A few months ago, I purchased a box of pipes that a guy had bought at one of those storage locker sales. There were something on the order of 70-100 pipes in total. There were a few pretty decent pipes in there -- Elliot Nachwalter egg, a couple nice Preben Holm Ben Wades, a couple Savinelli Nonpareils, a Wiley freehand, Stanwell OSS, and a nice little Savory's Argyll. The rest were mostly tobacco store brand pipes - Uhle's, Jeanie's, J. Gillespie (about which I can find nothing), and a PILE of Edwards Algerian Briar pipes. Most were filthy. Many still packed with unfinished bowls of tobacco and more than a few repaired. All in all,$200 seemed like a decent deal.
The Edwards pipes have a reputation for being good smokers made from some really good briar. I have now refurbished four of the Edwards and they're all quite excellent. I can highly recommend them if what you seek is an inexpensive pipe that smokes well. Aesthetically, they're all over the map. Wow, there are some really, really wacky designs. The freehands sometimes look like a carver with no artistic sense was told to make fantastically-shaped pipes like the Danes and ended up with something that looks like it was made in a 1970s eighth grade shop class. But some of them are really nicely done. In fact a few of the Edwards freehands I was expecting to be Ben Wade or Randy Wiley. The more conventional shapes are nicely executed, for the most part. There's an extra-long Canadian that's just fantastic!
The thing is, these Edwards pipes sell for next to nothing. $10 is pretty typical. A good bargain, IMHO.
The Edwards pipes have a reputation for being good smokers made from some really good briar. I have now refurbished four of the Edwards and they're all quite excellent. I can highly recommend them if what you seek is an inexpensive pipe that smokes well. Aesthetically, they're all over the map. Wow, there are some really, really wacky designs. The freehands sometimes look like a carver with no artistic sense was told to make fantastically-shaped pipes like the Danes and ended up with something that looks like it was made in a 1970s eighth grade shop class. But some of them are really nicely done. In fact a few of the Edwards freehands I was expecting to be Ben Wade or Randy Wiley. The more conventional shapes are nicely executed, for the most part. There's an extra-long Canadian that's just fantastic!
The thing is, these Edwards pipes sell for next to nothing. $10 is pretty typical. A good bargain, IMHO.
