How much is a pipe really worth?

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ssjones

Moderator
Staff member
May 11, 2011
18,323
11,092
Maryland
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Some need a $1000 fly rod, others just hit Kmart. Both catch the same fish. Same for exotic cars and motorcycle. Every consumer item has an upper end. Interesting, in this hobby, if so inclined, many could scrape up $500 for a Castello. But most of us would be shut out trying to buy a $250,000 Ferrari.

 
Jan 4, 2015
1,858
11
Massachusetts
Is a Caddy worth more than a Chevy? Both will get you from point A to B. The difference then is beyond the pure function. As Sablebrush points out it's subjective and that makes the choice personal. Collector anything will bring prices higher than pure utility. Admittedly I'm a "utility guy". I buy my pipes to smoke but some folks buy them as an investment. Which is right and which is wrong? Who can say?

 

delro

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jan 7, 2015
204
2
I pipe is worth whatever the beholder is willing to pay easy answer

 

raevans

Starting to Get Obsessed
Apr 20, 2013
273
17
I can see how certain pipes would command a high price, for example, a Talbert Halloween pipe. It's unique, one of a kind and very rare. Not everyone has the ability to make something so creative. High price? You bet. A Ser Jaq triple maxima diamond? Yep. The rarity of such a big piece of briar that turns out so perfect that some years none can be produced. A Dunhill ODF? Once again yes. However, I never really could see the high price tag of some of the pipes the Danes are making. Don't get me wrong, they are indeed very talented artisans, but when I see a billiard going for a couple of thousand or more? I just don't get it. It's a billiard. There are thousands of billiards out there. Nothing unique or special. Paying for the name or family legacy? Probably. Does it smoke any better? The ones that I have smoked, not really. Same with some of the American artisans. I have seen a partially rusticated pipe with a three thousand dollar price tag on it. I'm not sure why anyone would think that a flawed pipe, (the reason it's rusticated in the first place is because there is an imperfection in the briar), would merit such a price. Same with some of the blasts, the very reason that they have been sandblasted is due to imperfections in the briar. Like I said, I just don't get some of the prices being asked for. That being said, I am also all for capitalism. If a person can get that kind of green for a pipe, then more power to them. If a person is happy paying that kind of a price, then go for it. it's your money, spend it however you see fit. Like it has been said many times already, a pipes worth is what a person is willing to pay for it.

 
Mar 30, 2014
2,853
78
wv
Some see a pipe as a tool, while others see art. I see them as both. A Ford Pinto will get you to the grocery store, so why buy a Rolls Royce? I admire Picasso but I'm on a Bob Ross budget. There is a place for everyone in this hobby from $12 cobs to $12K briars, and I wouldn't want it any other way.

 
May 3, 2010
6,423
1,461
Las Vegas, NV
I agree, they're worth whatever someone is willing to pay for them.
I do think that when you jump into the $150 and higher range you are getting a better pipe. Most, and I stress most, pipes at that price range and up usually are engineered better and give an wonderful smoking experience more consistently.
When you jump into the $1,000+ range I think it's becoming more of an investment than a means by which to enjoy tobacco. I haven't personally experienced it, but I'd venture to say the engineering and smoking experience can't be much greater than a $500 pipe.
Unless I hit Mega Bucks (that's what he have in Vegas instead of the lottery) I doubt I'll ever spend more than $500 on a pipe.

 
Mar 1, 2014
3,646
4,916
I was browsing for pipes the other week when I came across a recommendation for Jan Pietenpauw.

His description of pipe value seems true enough:
Only recently did I start carving "proper" pipes and thought that I might offer some for sale. My pipes are reasonably priced (some are downright cheap) only because I am not as famous yet as some of the great names in pipe lore.
He actually changed the quote on his website recently but Pipedia still has the old one that I think better explains the industry, though he may have decided recently that his motivation for not asking more is different than it once was.

Another example I can think of is Randy Wiley, surely he's been in the industry long enough to command a higher price. I would bet the only difference between his pipes and a "high grade" would be that he isn't a second generation maker from Italy.

You can probably say the same for a Savinelli, the price is mostly just representative of availability. If Ashton made 100,000 pipes every year they might cost a little less too.

The bottom line as I see it is simply supply and demand. Someone doing exceptional work will eventually have more customers than time, then the customers bid each other up, and the average price goes well beyond the practical value of the product. High prices are probably just an indicator of supply.
I have a small collection of British pipes, and I purchased them knowing full well that a good part of that price was the "Made In England" stamp. I've come to accept that the only part of those pipes I expect to be functionally superior to a factory pipe is the Briar selection and treatment (and even oil curing is largely for aesthetic purposes).

