Hope my experience was unusual. I began using this in mid/late July, and from the beginning it did not expel the cork smoothly at all; I've had to "unwind" it to get the cork off after each use. Then a few weeks ago, it became very jammed and won't easily open bottles either. The corkscrew has been stored safely on a shelf, not dropped or messed with in any way. For a $90 corkscrew, that's just not good. I've reached out to their customer service to see if they think this is a defective product I got, or if this is more common. I'd previously had a corkscrew (may even have been a Screwpull) that was amazing and lasted 10+ years.