An extrusion apparatus (200) and method to extrude ceramic precursor batch through a die to form a honeycomb extrudate (100), and an apparatus assembly method, are provided. The apparatus comprises a tail ring device (202) comprising a tapered inner opening configured to funnel the batch downstream from upstream extrusion hardware, wherein an inner surface (318,320) of the tail ring device (202) comprises no pockets or protrusions to disrupt batch flow; a bow control device (204) disposed on the tail ring device (202) comprising an aperture (414) defined by shutter plates (S1-S4) to control a bow of the honeycomb body extrudate (100) formed from the batch flowing through the die by adjustment of the shutters (Sl- S4); and an edge flow control device (206) disposed on the bow control device (204) comprising edge plates (816) configured to protrude into the batch to control an edge flow of the batch flowing to a periphery of the die.