In fact once I get the excessive bowl coating out of the draft hole my $40 Rossi will probably smoke better than my $280 Ashton.

I didn't run out and buy an Ashton the moment I read about them though, it took a few months between starting and actually making a purchase. I have two of those now (the second on a deep discount), and hopefully they're also my last.

 

sparrowhawk

Lifer
Jul 24, 2013
2,941
219
I agree with much here. For me, it comes down to: does this pipe speak to me, and can I afford it. Such was the case with the recent Peterson Dracula I picked up last weekend. It was also a better than average price, and I thought about the fact that I would hate myself later if I didn't get this pipe. Usually about $150 is my range, with very rare exception like the volcano appearing in other threads, which went to nearly $240, but was an exceptionally worthy pipe and a one-of-a-kind.

Here's the Peterson:

img_0806-600x433.jpg


And the volcano:

_57-600x450.jpg


 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,632
44,859
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
However, I never really could see the high price tag of some of the pipes the Danes are making.
There's a mystique to the best known Danish carvers and their work has become a status symbol. In Asia, gifts of Danish pipes have become a way to seal lucrative business deals. If spending $30,000 on a Knudsen nets you a multimillion dollar contract it's worth the money. None of this reflects the smoking properties of these pipes. I like my Knudsen and it was worth every penny of the $140 that I spent to purchase it. $30,000? No way. Does it smoke well? Yep. Does it smoke 100 times better than any other pipe that I own? Of course not.
The most expensive pipes that I own are ones that I will never smoke. Why, outside of insanity, do I have them? Because, I love the historical aspects of this hobby and these unsmoked pipes of more than a century of age function like a time machine for me. I simply enjoy having them. We collect for all sorts of reasons and in all sorts of ways. Little of it is purely logical.

 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,258
108,361
Said different ways, but all the same meaning. A pipe is worth what the buyer is willing to pay for it. Was talking to my friend Bruce Weaver a couple of hours ago about a new commission. I love his work, and honestly do not mind parting with $500+ for one of his pipes. I find them very pleasing aesthetically, and wonderful smokers. Would I spend that on any Dunhill, nope. Don't care for them at all, and that just comes down to what I am willing to pay.

 

jkrug

Lifer
Jan 23, 2015
2,867
8
What an awesome thread revival!!
Here's my take on it. While I would not personally spend thousands on a pipe there are things/items that bring me much joy and put a smile on my face that I am willing to spend great sums of money on. Most of my pipes are in the $125-$200 range. Many are less than that, none are more than that. I would consider spending $300-$400 on a pipe occasionally if I had the extra funds available, perhaps for a special occasion? My pipes put a smile on my face.
I enjoy the hobby of radio controlled car racing. To some this is a serious competitive hobby. I have a couple racing trucks worth close to $2500 each. Many folks gasp and ask how I could spend so much money on a toy. My bills are still getting paid, my kids schooling paid for, good food on the table, etc. I work hard long hours for my paychecks and my rc cars put a smile on my face. To me it's just that simple.
There are plenty of examples of things that bring great pleasure to one but mean little to another. Art, watches, wine, automobiles, travel, tatoos and on and on and on. The list is endless.
As a counter point I see others spending huge sums of money on things that don't have any particular pleasure value to me. As long as they are happy and their kids aren't going hungry in order for them to indulge themselves, then good for them.
Perhaps I am a simple man but I believe if you can afford it and it puts a smile on your face...do it and be happy!

 

beastkhk

Can't Leave
Feb 3, 2015
327
1
My concern pertains to the artificial inflation that these higher priced pipes will/do cascade down to the entry level pipes. A good quality pipe under $100 dollars can be hard to find, there are pipes under $100 which are smoke-able, but a good quality one doesn't seem to be as easy a feat as it may have been in the past.
Increasing the cost of entry into the hobby raises the risk of deterring interested parties, in turn threatens the future of the hobby as a whole.
This forum helps mitigate that by being a resource for potential pipe smokers to become informed; not everyone will stumble onto this forum though, some will just find it too expensive to try/start.

 

sparrowhawk

Lifer
Jul 24, 2013
2,941
219
The Cayuga line of pipes at Paul's Pipe Shop in Flint, Mi, are equal to many $100 pipes elsewhere. Try one of their oil cured shell briars at $45. You won't believe it! Their website isn't impressive, but call them, tell them what you want, they'll send you a photo/s. I currently have five Cayugas and plan to get more.

