How to Ruin a Perfectly Good Pipe

[tuold]

mso489,
Unintentionally buying a stolen pipe off of ebay has been a possibility that crossed my mind. One pipe I bought actually had a signature engraved on the shank. I knew where it was being shipped from so I googled some records using the name and found good evidence that the pipe came from an estate. More recently on another pipe I asked the seller who the pipe belonged to before him. He let me know the gentleman's name and other background information.
If I were bidding on more expensive pipes I'd be more concerned. Something to keep in mind though.

 

[mso489]

Tobacco pipes as loot seem like a real stretch. Mostly, thieves want jewelry, firearms, maybe silver, always cash, and

occasionally art or collectibles. I think it would be a stretch to find either a fence or enough buyers in back rooms to

collect enough on pipes. But I guess thieves will grab anything that looks pretty and hope for a return. Of course,

I suppose a few thieves are knowledgeable pipe people who would hope to unload pipes on ebay or in other anonymous

situations. Most pipe collections are not mostly high end pipes and would expose the perp to getting caught without much

return, but same for a lot of non-precious jewelry, etc. Crime mostly isn't a good business plan, until you get to finance

and hedge funds, or something. No offense to honorable finance professionals.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

+1 mso

I remember hearing people who collected Beanie Babies stress and worry over people stealing their expensive stuffed animal thingies, LOL. I suppose non-smokers would think the same hearing us stress about someone stealing our stinky pipes, LOL. Before I started smoking a pipe, I would have never in my life assumed that people bought and sold used smoking utensils, LOL. Most people see pipes in the grocery store line or the drug store and assume that they are all worth about $25.

 

[natibo]

Why is it ruined. It's on the outside. It should not change how it smokes.

 

[necron99]

Could have been in a house with several smokers who he didn't want to share a bit with.

It is by no means ruined. You guys are a bit rough on a guy. Ya got a pretty pipe for cheap. Practice ya rustication technique, and enjoy the spoils of a good deal.