My Rotation, and Questions About New Pipes

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dermotfahy

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jul 14, 2013
166
0
I am a relatively new (1 1/2 years) pipe smoker, and recently I seem to be displaying early symptoms of PAD (TAD has already taken a paralyzing grip). The following is my current shelf: 2 MM Washington corncobs, a John Peel Myre Oslo(Dublin), Yello-Bole Aristocrat 69 (apple), an Imperial "San-blank-ra-blank" ("blank" being letters that have been rubbed away)(Dublin), a DIGE 9438 (bent bulldog), a Winchester (billiard), a Kaywoodie Prime Grain 04 (billiard, I think), a Museum 8-panel (Dublin), an Eric King (Billiard), a Pamplin clay pipe, a Gouda clay tavern pipe, a Goedewaagen Cutty clay pipe, and a small Dr. Grabow (apple). I am trying to channel my budding PAD into more constructive channels, so I was wondering if anyone could tell me what are good makers of pipes to look for during my antique shop rambles. Also if anyone could tell me about the pipes that I already have, whether or not they are basket pipes or something a little better. I know that most of them are baskets, (Dr. Grabow, Yello-Bole) but I don't know about some of the others.

 

lostandfound

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 30, 2011
924
44
I just found a partially rusticated White Hall Saratoga Dublin (Italy) at an Antique store today. Im not qualified to speak on what pipes you should look for at an Antique shop, but I expect to find Dr. Grabow's, Dr. Grabow's, and more Dr. Grabow's when I go looking for estate pipes.

 

lostandfound

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 30, 2011
924
44
Oh yeah, Dr. Grabow's, Kaywoodies, and Yello-bole, are the only three of your pipes I know of, and they aren't basket pipes. At least, they shouldn't be. Dr. Grabows are classic American pipes that can be found new, in a little plastic box, just about anywhere. Like Walgreens, and many cigarette stores.

 

petes03

Lifer
Jun 23, 2013
6,212
10,653
The Hills of Tennessee
I've been piping for around 5 yrs. or so now, and have really picked up the pace in the last 2 yrs. or less. Until this time last year I had around a dozen pipes in my rotation, some in the $150 range, some in the $6 range. But I've been smoking a lot more in the last couple years, so my pad/tad kicked in big time! In the last 8 months or so my rotation/collection has more than doubled. A out half of that is antique store finds! My cellar has also grown substantially. I've gone from keeping a few ounces on hand, to a few pounds! Anyway, now that I've rambled on, antique stores are a great source for great pipes. A lot of them don't really know what they have sometimes. Other times they do, and just price them cheap. I've lucked up and found a nice old Charatan, some Ehrlichs, Old Englands, and a nice older Graybow. I've never paid more than $6 for one! Just check them over real good, look for cracks and burnouts. Don't worry if they're dirty, grimy, and caked up. All of this can easily be cleaned up. Good luck!

 

dermotfahy

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jul 14, 2013
166
0
After poking around a little, I realize now that "Basket Pipe" does not mean what I thought it did. In my opening post, when you read "basket pipe" please consider it amended to "junk".

 

jah76

Lifer
Jun 27, 2012
1,611
35
Heya Dermotfahy! Welco get me to the forum.
I always keep an eye out for Falcon's. Good pipes, fun, and even if you tire of them you can usually get $15ish off of them on ebay. These are just generalizations, but I believe many folks swear by pipes marked "Algerian Briar" even if they are basket pipes. Seems there's a belief that Algerian briar can make for a great smoker. I bring it up just because we're shooting the breeze but I don't have any actually experience.
I'd also keep your eyes out for Webers. I've got a few older Webers that smoke fantastic. There are a TON of old pipe lines that have good reps for good smoking pipes, but I always give Weber's a second and third look.
Obviously I know you hope to stumble across a "hidden" Dunhill while your hitting the shops, but you can do a lot worse then some of the older Grabow/Linkman lines. Keep your eye out for Grabow's that have the spade on top of the stem instead of on the side. Same goes for old Kaywoodies and Yello-Bole.
Oh also I see lots of Alpha pipe carved in Israel going for good prices and I know lots of folks swear by them.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
To pick up the discussion about basket pipes, in my experience, these are pipes offered in independent and chain

pipe shops below a certain price level, usually about $50 as of 2013. Depending on the shop, they may be all

odd-lot pipes, like Czech pipes that may have cheap plastic stems, or pipes with notably thin bowls, etc. But

I have noticed many good pipes in baskets. Some of them are Savenelli seconds or similar products, not perfect

cosmetically, but often good quality pipes. You need some experience shopping pipes so you can recognize what

is likely to be a good one. Is the drilling centered and at the bottom of the bowl? Will a straight or partly bent pipe

allow a pipe cleaner through it? (Many or most bent pipes won't.) If you are new to pipe smoking, you might shop

several places, look at the basket pipes, and ask the sales staff to recommend one or two, without buying anything

until you've seen several shops. By then you will have looked at enough pipes to buy one or two, and probably pick

out good ones. This is a way to get a modest rotation, maybe three or four pipes including a cob or two.

 

jah76

Lifer
Jun 27, 2012
1,611
35
Good advice MSO.
Also MODs sorry about all my typos above. I was installing a bunch of stuff and my cursor was lagging and skipping all over. Thought I corrected them all before hitting send.
Edit: Lots of guys do good restorations here, but if you come across anything you need a hand on I'll be glad to see what I can do for you if you send it my way.

 

voorhees

Lifer
May 30, 2012
3,834
937
Gonadistan
Like many I started by picking up older estate pipes. My first, a mid 50's Kaywoodie Prince. I slowly learned about many more brands and pricing. I now have GBD's/BBB's/Comoy's and others. I even stumbled upon a 1926 Dunhill for $10. So, do your research and you'll find some too.

 
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