 

pipebaum81

Part of the Furniture Now
Nov 23, 2014
669
235
Great ideas regarding perhaps the most fundamental question a pipe collector could ask. Value to me at this point has a lot to do with physical properties of the pipe. In other words, how much labor dedicated to making the pipe the quality of the materials and workmanship. A factory pipe will only ever be worth so much to me because of these properties. I own a Peterson and a Savinelli and which I love but I know what it takes to manufacture them and that’s why I paid about $100 for each.
I am working with Marco Biagini of Moretti Pipes for my first commissioned pipe. Thus far the experience has been a joy. He allowed me to offer a sketch of what I was hoping for (and I am not even an artist). We pleasantly went back and forth a couple days putting ideas together and now the pipe is in its staining stages. He has kept me posted daily with photos of every stage of the process. This pipe will cost me less than most new Dunhills yet it comes to me hand-carved from a master craftsman with an amazing experience in tow.
For me, the value of pipe smoking as a whole is about the entirety of the experience. Buying beautiful, quality pipes at a low cost, finding expensive pipes for cheap, or spending extra for a commission is all a part of the fun.
j/B

 

literaryworkshop

Starting to Get Obsessed
Feb 10, 2014
127
0
Mobile, AL
Fun zombie-thread.
When it comes to ultra-high prices for a pipe, I can understand it in theory. You consider something to be a work of art that you just want to own, or you expect it to appreciate in value, so you spend the big bucks, hoping to cash in down the road. Or you just have money to burn, and you've got a thing for conspicuous consumption. In some circles, I'm sure there's a lot of social capital in being able to buy an uber-expensive pipe. So sometimes there really is a pragmatic motive behind these kinds of purchases, just not the kind of pragmatism that makes sense to other people.
For myself, if I want a new pipe, I spend about $20 on materials and make it myself. :wink:

 

menuhin

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 21, 2014
642
3
As stated in some previous threads, more than one time, a pipe set was sold for over $100,000 ... and in (the currently really low) EURO in a case of Eltang Calabash pipe I heard.
I basically agree with most of what the previous posters said in terms of pipes can be valued at the amount one is willing to and can afford to pay, and according to the market's value of that pipe. And I want to mention out two more points. First, as said by sablebbrush52 for a few times, there may be some value if the pipe has other attributes like an interesting provenance, e.g. Einstein's pipe. A pipe may have some personal history, such as one's beloved late grandfather passed on that pipe to him in his 18th birthday. Would that person sell that pipe? Perhaps, but probably not in most cases.
Another aspect is that, it is difficulty to measure how good a pipe is by money worth and even by time put into creating a pipe. I heard new 'artisan' pipe makers of experience less than 3-5 years are charging over 1000, while I believe smaller surviving factories especially in early days have master pipe makers who are talented and skilled and experienced, but they just do not aspire to go out to open a business themselves like Ivarsson and Eltang, or similarly Sasieni. Masters can make design decisions and execute the process spot on in a fraction of the time a relatively newcomer may have to spend much longer to do and even not as well. And what if this master came from a smaller factory and is only only known by his colleagues to be the master of say creating billiard shape pipes?
We are all paying for pipes at a rate what we are willing to dedicate to this hobby. However, market values of pipes fluctuate, and it fluctuates with the popularity of pipe-smoking culture and how well it is accepted by the general public.

 

saltedplug

Lifer
Aug 20, 2013
5,194
5,097
I was swept up in pipe culture earlier this year. I regularly cruised half a dozen sites. When I invest the time and interest in pipe aesthetics, however dimly I perceive them, I am rewarded, seeing that which tickles my artistic sensibility. In so doing I began to think that anything under $400.00 was a great value. Meanwhile such study amplified my pipe acquisivity. During this period I bought a half-dozen pipes but stayed conscious of value and financial restraint, and I also bought my first pipe that I consider too beautiful to smoke. Whether it will stay unsmoked by me is another story.
At any rate, for me there is the phenomena of "pipe fever" that I need to avoid. To me cobs smoke equally as well my finest briars, and I've been smoking a lot of cobs since. Gives me the cash to afford Condor and the other European plugs. Meanwhile I'm wearing shoes that should have been replaced a long time ago. Since I discovered the pipe 15 years ago, I'm only interested in spending on tobacco, pipes and cigars. Ahh, what a life:).

 
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