Pipes That Gain Stature With Age

Have you ever realized that some of the pipes you've had for a long, long time are gaining in stature and rarity? I'm not exactly a high end collector, but even some of my lower end pipes, over the decades, have become distinctive. You can't get them anymore at all, or they were made better in the old days. I have an exquisite Bari, a Danish pipe, that was given to me by an inlaw decades ago, and it has aged incredibly well and has always been an outstanding smoker. Now you have to hunt down Bari's on ebay, and who knows how they've been treated. My first pipe is a Chacom (I think) sold as a Tinder Box St. Ives, and has a unique bent pot shape with an unusual vertical saddle stem, really pretty and still smoking strong. I think some of my Johs have about doubled in value, to buy a pipe like that today, partly because of inflation, but also because Johs has gained stature. And so on. Briar Kaywoodies and Yello-Bowls are hard to get and some of the old shapes aren't sold. So whether you get these good older pipes on ebay or at flea markets, or just bought them in the days of yore and hung onto them, you may have some rare items just by hanging onto them. Do you have some oldies but goodies? Especially ones you bought new that have become classics?

I'm not photo adept, one of several of us on Forums. I've certainly fiddled around following the instructions, and I'm sure for the technically oriented it's a snap. But it just annoys the hell out of me, so I don't labor at it. Sorry guys. Had bad on-the-job computer experiences although I used 'em daily for decades, and got ripped off by one of the big hardware companies when I bought a computer for home (attorney generals from a dozen states finally got us poor victims paid back). Then the same outfit tried to start billing me again for the same non-service. I think all this served as aversion therapy. Also, my mindset is not binary, not engineering inclined, etc. Many apologies.

Orley, without stretching the point too far, I do think sometimes mid-priced pipes sometimes achieve a higher level of quality than their price indicates, so once they become unavailable or rare, it is easy to see how owners would explore asking a lot for them. I think $450 is unlikely, but they might get a lot more than the original corrected for inflation, if someone likes the pipe. They look really nicely made.