Awhile back, a fellow member gave me a pair of Hungarian-made (so a few years old) GE F15T8/KB.  He was pretty sure he had had them in use for some time.  However, firing them up, they swirled like crazy and struggled to get lit on a pushbutton manual-preheat setup. 

I know new lamps can do this, but how about ones that have simply sat?  They did act a bit mercury starved at first. 

The reason for new lamp swirling is not because the lamps are new, but because they just sat for quite some time (new lamps in different warehouses in the supply chain,...).