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Perique

Lifer
Sep 20, 2011
4,098
3,884
www.tobaccoreviews.com
I would have been skeptical of these pipes had I not received one as a gift. The pipe I received is a bent billiard with some hand carving on the side. Unremarkable grain but this pipe smokes outstandingly - as well as pipes costing multiples of its price. And it smoked well from the first bowl. I'm assuming this is a result of not using the bowl coatings that have become popular among western pipe companies.
With the prices on some of the basic models, it might be worth checking some of these out. Maybe I just got lucky, but I couldn't be happier with mine.
The cheesy name is, I suppose, a function of translation..,.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/FashionPipes?ref=pr_shop_more

 
Jan 8, 2013
7,493
733
They are pear wood. I bought two. The Dragon 2 pipe and Tiger. Both broke. On one of them the shank split. Might be able to save the other, just needs a new stem. Needless to say I thought they were awesome when I first got them, but i won't waste my money on another.

 

oklansas

Can't Leave
Apr 16, 2013
441
0
DC
I have one of these pipes, they are sold by a variety of sellers in the U.S. (Ukrainian Souvenir is another seller besides Fashion Pipes). All of these pipes come out of the Ukraine, and all of them are pear-wood. After I got my pipe, I did a fair amount of research to figure out who makes them - eventually, most of the, admittedly scarce, evidence pointed toward the Kiev Pipe maker "Golden Gate." I wrote a whole long post about it, if you feel the need, so can forum search for it.
While I believe (with the information that I was able to uncover) that these pipes come out of the Kiev Golden Gate, they may not be the producer. Many of the maker's marks on these pipes are different, indicating several different carvers are working on them. This could mean that GG is gathering product from idependent producers and then distributing them to the sellers. Or, GG produces them in house for export.
Anyway, as to the pipes themselves - feedback from several different forums indicate that the pipe quality is largely dependent on the carver that made your pipe. Additionally, the simplier shapes seem to be more successful than the complicated ones (like the claws). Also, if it has a shank extension, that seems to bea common point of failure. All in all, success seems to be about 50% with these babies. Big plus with these, the price point and most come with ebonite stems.
My personal experience, I have a full bent volcano Ukrainian pear-wood and I love it. It smokes great, hasn't broke, and even came with a nice pipe bag.
Again, experience with these seems to be varied, but can be a good buy - depending on how risky you choose to be with your $30.

 
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