Pipes: They’re Not Just for the Wealthy
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Bob - May 26, 2009
- 5 min read
By Bob Tate
There is always going to be a raging debate in the pipe world about the cost of a pipe. Some people swear that a more expensive pipe is better than an inexpensive pipe and others will say that price doesn’t matter on how a pipe smokes. I would say that both sides are correct, to an extent. I will admit that I do not own any really expensive pipes. The most expensive pipe that I own, at the time of this article, retailed for $150.00 and that is a meerschaum so I can not weigh in on the quality of briar on an expensive pipe. The most expensive briar that I own, at the time of this article, retailed for $110.00. But I will say this; in my experience, the more a pipe costs (to a certain extent), the better it is constructed.
I would say that a $200.00 pipe would smoke a lot better than a $20.00 pipe, but I’m not too sure that a $700.00+ pipe would smoke much, if any, better than a $200.00 pipe. Regardless of the cost of the pipe, all of them are smokable. Some just smoke better than others. When I use the term ‘inexpensive’ I am referring to pipes $40.00 and under.
If you want to get into pipe smoking don’t make the mistake of thinking that you can’t afford it. You can find many pipes for under $100.00 all the way down to $10.00. I have a few pipes that I have paid $40.00 and under for them and they smoke great. A lot of no name pipes in the $30.00 to $50.00 range are actually manufacturer’s seconds from known pipe manufacturers. You can get Missouri Meerschaum cob pipes in the range of $3.00 to $8.00. Heck, some people only smoke cobs and own no other types of pipes! I own a few cobs and they smoke very well and for some reason, they don’t gurgle at all. Pipe smoking is only as expensive as you make it.
One thing to keep in mind when you are looking for a low to mid-range pipe is, the cheaper it is the more likely chance there is that there are flaws in the construction. Just make sure that you fully inspect the pipe before you purchase it to make sure that there are no major construction flaws. The two main things I look for when purchasing inexpensive pipes are;
1) The draft hole is at the bottom of the bowl and
2) The pipe cleaner test.
The pipe cleaner test is inserting a pipe cleaner into the stem and it should go down into the bowl. Now with inexpensive bent pipes, you may have to play around with the pipe cleaner a bit to get it to go down and sometimes it will not go all the way down into the bowl. There is a high chance that the pipe is improperly drilled on inexpensive bent pipes.
There are exceptions to the pipe cleaner test. It is sometimes very hard to get a pipe cleaner down into the bowl on some pipes with more than 1/2 bend to them, regardless of the price. I tend to disregard the pipe cleaner test on pipes with more than 1/2 bend to them as long as the draft hole is on the bottom of the heel. I have some pipes that the cleaner doesn’t go down into the bowl and they smoke great and hardly ever gurgle.
One of the biggest flaws that I have found with inexpensive bent pipes is that the draft hole is improperly drilled and does not go to the bottom of the bowl. I call this extra space a ‘well’ (Fig 1) because it will collect moisture and dottle in the heel below the draft hole. But even that does not make the pipe un-smokable. I own a couple of pipes with that flaw and I smoke them. I just use a specific packing technique with those pipes to minimize problems that can occur from the flaw. On a properly drilled pipe, the draft hole should be at the bottom of the bowl (Fig 2).
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Fig 1 |
Fig 2 |
Now a days, a lot of people purchase from the internet. It can worry you some if you are purchasing a pipe online because you can’t actually look at the pipe before you buy it. I was worried about purchasing online for awhile before I actually did so for the first time. A lot of online and mail order retailers will allow you to return a pipe that you purchased within a certain amount of time as long as you have not smoked it. That way you can look it over first and then make a decision. One of the things that I did when I was purchasing an inexpensive pipe online is that I would only buy a straight pipe. Straight pipes are easier to drill. I have bought a couple of new straight pipes online for around $20.00 and the draft hole was always on the bottom of the heel.
Keep in mind that even if you are going to spend more money on a pipe, you should still look it over. The more expensive the pipe, the more critical I am when I examine it. I expect a more expensive pipe to be made better than an inexpensive pipe. I will forgive some flaws in an inexpensive pipe that I will not forgive in a more expensive pipe. I keep in mind that you get what you pay for, so I expect some flaws in inexpensive pipes. I check everything on the more expensive pipes; from construction to aesthetic qualities. I look for fills in the bowl, construction, grain; I look for flaws in everything. Just remember that if you can only afford inexpensive pipes, you can still enjoy this hobby.
