Your High Dollar Artisan Pipes: Display Only? Or Smoke Away?

[jmatt]

I'm getting ready to purchase a couple of unique pipes I've just commissioned. They would be considered pipe art by some. Definitely appropriate for display purposes only. I however, intend to smoke them as if they were a Dr. Grabow. That just got me wondering: There's many members here with many high dollar pipes. How often are you displaying/collecting them in unsmoked condition vs how often are you smoking them, regardless of price/appearance?

 

[sablebrush52]

Most I smoke. A few, like the unsmoked cased Barling set from 1907, are for having only.

 

[jefff]

Personally, I would never buy a guitar I won't play, car car I won't drive, or a pipe I won't smoke.
I am a musician and I know players who refuse to bring their best insrtuments out to play. It would make me cry to know I had a better tone in a case under the bed.
When I pass onto the great beyond, there will be teeth marks on every bit.

 

[pipestud]

I'm not a show and tell guy. Put me in the smoke and tell category. The more I pay for a pipe the faster I'll get to smoking it! If it's a stinker, I'll cry for awhile and say, "Never again!" And then I do the same dadgum thing all over again. It's a disease, for sure.

 

[jpmcwjr]

There's a cure, Steve, Mr. Stud! Just eat, sleep and dream pipe stuff, and then become a dealer in all things pipe-like! Do it on the 'net!

 

[warren]

I only purchase pipes for smoking. I am not a collector. I do seem to have a small collection though.

 

[bpftc]

I Agree with the rest. I would never buy a pipe I wouldn't smoke

 

[warren]

I would say owner's choice. What's the point in owning a pipe you won't smoke. I understand some purchase only to admire but, not my style.

 

[lestrout]

When I buy a pipe, it is my intention to puff it. Funny thing is that I tend to use the estate pipes pretty quickly; the trophyish purdy ones that are unsmoked are the ones I tend to just admire for quite a long while. Just can't decide what to break them in with.
hp

les

 

[rfernand]

I'm not a collector, so I smoke 'em.
Maybe I should have saved a few, who knows. So far, no regrets.

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

With 24 pipes now in my herd, I don't have the amount of pipes some of you have, but I'm definitely a collector of Petersons and Nordings, as I definitely intend to purchase more... in fact pipe number 25 is on its way. Another Peterson... and a beauty even the Peterson haters will appreciate. I guess you can say I smoke my collection.

 

[moriarty]

Yes, I smoke them too. I've never bought a pipe with any other intention. Sometimes, for whatever sentimental reasons, I don't smoke a new pipe right away and I will enjoy handling it and looking at it in unsmoked condition for a while. But I probably get to smoking the more expensive ones quicker and it is not the price that causes me to delay the first smoke.

 

[iajaffe]

A pipe is make to be smoked. Gotta smoke them.

 

[michiganlover]

I absolutely don't see the point of paying high dollar for a pipe just so it can sit in a glass display cabinet. I would smoke everything I buy. The point of a well made artesian pipe is that the craftsman has the experience to create a perfect smoking pipe. I'm sure many woodworkers could make a pretty looking pipe, far fewer have the expertise to create a perfect smoking pipe. It's designed to be smoked, so fire it up!

 

[Chasing Embers]

I watch my Weaver pieces tracking, and when it says, "Out for delivery", I prep tobacco and wait for the mail van to arrive.

 

[warren]

I like your style Duane. I'm get happily antsy when I see a new lens or body "on the truck."

 

[freakiefrog]

I bought a Davorin Morta Blowfish and was smoking it right as the credit card receipt printed out. I'm not a collector I'm a pipe smoker. I say smoke away!

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Me, I buy pipes to smoke them, regardless of how much they cost. Others may do as they desire with their pipes. I totally understand someone buying a showpiece. I probably would as well, if I saw one that inspired me to do so.

 

[aldecaker]

If I ever buy a "high-dollar artisan pipe", you can be damn sure I'll smoke it.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I absolutely don't see the point of paying high dollar for a pipe just so it can sit in a glass display cabinet.

I absolutely can. Diff folks, diff strokes..... And I don't happen to have a pipe that I won't smoke.