Pipe Opinion

Personally, I'd go with the Pete. It may be me but the walls on that Bari look awfully thin. I have a Charatan with a similar shaped bowl and wall dimensions and it smokes hot.

Good luck with your choice and Happy Birthday.

I'd go with the Pete . Always a good choice !

The walls do look very thin on the Bari, I would pass. I am not a fan of system pipes so the Pete would be a no go in my book.
How about this nice Mastro De Paja, classic looks and it is a nice price.

http://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/new/mastro-de-paja/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=130775
For other estate options here is a really nice looking Savinelli Autograph on sale for 125.00

http://briarblues.com/gl007.htm
Here is an older Caminetto from the Ascorti/Radice era which are famous for being fantastic smoking pipes.

http://briarblues.com/hen08.htm

I don't think the walls are thin on the Bari. The apple shape tapers into a sharper rim, but the beef of the bowl is normally chunkier than a billiard. That being said, I think the Pete's are always a better choice, and will definitely have a more solid feel.

First of all Happy Birthday when it arrives. Whatever you get, makesure to post pictures. ::
I would go for the peterson, love them all. The Darwin military mount is certainly a beauty. Love the bamboo stem of the other though.

that Pete is a beauty... hurry the heck up and buy it, before I do!

Heya Twangthang, that's a fun decision to have to make.
I, like the rest of the lads above, would also go with the Pete. It's a classic shape, the company stands by their pipes, and you want a military mount.
Now I, also like Harris and Roth, immediately thought of other places to find great pipes in your price range, and would also recommend Briar Blues. Mike has a Halloween sale going on right now with some great prices on some great pipes (like that brindle stemmed Autograph). Here's a link to the sale page to help enable your PAD: http://www.briarblues.com/sale.htm
Good luck with your decision, and let us know what you get, and how it smokes.
-- Pat

I don't think she got the words out before I was already online shopping for a pipe.

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lol - happy bday TT
I like Bari's and Petes. I was able to pick up this Bari for $50 unsmoked on ebay and it's a great pipe.

That one does have a thin bowl, which might be a problem like others have mentioned. I also like Petes, but I've never owned a System pipe. Some love 'em, some hate 'em' so I can't say - but if you like them or wanted to try one, maybe now's the time.
I do really like military bits, so that's a plus in my book.
But I have to agree with Harris and Roth - the Sav Autograph is the crème de la crème in pipes and it looks like a great deal. But if it doesn't speak to you, I'd go with the Pete.

Just look at that Radice, $90! http://www.briarblues.com/gl023.htm

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That is a beauty, I have to say.

I was going to offer an opinion here,but to be honest I can't decide which one I like best.

If you've ever had a Bari, then you know they're much better pipes than Petes. :lol: But at $72, I'd think about it -- you can usually get Bari estates on ebay for less.
Regardless, those Darwins caught my eye, as well. Beautiful pipe -- and it's new, which is always fun.
Finally, while I understand wanting to stop your wife from spending too much on a birthday present, those Castellos at Briar Blues are looking pretty good at around 200 bucks.

You guys are killing me! I am having full blown PAD attack now [:puffpipe:]

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Glad to help, twangthang. Happy birthday and happy pipe shopping.

There is no way I'd buy an instrument that is used to smoke tobacco with that is named 'Darwin'. That's spitting in the gods eyes and saying bring it on. That doesn't work out well for mortals. Just ask Homer.

I'd say you can't go wrong with a Peterson from a higher end line. The Darwins especially should have had some special attention-they start of by hand selecting the briar for them, and are picky enough about it it's supposed to have caused supply issues.

Was Darwin particularly anti-tobacco? I wasn't aware of any connection between him and the hobby.

Jim, you do realize that the Pete collects disgusting tobacco juice and the cleaning of the pipe is a super pain in the ass? It creates moisture because of it's design. I honestly for the life of me do not understand why people buy them when the options out there are so much better.
A Radice or Savinelli or Mastro are superior smokers compared to a system pipe. Do you really want a well of disgusting tobacco juice you have to deal with after every smoke?

Haha, Harris. Interesting you don't like tobacco juice? I'm thinking you never enjoyed the pleasure of chewing tobacco. I hope you know I'm joking. I'm not a cigar guy, but one of the only things I ever liked about cigars was chewing on them for the juice....yes, and swallowing it, just like I do when I chew!
While true that Peterson's create a lot of juice in the well, I love them, because the juice is in the well, not the bowl or the smoke. As for cleaning, I just dump it out and at the end of the day, screw some paper towel into the well. Peterson's can be smoked very hard. As in all day, every day, without rest, and the bowls remain dry, and each smoke is as dry as the first. This is why they are my preferred pipe. I don't know of any other pipe that can take that kind of abuse and ask for more. Possibly Falcons, but many falcons begin to leak air after a while, and they require maintenance of the O-Rings and keeping the threads clean.
Sorry, had to defend the Pete!
Now...if you are the type of guy that wants to smoke a pipe, and rest it for several days, and have many in your rotation, then by all means, there are many pipes easier to clean, and MAYBE give a better smoke (whatever that means- hard to imagine- Pete's smoke so damn good, all the way to the bottom, easy draw, dry as all heck, and very tasty ONCE BROKEN IN). For me, I basically have had a one pipe rotation for many years. A Pete 308 before, and now a small little Pete 317 which I prefer. All my other pipes are once a day max smokes, in reality once a week...I'm not cheap, but if I can get away with one pipe, then it will be a Pete.
In my opinion, the OP is probably like the vast majority of pipe smokers and wants to have many, many pipes. If that be the case, I would recommend NOT getting the Pete. Reason being, that I would go for something that looks better AND smokes good (but needs rest). While Pete's are the best briar pipe around for the very hard smoker, looks-wise, many pipes kick their butt! Obviously, OP likes a large chambered pipe, so I'd start there...
Here's another tip, given me by my Uncle who has smoked a pipe 50 or 60 years in the UK. If you don't like disgusting juice in your Peterson well, then carry a little napkin in your pocket. Roll a little ball out of the napkin and drop it in the well. Replace the little ball of napkin after each smoke. It will be soaked. He does this, along with using some sort of round stone filter at the bottom of the bowl, and never seen him have to dump out any juice.

Erich, Darwin wasn't against tobacco as far as I know but one could hypothesise that Darwinism is.