulling channels” are a sharp 90-degree angle. When PULLING (not twisting), these sharp 30-degree blades CUT tobacco, and the sharp 90-degree angles grab and PULL the tobacco. So what do you really think you’re doing when you just sit there twisting, twisting, twisting? For the design to work, you must not clog the blades, and these NON-clogged blades must be pulled straight out of the cigar.
By twisting, twisting, twisting you don’t accomplish much at all. But if it worked like you think it does when twisting, all you’d do is drill an open hole. That’s not what is intended. The intent is to remove some tobacco and loosen the surrounding tobacco.
So listening carefully to all comments I received…I set about redesigning (improving) the blade area. So instead of four twists around the shaft, I now have four separate rings of blades. This meant that I was able to move the rings of blades apart to the exact distance that my original drawings called for. This means more room between the rings of blades and therefore more space to collect tobacco – and less potential to clog up the blades.
AND…without having a spiral pattern, this greatly reduces torque during milling, so now I was able to decrease the diameter of the central shaft between the blades by 20%. This too provided more room for collection of tobacco debris.
The FACT is that the new version is more efficient than the original. That’s not an opinion. It’s a scientific fact. I don’t know if ew1439 above is one of the two folks that have contacted me about not liking the new design, but since his post was virtually identical to one of the two complaints I’ve received, I believe it was probably him. Other than the above post by ew1439, I’ve received exactly TWO complaints about the new design.
The first one was a guy that had purchased several PerfecDraws in the original design. He then received the new one and simply made the assumption that since the price went down and the design had changed, it must be cheap crap now. He didn’t even try it. So he contacted me pretty pissed off. I apologized and explained the changes that were made and offered to provide him a prepaid shipping label to return it for a full refund.
But he said he’d like to try it first. A week later he emailed and apologized saying he’d had the flu at the time and now sees that the new design does work better. That takes a classy guy to take the time to contact me again like he did, and I appreciate his effort.
The second complaint, which I’ll bet was ew1439 above, I responded to and never heard anything back.
HOWEVER, I’ve received now more than 40 messages from cigar smokers that have used BOTH the original and new designs that have raved about the new design.
Next, the materials. Exactly the same heat-hardened aerospace grade 6061-T aluminum housing and handle. Same 25 micron deep black anodized hard-coat of the aluminum casing. The shaft is the same surgical grade 304 stainless steel.
Personally, I didn’t like the original electrostatic coating of the shaft. It made it look like it was chrome instead of surgical stainless steel. I didn’t like it probably because I had a hospital surgical residency and have done tens of thousands of surgeries in my career. And surgical stainless steel does NOT look chrome. So, the current one is uncoated. But as I said, it’s surgical grade 304 SS and will never corrode. I think it looks better now.
Several told me they wanted the handle to be easier to grasp. They said the round, smooth surface cylinder shape was not easy enough to grasp. So I changed it to a hexagon shape, which I’ve had rave reviews about.
The previous orange icon was silk screened and could scratch. So now the logo is LASER ETCHED, which certainly ain’t cheaper to make.
A very few said they liked the pocket clip, but the vast majority (over 90%) said there should be no pocket clip because they keep the PerfecDraw in their cigar tool kit with their lighters and cutters. Some even said they were afraid the spring steel pocket clip would scratch their other tools. So I eliminated the pocket clip.
Some complained that when tobacco debris got inside the long sheath or inside the handle, it was difficult to get out. So since the pocket clip was discontinued, I made a cap on the end of the sheath (where the logo is and the pocket clip used to attach) that can be unscrewed so you can simply blow through the barrel and clean it out.
And I made the threads of the sheath, where it screws into the handle, significantly larger in diameter, which made the hole in the handle larger, making it easier to remove any tobacco debris that might get in there.
