Actually I got one estate pipe for my birthday on the 5th, and after I got it cleaned up I liked it so much and it smoked so good, I bought another estate from the same maker.
Marty Pulvers is the guy that made it happen for me. He is so much fun and honest to deal with, and will work hard to help you get what you want.
I had seen a couple of these H. Worobiec pipes from Poland on his site, and after mulling it over for a few weeks I saw they were still there. Quite surprising considering they were only $25 each!
So I emailed him about the one that I liked the best and arranged to buy it. Shipping was super fast too. I really didn't know much about this maker other than what's on Pipedia, but they seemed like well made pipes that had some nicely grained briar. When I got the pipe it was ready to smoke, and even though it was drilled nicely, I wasn't too fond of the finish on it. Looked like a kind of dull and heavy stain that was muting some nice looking birds eye. So with a little alcohol and micro mesh I removed most of the stain until it changed from a reddish color to more of a golden brown, which was really nice as I did't have to do any staining, just polishing and waxing. It had a really open draw (9mm) with an adapter, or no adapter, and even with a Savinelli balsa filter. I'm finding that if I want to smoke a filter pipe, only the 9mm pipes with the Sav filters are the best option. Honestly with that set up it was pretty hard to tell any difference between a filter or no filter. After a few bowls, I decided this one of the nicest smoking pipes I'd come across in a while. So I had to have the other one. When I got it, I went through the same process with it, and I may like it a little better than the first one, mainly because it has a wider bit on the stem so it makes clenching easier for my wonky teeth.
If anyone has one of these pipes, let me know what you think of them. Obviously, they are not real high end pipes, even though they look quite high end. No fills, nicely made, but I don't know what the stems are made of. I've heard both vulcanite and lucite, but I'm not sure. They are not hard like lucite, and are not plasticey like MM pipes, but seem lighter than vulcanite. Maybe it's because of the large opening for the filters. And whatever you do, don't look and the stem logo upside down, or you'll be looking at Mickey-D's arches.
First pipe before, from Marty's site:
After photos:
Second pipe before, from Marty's site:
After photos:
Marty Pulvers is the guy that made it happen for me. He is so much fun and honest to deal with, and will work hard to help you get what you want.
I had seen a couple of these H. Worobiec pipes from Poland on his site, and after mulling it over for a few weeks I saw they were still there. Quite surprising considering they were only $25 each!
So I emailed him about the one that I liked the best and arranged to buy it. Shipping was super fast too. I really didn't know much about this maker other than what's on Pipedia, but they seemed like well made pipes that had some nicely grained briar. When I got the pipe it was ready to smoke, and even though it was drilled nicely, I wasn't too fond of the finish on it. Looked like a kind of dull and heavy stain that was muting some nice looking birds eye. So with a little alcohol and micro mesh I removed most of the stain until it changed from a reddish color to more of a golden brown, which was really nice as I did't have to do any staining, just polishing and waxing. It had a really open draw (9mm) with an adapter, or no adapter, and even with a Savinelli balsa filter. I'm finding that if I want to smoke a filter pipe, only the 9mm pipes with the Sav filters are the best option. Honestly with that set up it was pretty hard to tell any difference between a filter or no filter. After a few bowls, I decided this one of the nicest smoking pipes I'd come across in a while. So I had to have the other one. When I got it, I went through the same process with it, and I may like it a little better than the first one, mainly because it has a wider bit on the stem so it makes clenching easier for my wonky teeth.
If anyone has one of these pipes, let me know what you think of them. Obviously, they are not real high end pipes, even though they look quite high end. No fills, nicely made, but I don't know what the stems are made of. I've heard both vulcanite and lucite, but I'm not sure. They are not hard like lucite, and are not plasticey like MM pipes, but seem lighter than vulcanite. Maybe it's because of the large opening for the filters. And whatever you do, don't look and the stem logo upside down, or you'll be looking at Mickey-D's arches.
First pipe before, from Marty's site:
After photos:
Second pipe before, from Marty's site:
After photos:
:
