Favorite Pipe Makers...

Best and interesting are subjective terms, and you will find a multitude of answers. My Straumbach Meerschaum smokes wonderfully, as does my Brigham.
Finding out what you like and what smokes best for you is part of the fun.

That all depends on what you like and how much you're willing to spend. I'll offer what I believe are the best pipes in a given price range. For mid-range pipes, Stanwell is hard to beat. As far a higher grade pipes, if you like English Shapes, Ashton makes a great pipe. If Italian is your thing, Castello pipes are, IMO, the best pipes made anywhere... period! Top grade Briar aged a minimum of 10 years, hand carved from bowl to button, and perfectly engineered. If you want an American style hand carved pipe without taking out a loan, Jesse Jones of Blue Room Briars and Mark Tinsky make fantastic pieces. If you want to really throw your wallet at something, Rad Davis is great!

In my personal opinion

Adam

+1 w/mikethompson
Having started my journey only a short 9+ years ago I will say I that I have collected many different designs from some great pipe makers ( Castello, Radice, Mark Balkovec, Ardor, Tinsky, Ser Jacopo, Claudio Cavicchi, Jake Hackert and Rad Davis just to name a few, hehe ) as well as some machine made ones ( Stanwell, Savinelli, etc. ) and a bunch of MM cobs.
At this point in time I would focus your efforts on finding those great tobacco blends you really like as they might not exist soon and the quest for building a great cellar should be the primary focus if you plan to continue this wonderful journey of pipe smoking because what good is a $20K Bo Nord pipe without anything great to put in it... :rofl:
I can say I have some fantastic $400+ pipes that smoke great, but still have a few 8yr old $8 MM cobs ( soaked with SG's FVF ) that will out smoke them any day, so the "best" or most expensive pipes don't always give you that nirvana smoke ( as I have come to learn the hard way through an empty wallet at times ). Learn the proper tech from prep of tobacco, dry times, packing, smoking speeds and finding the right bowl-to-tobacco blend ( IMHO I find some blends just don't smoke well in certain pipes/bowl sizes, etc. ) so again all part of the fun and the great endless journey of pipe smoking, which is the main reason I moved away from smoking cigars for 20+yrs...now also keep in mind that I LOVE tobacco, love everything about it; The history, the art of blending, the flavors and finding that moment where you can almost feel time standing still for you even for a brief moment is what I search for with every glowing bowl.
So have fun, enjoy the hobby and don't get too serious about any one element of this great hobby. ::
Sorry everyone, hope I didn't ramble on to much but as I was typing this I found that brief moment AGAIN while smoking some of GLP's JackKnife Plug in my 8yr MM Country Gent Cob :clap:

I just received a Santa Claus meerschaum from Altinok Pipes and it smokes like a dream. By far my best smoking pipe and the carving and engineering is perfect. I highly recommend Altinok Meerschaum Pipes. Fast shipping and excellent customer service. https://www.altinokpipes.com/FG1046-santa-claus

Some Forums members are also carvers, and they do some beautiful work, so I'd watch for those and PM them if you are interested. My go-to in-state pipe carver is a man named Jerry Perry who does a wide variety of shapes in a distinctive style. He doesn't sell online so it's difficult to recommend him. I was so fortunate as to purchase a pipe from the late Bob Hayes, an award-winning N.C. carver at the last TAPS show he attended, so that is something to look for as an estate. But members recommend carvers all time, often with photos, so you have a wide array of suggestions over time.

Don’t overlook the forum members that make pipes, there is a fellow from the Puglia Region in Italy, Mimmo Provenzano is his name. He makes wonderful pipes that are not hard on the walllet yet but he’s definitely one to watch, I own 2 1/2 of his creations, the 1/2 signifies a second bowl cap for his Olivewood bodied Calabash.

banjo

My favorite pipe, Barling, hasn't been made in decades, so I look to the estate market. Great Britwood can't be beat and rarely equalled. Among American artisans I like Lee Von Erck, Scotty Piersel, Ryan Alden, Tony Fillenwarth, Brian Ruthenberg, Paul Tatum, Walt Cannoy, and Trever Talbert. I avoid the Danish market as I think you're paying top dollars for aesthetics with no significant performance improvement over pipes costing a fraction of the price.
All that said, I would not be putting dollars into pipes, certainly not expensive pipes, at this time. I'm in the "buy tobaccos" camp. I'd be using my budgetary allotment to stock up on blends while they're still obtainable. In three years time, a lot of blends will exit the US market for good. In the meantime prices will continue to rise. Pipes will be around, many tobaccos won't.

Of course what Sable wisely advises depends on your fiscal situation. If you have the $ to spend on your cellar and to expand the troops on your rack, then you can go to town. Personally I follow Sable's view for the most part, as I spend $ mostly on tobacco, as I have accumulated a very fine army of pipes at this point, but I still do like to budget for a pipe on occasion. To me it is exciting and fun to commission a pipe. But I do it very carefully -- I follow an in/out policy now with regard to my pipe troops, only the elite soldiers get to go on piping missions with me these days :: Hence later this year I will obtain a Michael Parks' pipe, yet bear in mind I have been planning for such a commission for just over a year.