And finally, some said that the PerfecDraw was not long enough to effectively use it to clear a hard knot dead center in a Churchill. I didn’t want to make the PerfecDraw much longer and lose the convenient, portable size, so I made it just ¼” longer. That was just enough that when you insert it from both ends of a Churchill cigar, it will overlap in the middle by ½”, making it much more effective at clearing the knot dead-center in the cigar.
However, if you think that making the current design is now cheap to make with the quality that you see, you’re dreamin’. I feel like asking how the view is from the cheap seats. It seems like no matter how hard you try to please people and do the right thing, there’s always those very few that simply get a kick out of acting like they know everything.
Well, I lowered the price down to only $24.95. Compare that with the retail price of $18-$19 for those cheap plastic pens that are converted with a simple, dull-tipped shaft that they call cigar pokers. Really? And you’re going to complain about the construction of the PerfecDraw that will probably last your lifetime, but more importantly, works like nothing else ever invented? I just don’t get it.
I lowered the price all the way to $24.95 because I wanted to make it easier for people to buy so that the word would spread a lot faster. But at some point I would like to make at least a few bucks for all the work I’ve put in on this for the past several years. So at some point, the price will absolutely be going up a little.
OK, call me blunt. But hey, a couple of you have been pretty doggoned blunt yourselves.
And by the way ew1439, I don’t care if you’ve lost the original packaging. You want a refund? Glad to do it! I’ll even pay for you to ship it back to me. Just message me through the PerfecDraw site, and we’ll get it done.
And it is the NEW design that has been introduced in Europe. But of course far, far fewer numbers than here in the USA, and only over the past few months. Yet the PerfecDraw was not only nominated for the Cigar Trophy award for Best Cigar Accessory of 2018, but we’re now among the five finalists! The Cigar Trophy is the only award in the cigar industry based on the voting of real cigar smokers. This is by the Cigar Journal, which is an international publication. Only 20% of their circulation is here in the USA. And we have no affiliation with The Cigar Journal and certainly have never done any advertising in any magazine.
So with 80% of their readers being outside the USA, and for us to be voted into the final 5, I’d say the new design of the PerfecDraw has been very well accepted. We only just found out about this Cigar Trophy voting two days ago when The Cigar Journal contacted me. Go figure! The voting by any cigar smoker is currently doing on until June 27 at www.CigarTrophy.com.
Anyway, sorry for my rant, but I’ve really busted my hump to get all this done for all the right reasons. So I just had to chime in.
Thanks for readin’,
Rod
@Cigar Fan 29 I love the current design. I have saved multiple cigars(worth well over what I paid for the tool) and will save many more. Don’t give in to trolls on internet. You have a great product and a fantastic price point. I plan on buying more for gifts. Thanks!
Some unsolicited feedback from someone who is getting back into cigars after a decade off. This post peaked my curiosity and I looked into the tool. I’ve had the frustration of a few plugs in some top tier CC’s back in the day with no real solution. I’m interested in having something that can help. I’ll say that without a doubt I would not purchase a solution, of any kind or design, for plugs at 39.99. 25 dollars though I can swallow and will pick up a bottle of glue as well. I do hope you are able to make it work at that price point and find the success you desire.
bwhite220
Brandon | BotM Jan 2038
I love this tool even more now because of Rod’s responses. Well done, good sir!
Cigar Fan 29
PerfecDraw guy
I absolutely hear ya. The thing to realize is that I started this company because it sounded like fun, and I wanted to make these things available to others in hopes of making their enjoyment of cigars much greater. And realize that the PerfecDraw works well for unplugging plugged cigars -- but that's NOT the real reason I created it. As a health professional and having a MAJOR family history of cancer (every single member of close family have had cancer, some more than once. I lost my sister and my dad to cancer. And my brother currently has cancer), even though I perfectly understand that cigars are less risk, but as a dentist I also understand that the carcinogens in tobacco are real. My point is that I'd smoke three sticks a day if I felt comfortable doing so. But I only smoke a cigar when I am lucky enough to get together with friends, which is often 4-6 weeks apart. So man! I'll tell ya that I REALLY look forward to that occasional cigar. I savor it. And damn it, I don't want the draw to be acceptable or even good. I want it to be perfect! To me that's very important to my enjoyment. And just like steak lovers all vary in how they like their steaks cooked, cigar smokers vary in how much resistance they like in the draw. No one cigar can be a "perfect" draw for everyone.