I would also like to add; whether you choose to buy inexpensive pipes or that is all you can afford, don’t hate the people that do buy only high grade pipes. We all have different tastes and buy different things. There are also pipers that are more of collectors than smokers. Sure there are a few snobs in the hobby that only buy high end and like to bash on the inexpensive pipes and pipers, but they are the minority. You have those types of people in all aspects of life. The majority of pipe smokers are not like that. Although, at this moment in time, I don’t own any high grade pipes, I do not begrudge anyone that does. If I was able to afford some of the pipes that cost a few hundred dollars or more, I would definitely buy some!
Remember we are all pipers and brothers/sisters of the briar!
Written by Bob
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I remember the first time I heard someone else say it. “How many pipes do I need? Just one more.” It’s glib, sure, a bit of a joke, but it also rings a bell of truth, at least to me. I certainly have “enough” pipes, but pipes are seductive little things. Just when we think we’re all set, we have enough, another will come along that tempts us beyond any sense of reason. I suppose it’s the same way with any sort of collecting. There’s always another white whale we’re in pursuit of. When we finally track that one down, though, another will almost inevitably breach the surface, taking its place as the new object of our desire, enticing us to change course and set sail once again. But, there’s a potential problem with having a lot of pipes. Maybe. The more pipes we may have, the harder it can be to keep them in rotation. It makes sense. We tend to gravitate towards our current faves, the ones that most appeal to us for whatever reason, and sometimes, maybe they stay in rotation longer than they really should. The side-effect of this, of course, is that another favored pipe might end up too-long forgotten. That’s exactly what happened recently. Exhibit A: The Castello pictured is one that has been long overlooked. It’s a Trademark shape #55. It’s a really nice example of the shape. The red pearlized stem is beautifully done. The wood isn’t really anything special to look at, but it’s evenly covered, without any bald spots. When I look at it, I wonder why it wasn’t done in the more typical dark ruby-red finish that adorns most Trademarks. I’ve seen a great deal of variation amongst the grade over the years, including one really nice bent-bulldog that left the factory with a brown sandblasted finish. (For those who don’t know, Trademark has long been the lowest Castello smooth grade, usually finished in a dark red.) Was this a stamping/grading error, or is there just more leeway in the grade than we’ve come to expect? I might never know. This example is from the early 1970s, maybe even the late 1960s, identified by the upper case Ks in the grade designation. (On Sea Rock and Old Antiquari pipes, the Ks reflect the size, while with the smooth finishes, Trademark, Castello and Collection, the Ks represent the relative grade.) It has been living in a different rack than the one housing the majority of my #55s. I don’t recall why I put it there, but as many of us can relate to, rack space is often at a premium. I stumbled upon it while looking for something completely different. “Oh, you? Why are you there? I remember you smoke pretty well.” Yeah, I sometimes talk to my pipes – one of many quirks, I suppose. I won’t begin to worry until they start talking back. I grabbed it from the rack, dusted it off, and decided to give it a fill with a bowl of a slightly aged VA/perique blend, Telegraph Hill, from 2018. What a delightful smoke! At five years, the tobacco is expressing a lot of the complexities of aged Virginias and the perique adds a delightful fruitiness. When young, the composition is a bit brighter, maybe a little spicier, but time has polished any edges, and amplified the sweeter notes. Like the pipe, I’d forgotten about this blend for quite a while, but one evening in March, after chatting with my good friend Nate, who is quite a fan of it, I decided it might be time to revisit it. I got a couple of fresh ones, and excavated a couple older tins from the library. I normally reach for Fillmore when I want a VA/perique thing because of its boldness and depth, but in revisiting this one, I’m finding something soothing and comfortable about it that I’ve really been enjoying, both young and aged. Sticking with the theme of the forgotten, and as a perhaps interesting tidbit to the photographically inclined, I shot the pictures for this month’s column with my old Nikkor-O 35mm/2.0 mounted on my trusty Nikon Df. The last time I used this lens, it was adapted to one of my Fujifilm bodies, and I didn’t care much for the results, so I put it away and pretty much forgot about it. But, I’ve recently been exploring some of my old kit, deciding what to keep, what to pass along, and this one once again came to my attention, kind of like that old Castello. On the Df, there’s something about its vintage rendering that I find truly appealing. Another forgotten treasure, and just like with that old pipe, it seems that, at least today, everything old is new again. If your collection is on the large side, are there pipes or tobaccos that you’ve all but forgotten, only to come back to them one day to find yourself wondering why? Maybe it’s just another fun dimension to this endlessly fascinating journey.