Difficult to beat the advice given by Sable. Pipes will be available at the same price for a long time after tobacco has gone up or isn't available. You can't smoke an empty pipe.
To answer the question though, my favorite pipe makers are Rad Davis and Larrysson. Rad doesn't carve any longer so you're stuck looking to the estate market. I got fortunate and just found a Rad I like yesterday that was unsmoked and reasonably priced. Larrysson pipes tend to be large but I haven't found anything that smokes any better. I especially like his Sequoia carve. Beautiful to my eyes, the tactile feel of that carve is marvelous and I'm not sure you can smoke it aggressively enough to make it hot to the touch. Very, very comfortable stem as well.
A lower priced artisan pipe that smokes fantastic is the Northern Briar by Ian Walker. The only knock I have against Ian is his drills get a little off and make passing a pipe cleaner difficult to impossible on some of his bent pipes. I wouldn't buy one unless it is straight or 1/4 bend at most. However, they do smoke fantastic. I have 4 of his pipes that I smoke regularly.

TrueLove (or favorite pipe maker) ...
A feeling created when two souls are easily drawn together in life. Once together there is something created that is so beautiful and strong that people fear, admire, and envy it. When you have found that person they suddenly become the world to you. They light your way through life and never give up when things get tough. You cant help but put them on a pedastool of admiration, always complementing and telling them how absolutly amazing they are. Making a sacrafice for them is no struggle if that is what you know you must do to be together. All you will ever want is to be together. You know all their qwirks, what they like and dont, all their favorite places to be touched rubbed or scratched. You want nothing more then to share a life together with happiness of the future. In those times you will have that love. Always!
Haha
Or ... what others said above
Or ... focus on a factory or workshop vs a single artisan maker. Enjoy the journey. It’s a blast.

Artisans

Bruce Weaver (retired)

Bruto Sordini

Preben Holm (deceased)

Peder Jeppesen

IMP Meerschaum (multiple carvers)
Factory

Savinelli

Big Ben

Not sure what you mean by best or your budget however these makers are reliable, have some interesting shapes and cover a cost range
Castello

Ardor

Stanwell

Savinelli

Mark Tinsky
I commissioned a pipe from Clark Layton, very happy with the result at a wallet friendly price

It's been said already....buy tobacco. Once you're covered on that front, take a look Scottie Piersel's work. Look at her Instagram and you can see all the different styles and done so beautifully.

It's always a nice feeling to have at least one (or two or three) absolutely primo pipes in the collection. That said, you can find some REALLY nice ones by Savinelli, Brebbia, Castello, & other high-quality makers without putting yourself anywhere near the poorhouse.
+severaldozen on Jesse's advice -- buy tobacco & cellar. Pipes are durable & numerous. Tobacco gets less so almost every day. You never know what new regulations, environmental, natural disasters, or other unforeseeable circumstances are just around the corner. Good blenders are becoming fewer & fewer in number all the time. In a word?
Stockpile!

I'm obviously the odd duck of this group as I've been upgrading my collection a lot this year. I've added a Pete Prevost, Silver Gray, and Scott Thile so far this year. Pete and Silver's pipes were estates from SmokingPipes and the Scott Thile was new from SmokingPipes (the strawberry wood for SPs American Exposition).
I would suggest the estate market if you're looking for a nicer pipes. Your dollar tends to go farther in that market. There are even many good unsmoked estates on SmokingPipes and they do a top notch restoration job on the ones that have been smoked too.

Castello, Radice
Jessie Jones, Mark Tinsky
I have decided to move my odd assortment of 50+ pipes out

and replace with a dozen or so quality pipes.

Years back in a similar thread, I threw out the name of a pipemaker and Sable pushed back asking what it was about the pipe that made it so good. He was right, of course. It’s far more helpful to new folks to identify what makes one pipe different from the next.
Here are a few favorites of mine;
Comoy’s Grandslam- classic British shaping, light, well aged and properly seasoned briar, very thin bit and an open draw, good price.

Castello, Kino- cool shapes (33, 10, 55, 84, 74), excellent briar wrt smoking character, very reliable quality, good prices abroad.
Peterson- eff yew, I like Pete’s, but mostly the old ones, particularly the deluxe systems...cool and dry smoke, with an unusual smooth character, easy clenchers and make you look like Sherlock.
Lasse Skovgaard- top notch stem work which( isn’t a given with Scand-pipes (Ime), amazingly tactile, organic sandblasts and shaping, good wood.

Ken Dederichs- under the radar pipe maker, pipes are jewel-like, excellent overall quality and beautiful shaping, good price/quality.
Claudio Cavicchi- big ass, reliable pipes, everything you need for an excellent smoke, great stems.
Walt Cannoy’s Cardinal House line- best bang for the buck handmade pipes, hands down. Excellent stems, funky take on classic shapes.
This year I have my eyes out for pipes from Scotty Piersol and James Jones. Scotty seems to be constantly developing while I’ve heard great things about James’ stems. Not really buying too many pipes these days.

Depends on what you want. There are quality pipes to be had in both the factory lines and the handmades.
Neerup and Savinelli are no brainers in the factory lineup.
For handmades, in current production, I would lean towards Ryan Alden or Dave Huber, personally. One of the up and comers that I really adore is Juan Urquiza (previously of Scartorious Pipes). And if you love stemwork, Kent Joyce has some of the best in the bizz at fair pricing.
You really can't go wrong with any of the above mentioned names though. It all depends on who or what you want to support. It's not hard to find fantastic smoking pipes in today's market, whichever road you decide to go down.