The point is that the real use of the PerfecDraw is to be able to fine-tune the draw to exactly what you personally like. This is so important to me that I assume it's equally important to many others. Given that I have a very successful international company in the dental industry, my goal is much more than just making profit with this company. That's not how the company started, and I'm not going to let it go that way. The single best and most important thing is all the emails I get, the messages through our website, reading comments on forums, etc. where folks are talking about how the PerfecDraw has increased their enjoyment. That's simply overwhelming. So I'm with you on the price. My goal is to always keep my profit at a very moderate level so that the greatest number of cigar lovers can feel comfortable purchasing. And the new design really saved the day. Given that very, very few would pay more than $39.95, and given that we were losing money rather quickly at that price with the original design, it was either redesign to lower manufacturing costs IF I could do so without lowering the effectiveness or quality... or close the company. Luckily my ideas for the redesign actually made it work better. So my plan is to keep the cost where it is now for as long as I can. At least we're not losing any money now. Thanks for your input. It really helps me put things into perspective.
Please take this in the light hearted manner intended but I think buying the Perfect Draw causes all your cigars to get plugged!
I've noticed that since Katman has started endorsing your product every cigar he reviews is plugged and requires use of the Perfect Draw Tool. Is it common practice to use the tool pre-light to insure a good draw?
I've noticed that since Katman has started endorsing your product every cigar he reviews is plugged and requires use of the Perfect Draw Tool. Is it common practice to use the tool pre-light to insure a good draw?
icehog3
Outlaw Hockey Biker
Love the tool, I have the original so I can't speak to the detractors of the new version. I'll guard this one like a hawk, never putting in my carry on luggage in case I get one of those TSA agents who don't understand their own policies, and make sure I get it right back after loaning it out to a fellow BOTL with a tight draw.
Cigar Fan 29
PerfecDraw guy
Yes, if you watch the videos on the PerfecDraw site, you will see that the technique is to check the draw before you fire up. (check the "cold draw") There are a few reasons for this. If you have a plug in the half of the cigar at the foot end, once you light up you'd have to insert the PerfecDraw through the burning ember. But as we all know, sometimes a cigar just starts to get tighter as we smoke it. That's due to the physics involved - tobacco is humidified, so there is moisture in the tobacco. Heat causes matter to expand. So if you would like to do a test, give this a try -- check the draw of your next cigar right before you fire up. Get the draw resistance firmly in your mind. Most of the time you will notice that the draw tightens up...just a little bit... after you light your cigar. The heat at the foot causes expansion, and therefore tightening of the tobacco filler. Heat causes the moisture in the tobacco to evaporate into steam, which is then drawn up into the cigar. This makes the humidified tobacco even more moist, which also causes expansion of tobacco and more tightening of the draw. We've all experienced that. So my point is that the other way the PerfecDraw works is to use it after you've fired up, at any time, to fix the draw when it starts tightening up.
As far as Katman, I absolutely get your point. Katman (Phil) and I are good friends. We're both 68. Both graduated high school 1968. And we both grew up in Long Beach, California. I don't give him any input whatsoever on his reviews, but I know that since starting to use the PerfecDraw, he's become WAYYYYY more picky about the draw. Even more than me. My bet is that there are a lot of folks here who've become much more picky about the draw because now they have something that can actually adjust the draw to exactly what they personally like.
Rod
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2018
- Messages
- 91
Placed an order after reading this. Nothing more I love to see than manufacturers interacting with the community.
