If you keep your pipe purchases on a budget, patience is often on your side. I hope my memory doesn't lie to me on these, but I've enjoyed some excellent discounts over the years. PC had a Tsuge "tasting pipe," which might have been small or basic in some way, but was a full size straight billiard with a light but intricate blast black finish and tapered stem, for forty bucks. Likewise, they had a Peterson natural (unfinished) quarter bent Dublin with nickel band for $40. I bought Stanwell brushed brown and black pipes from them for $49, but later they had them as low as $19.99. I guess I wasn't patient enough on those. Smokingpipes had a sale, years ago, on Ser Jacopo in which I bought a blast Dublin for less than an estate SJ today. So it goes. But all this takes patient waiting, and enough knowledge of brands, shapes, filters, and sizes to know what you're buying. Not all bargains are in estate pipes, and either way, patience and a little study pay off.
