Well that may be a bit facetious but I do think I've hit a wall or maybe one could call it a stage. I've amassed a collection of about 30 pipes, 9 Savinellis and 6 Stanwells and a few Vauens and Petersons, two nice Meerschaums, an Il Duca Morta and some other factory pipes.
The next step in the hobby would be looking at some of the more expensive factory pipes or buying an artisan pipe but my own preferences preclude a lot of those pipes. I prefer acrylic stems so I'm not big in the estate market. I prefer traditional shapes in traditional proportions, I think a Freehand pipe is like smoking out of a tree branch, so I've written off a lot artisan market but not entirely, a Mark Tinsky bent bulldog would be highly prized as would a few others. The upscale factory pipes tend to be hit or miss with me. I saw a Ser Jacopo I really wanted on a Printerest board but good luck finding one of those for sale somewhere. As the price for a pipe increases so does how picky I become about it.
To make an analogy to shooting, once one has picked off the easy targets, the targets now become much smaller and farther away, which is probably a good thing.
The next step in the hobby would be looking at some of the more expensive factory pipes or buying an artisan pipe but my own preferences preclude a lot of those pipes. I prefer acrylic stems so I'm not big in the estate market. I prefer traditional shapes in traditional proportions, I think a Freehand pipe is like smoking out of a tree branch, so I've written off a lot artisan market but not entirely, a Mark Tinsky bent bulldog would be highly prized as would a few others. The upscale factory pipes tend to be hit or miss with me. I saw a Ser Jacopo I really wanted on a Printerest board but good luck finding one of those for sale somewhere. As the price for a pipe increases so does how picky I become about it.
To make an analogy to shooting, once one has picked off the easy targets, the targets now become much smaller and farther away, which is probably a good thing.