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Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 639. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Per Billhäll. Per is the owner of Scandinavian Pipes, which is an online retailer of high grade pipes. He started smoking pipes in the 1960s. His first high grade pipe was made by Hans “Former” Nielsen, who is one of the living legends from Denmark. That led to Per becoming a huge pipe and tobacco collector, and show attendee where he became well known. Along with pipe book author Jan Andersson, they started The Pipe Club of Sweden in 1991. Then in 1999, Per started “Scan Pipes”. He is now one of the pipe retailing legends from Sweden. At the top of the show Brian will talk about holiday blends, and other special pipe tobacco blends.
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Ok, so it’s that time of year, as we all know. Family feasts, houses, yards, and big trees festooned with lights and dangling ornaments, just high enough to keep the cats from reaching a paw into the greenery. It’s also the time of year when your pipe-smoking-significant other makes vast hints about a new pipe. That’s to be expected since he or she was a good boy or girl during the year. Yes, ladies smoke pipes, too. Oh, you want an example? Okay, try Actress Greta Garbo, Millicent Fenwick, Mary Frith, and my late grandmother (who died when she was 93) dipped snuff and smoked a cob occasionally. So now that we have settled that the gentler side of life will puff a pipe too, let’s move on to the upcoming biggest holiday of all. Of course, that huge event is brought to us by the hefty fellow in a red suit, puffing his pipe all the way in a sled filled with presents, being led by a reindeer with a red nose. Or some such. That’s Santa Claus, of course. Becoming a bit more serious, Christmas is such a wonderful time for families and friends. It’s also quite special for pipe puffers. For many of us, this brings up a nostalgic look back to our pipe-smoking or cigar-smoking friends who have died during the current year. A great journalist pal whom I often joined in a local brick-and-mortar pipe and cigar shop. I puffed my pipe, and occasional cigar, as he enjoyed a cigar. He died in October and will be missed. On the happier side of things, Christmas is also a time when mind workers of the world renew their collections with fresh additions. Pundit included. A French passion has overtaken Pundit, from reading more Albert Camus, a heavy cigarette smoker, as were many French intellectuals of a certain time. Instead of cigarettes many of us prefer the more relaxed enjoyment of pipes for that “calm and objective judgment” in the comings and goings of the world. This brings me to French pipes. While visiting France once in the long ago, I happened by a “Tabac” shop in Paris, Tabac Des Vosges. I purchased a beauty of a Chacom bent. I also later bought a Ropp made from ancient briar. To learn more about the dawn of briar pipes and beginnings, take a peek at a well-done piece by Davin Hylton in Pipe Line on April 12, 2023, on Saint-Claude, France, the birthplace of briar. Also in the long back when, on a cold Christmas afternoon, Pundit wandered into an Atlanta bricks and mortar pipe shop to look around. There, resting in an enclosed glass counter was an exquisite Comoy. An older gent, smoking a beautiful bent, asked me if I wanted to look at that pipe. It had a $100 price tag. A college student working for a grocery store chain to help with college tuition at the time, Pundit didn’t have one hundred cents, let alone a C note! I declined and found a $5 basket pipe. A Christmas tradition had just begun. Since that early time, Pundit has made it a holiday ritual to either reward himself, or a special friend, with pipe or tobacco. A Claudio Cavicchi would be nice. Just sayin.’ And now for a couple of December-born Pipe Smokers of the Past: Joseph Rudyard Kipling was born on Dec. 30, 1865, and died on Jan. 18, 1936. I always prefer to believe the best of everybody; it saves so much trouble—Rudyard Kipling. Martin Van Buren, born Dec. 5, 1782, and died July 24, 1862, U.S. President, 1837-1841 As to the presidency, the two happiest days of my life were those of my entrance upon the office and my surrender of it—Martin Van Buren. And one more note to recall a deceased World War II veteran who loved William Somerset Maugham, the author. Maugham, a pipe smoker, was born in Paris, France, on Jan. 25, 1874, and died on Dec. 16, 1965. One cool afternoon as the veteran and I talked while sitting in his backyard patio, he looked off into the distance as if studying something. Nothing in particular. Just looking. He turned to me and said if I wanted to learn about life, “read Somerset Maugham.” I did. It wasn’t until late in life that I discovered how easy it is to say, ‘I don’t know’ –W. Somerset Maugham And now a Parting Shot: Any day with an old friend with pipes and tobacco is a good day.
