Does Anyone Else Get Tired Of Seeing This?

anthonyrosenthal74 · Apr 19, 2016

Quite often I see pipes labeled on Ebay as "Unsmoked!!!" Sometimes with less exclamation points and sometimes with more. And then there's a photo of the chamber that shows that clearly it was indeed smoked. Now maybe I'm wrong... and correct me if I am... but I'm pretty sure that's a smoked chamber in the link that follows, with a thin layer of cake and not a precarb or anything like that.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ben-Wade-Royal-Grain-Unsmoked-Estate-pipe-/322077197980?hash=item4afd4c069c:g:7OIAAOSwq19XCWCa
Why does this bother me so much? Because as often as I see this, people must think pipe smokers are brainless... or blind... or both.

weezell · Apr 19, 2016

Yea, looks smoked to me. If it is, just say so...

perlasca · Apr 19, 2016

I've all ways been bothered when people use too many punctuation marks
Does this bother me???

Yes!!!!

gloucesterman · Apr 19, 2016

Fundamental dishonesty always bothers me.

mayfair70 · Apr 20, 2016

It drives me a little bonkers that people do it. Some I think just can't tell. Others are lying outright. Some I think may just mean it hasn't been smoked by them personally and cross their fingers behind their backs when they fib. It's sad English is a foreign language to many English speaking people. That pipe could just have a bowl coating, I can't tell for sure from the one pic of the bowl.
Wasn't it Scotty from Star Trek who said:

"Fool me once, shame on you.

Fool me twice, you go to the ER."

demetrakopoulos · Apr 20, 2016

It's not just with pipes, I've found, but with pretty much anything a person's looking to sell. To them, little to moderate use equals "unused." And, yes, it's pretty annoying.
We get people coming into our gun shop all the time with guns they're looking to sell. They claim they're unfired, but then I see a layer of schmutz on the feed ramp. I ask them if they're sure this is unfired, and they say, "Yeah. I mean, well, I shot it once."
I say, "Once? How many rounds did you put through it?"
"Oh, maybe fifty or a hundred."
"So, what you really mean is that it's 'slightly used'."
"Oh, yeah, sorry. That's what I meant."

jerwynn · Apr 20, 2016

"Caveat emptor" is actually a concept several thousand years old... probly older if we could all read/write hieroglyphics or cuneiform.

papipeguy · Apr 20, 2016

I'm still trying to figure out what the standard measurement of "lightly smoked" and "gently smoked" is to most people.

pappymac · Apr 20, 2016

All my pipes are "gently smoked" because I do not abuse them when sitting and relaxing.

lohengrin · Apr 20, 2016

Heart of Darkness

crazypipe · Apr 20, 2016

cigrmaster · Apr 20, 2016

I cannot tell from those pics if it is used or not. It could be a pre carbed bowl that is just missing a tiny spot. If you are unsure then pass on the pipe, if you want to take a shot, you can always return it. Message the seller and let them know that if you find it to be used, you will ship it back at his cost.

pitchfork · Apr 20, 2016

Interesting. Hard to tell if that's tar or bowl coating. Here's another "unsmoked"!!!! pipe from the same seller:

mso489 · Apr 20, 2016

On ebay it's more surprising when something is described accurately. It's like a slip-up.

jpmcwjr · Apr 20, 2016

Both have been smoked. Maybe not by the vendors but....

shikano53 · Apr 20, 2016

I sent him an email asking for clarification. He insists strenuously that the pipe is un-smoked.

redpanda · Apr 20, 2016

From what is seen on the photo, it might have been smoked a few times. Photography can be very deceiving sometimes unfortunately.

kibo · Apr 20, 2016

I have seen a few brand new Ben Wades in person, and google helps on other comparisons..that doesn't look like bowl coating to me. Especially the OP listing, that dark mark in the one section (top of bowl, left from the shank) looks like maybe a flame touched there. As said before though, 'caveat emptor' and all that good stuff.

rblood · Apr 20, 2016

This post really struck a nerve with me as I was just involved in such a transaction. Two highly collectible pipes, unsmoked, with boxes according to the listing.
The photos were not that great so I could confirm with certainty, but they were from a very respected seller (who I have no intention of naming), so I bit. When the pipes arrived one of the pipes was clearly smoked and had significant chatter. The boxes, well they came with boxes all right - just not the boxes that matched the pipes.
I was really ticked at the time, but even in the condition they are in I probably would have paid the price, so I just dropped it - live and learn, even with known sellers.
First world problems for sure, but annoying just the same.

anthonyrosenthal74 · Apr 20, 2016

I sent him an email asking for clarification. He insists strenuously that the pipe is un-smoked.

Looking at the photo of the chamber and rim, I just find that hard to believe. In the chamber, that looks more like cake buildup than a precarb, and along the rim there are dark spots that certainly look like rim char to me.
Pitchfork, the pipe by the same seller in your photo... it's a little iffy. I'm not sure what to think on that one.
But I truly think the first pipe has definitely been smoked. Where it looks a little bumpy in the chamber... that's cake, not carb. I think the seller is being dishonest, and I'll be adding to my list of not to buy from. It's a shame too, as I like the shape of the pipe, and might have considered it, despite the dings and dents, if I thought the seller was being honest.

Does Anyone Else Get Tired Of Seeing This?

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