Can You Really Love More Than 50 Pipes?

If a woman can love 50 shoes, a man can love 50 pipes, I guess we gotta be fair

In economics, there is the point of diminishing returns. If you have only one shirt, it is your only chance to wear

a shirt, so it is of great value. If you get a second shirt, it is only half as valuable. And so on. I think the human

imagination can expand the positing of appreciating possessions, but not infinitely. I think after about ten pipes,

there comes to be a hierarchy, with some pipes counting quite a bit, and others less. If you get dozens of pipes,

probably some don't count for much, even though you wouldn't give them away. You have to find a sense of

proportion and prospective that suits you, and do the best you can to have some reality check. If the superabundance

of pipes is intruding on family relationships, etc. If you can cull the herd, without parting with gift pipes or distinct

favorites, that sometimes helps.

If a woman can love 50 shoes, a man can love 50 pipes, I guess we gotta be fair

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+ 1 - I just love pipes. Are all of them in the rotation at once? No. However, I love them all. I just enjoy pipes. For me part of the hobby is collecting pipes. I have a lot of job stress, and all aspects of the hobby - including hunting for new or estate pipes - relieves my work-related stress.

You know Pitch, it's funny. There are some pipes that I bought early on when I started in the hobby that I should probably get rid of. I was going through my pipes this past weekend, and I have 16 Dunhills, which I never smoke and probably never will. I had thought of selling them off; however, the more I started thinking about it, I have tons of space, so maybe I would be better off keeping them. Will I be better of selling them 20 or 25 years from now or today? That is the question I have to answer, and I'm not sure what that answer is.

It all boils down to how much you smoke per day. If you go through a pound a month you can most certainly become intimate with a set of 50 pipes. Easily. A hundred might be pushing it. But a rotation of 50 means every pipe sees action, multiple times per month.

It's definitely about money to burn which Peck appears to have. All the power to him if it's something he enjoys. I don't think I will ever get there but I wouldn't stop at 50. Like a piece of music you love it may fall out the rotation but you can always bring it back and enjoy it again.

I currently have 30 artisan pipes and one Castello that are in my smoking rotation. I own 3 British pipes that I no longer reach for and will be moving out. I also have the first pipe I ever bought which is a Savinelli that rarely gets smoked but that will always have a place in my rack. Right now my 30 pipes get a good amount of attention and rest( I smoke 4-5 bowls a day) and my goal is to have maybe 40 as the most I want at any one time. I feel anymore than 40 will mean some pipes get neglected and I do not care to own any pipes just for the sake of looking at them. I once owned over 60 pipes and felt too many were neglected so I decided to get to a more manageable number for me.
I totally understand someone's desire to collect pipes that do not get smoked as a part of a rotation as pleasure can be had just for the collecting aspect as peck has mentioned. For me 40 is a good number, for someone else it could be 20, some want 300. As with all things pipes and tobacco we do what is right for each individual and as long as you are enjoying what works for you, I say have at it.
peck, if those Dunhill's are not taking up space and you don't need the cash, they will most likely only go up in value the older they get. Now some of the earlier pipes you know you are not going to smoke that are not going to appreciate in value very much with age, I would unload those. They can go to a good home where they get smoked and can fulfill their destiny. If you keep too many pipes unfulfilled the pipe Gods might just take umbrage with you and your smokes could get wet and foul tasting, best not to anger the pipe Gods.

For me it's about shapes.I couldn't have 50 pipes in rotation at the same time.Maybe though I could have 10 pipes of the same shape in rotation for a while until I got bored and switched to another shape.Of course I've never actually done this,and I only have 25 pipes to start with.That's not to say that I wouldn't like to have 25 more.

It's definitely about money to burn which Peck appears to have. All the power to him if it's something he enjoys. I don't think I will ever get there but I wouldn't stop at 50. Like a piece of music you love it may fall out the rotation but you can always bring it back and enjoy it again.

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I don't have money to burn, I just choose how I spend my disposable income and like pipes. Others buy booze or fancy cars or rifles.
I agree Harris. I plan to keep the Dunhills, but will look at moving some of my other pipes. Maybe over the holidays I will photograph some and list them on here.

My collection has grown to 87 pipes. Some, I have had since the 1970's when I began, and half I acquired in the last 7 years. I usually rotate through them in groups of 7 or 8, and occasionally pulling the odd pipe "just because". The heavy Danish ones do not see much action anymore, and neither do the odd-ball display pieces or my three churchwardens. (I was given a small beechwood and balsa pipe recently that is a WW2 'SS' stamped gift pipe, from an officer to his troops. This one won't be smoked ever.)

Maybe it is like collecting shoes, or cats, or whatever, but it would be difficult for me to pick one pipe that I just didn't want to keep or smoke. If one comes my way that I don't like, I end up gifting it to one of my sons or son-in-laws. There are just too may nice pipes out there to stop at 87.

I've got 47 pipes in rotation and find that is a manageable number for me. 23 are Peterson's and are what is left of about 50-60, these being the best smokers of that bunch. The other pipes I have on my rack are from Indie makers like Nate King, Jerry Crawford, Chheda, Herbaugh, S&R, etc, plus a few factory pipes like Luciano and Castello. That rack is full so I doubt there will be any new additions soon. I have space for one more Peterson so will probably fill that slot once Premal frees me from his servitude. 8)

I would say you could enjoy all the pipes you have regardless of the number if you collect them. If you smoke them but always never use some then I would probably sell those off.
I sold many of the estate pipes that I originally had bought since I do not smoke. I thought since the pipes were already smoked I would allow them to be enjoyed and smoked by new owners.
I think I have enough pipes now since I am running low on storage space.

I have about 35 pipes. 6 or 7 see daily use, the rest are for change of pace, desired size, or peculiar geometry.

+1 - I just love pipes. Are all of them in the rotation at once? No. However, I love them all. I just enjoy pipes. For me part of the hobby is collecting pipes. I have a lot of job stress, and all aspects of the hobby - including hunting for new or estate pipes - relieves my work-related stress.

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I agree with Peck on this 100% !! :puffpipe:

Pitch - I used to spend inordinate amounts of time polishing my vulcanite stems, with Bebbia stem polish, to retard oxidation. Then I started using Obsodian Oil. As long as I clean the stem with a paper towel when done, reapply a smidgen of Obsidian before racking, I rarely if ever have to re-polish a stem. I used olive oil for a while, but found this would go rancid after a while.