Do You Buy New Pipes To *Not* Smoke Them?

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mikethompson

Lifer
Jun 26, 2016
11,292
23,327
Near Toronto, Ontario, Canada
It seems like there is an awful lot of unsmoked estate pipes out there. Some must come from the bowels of some old tobacconist shops, and some from collectors who do not smoke them, but there must be some who were bought and just not used? When I see a pipe that is 70 years old and unsmoked, I wonder how it managed to stay that way for so long.

Do you have any on your rack that you bought new but are consciously not smoking? Why?
 

anotherbob

Lifer
Mar 30, 2019
15,678
29,398
45
In the semi-rural NorthEastern USA
nope. Closest I have is a special occasion pipe. But I've known some weirdos that don't smoke but like pipes and collect tobacco paraphernalia. It's not that different then those statues of popular comic and video game characters I find on adult peoples desks all the time. I am sure there are people on here that are like that and probably feel to shy to represent themselves.
 
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olkofri

Lifer
Sep 9, 2017
8,033
14,644
The Arm of Orion
Would I buy a car to not drive it? cray

Yeah, I've seen those unsmoked pre-owned pipes. Guess there's a story to each one: maybe the guy had way too many pipes and never got to those (has happened with some of my blends—they're still on the waiting list for first bowl); maybe he died before smoking it; maybe it was a gift and he didn't like it.... almost endless et ceterae.
 
When I first joined this forum, I spent years shaking my head in amazement at folks who do just that... buy pipes without intending to smoke them. But, as time has passed and we have had members who don't even smoke at all collect pipes. I've met quite a few now.
And, I have bought pipes, not intentionally NOT to smoke, but after getting the pipe in my hand, I realized that just owning it brought me a great joy. I have a Ferndown that I will never smoke, as it is just too heavy, and the stummel just slides right off the spigot. Plop. But, I love it. It is one of the most dear things in my collection. And, a few others like a Former horn that just brings me more joy to hold and admire that to actually fill up with a Habana Daydream and walk about the yard smoking.

I know. I felt the same way everyone else feels about that, once. And, I never planned it. But, some things just turn out that way. It's like owning a Teddy Roosevelt pistol or an actual Bowie knife. Some things just bring you joy more than using them.
 

ofafeather

Lifer
Apr 26, 2020
2,769
9,044
50
Where NY, CT & MA meet
I smoke them all except 1 Peterson that I bought as part of the Zippo set. I bought it for the lighter and am not in any particular love with the Rocky Donegal billiard it came with so will keep that one unsmoked in case I decide to part with the set.
 
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canucklehead

Lifer
Aug 1, 2018
2,863
15,323
Alberta
I have unsmoked pipes, I told myself I wouldn't smoke them until I lost certain amounts of weight, it's my 40th birthday this summer and I have set fitness, weightlifting, weightloss, habit formation, and reading goals. I have set incentives for myself such as the pipes to go along with said goals. Delayed gratification.

I suppose that if I were to die before then it would introduce more unsmoked pipes onto the open market.
 

macaroni

Lifer
Oct 28, 2020
1,006
3,113
Texas
. . . I have bought pipes, not intentionally NOT to smoke, but after getting the pipe in my hand, I realized that just owning it brought me a great joy. I have a Ferndown that I will never smoke, as it is just too heavy, and the stummel just slides right off the spigot. Plop. But, I love it. It is one of the most dear things in my collection. . . . . And, I never planned it. But, some things just turn out that way. It's like owning a Teddy Roosevelt pistol or an actual Bowie knife. Some things just bring you joy more than using them.
You, Sir, are READING MY MIND! Exactly!! So well put, thank you!
kindly
mike
ps--glad I'm not alone in this :) (downside for me--I gotta be careful 'cause some things I get to liking too much and rather than owning them, I realize they "owne me!" What's the old say/the old saying--wear the cloak of materialism lightly? I gotta long way to go with that one, still :)
 

macaroni

Lifer
Oct 28, 2020
1,006
3,113
Texas
. . . I wouldn't buy a hooker to parade around naked in front of me and I'm not buying a pipe to stare at.
Holy Cow! :)))) LOL The stuff you guys come up with (You, Sir, have a wit along with BROB and some others who CRACK ME UP!! I try sharing SOME of this with the wife and she doesn't quite get the humor??? LOL
chuckling away in texas,
mike
 
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Material things, object d'art, gazing devices... not sure what to call them, but sometimes when I am in a nostalgic mood, or my mind is reeling (any father of girls will know what I mean), or just deep in thought, sometimes I like to open the sacred drawer and pull out that Former horn and just gaze upon it... and think... I have gemstones like this too. I have a honker of a ruby, over 300 carats, that I mined out of the Blueridge, and I had it cut by an expert gemologist, that is way too big for jewelry, but it gives my mind respite at times. I have no idea what other people who have pipes they don't smoke do, but this is how I use mine. Gazing objects. Fuel for the imagination...

Days when my daughters have come to me with their problems, sales are down, or some legal action has me worried, some turn to yoga, deep breathing, or drinking for their anxieties, but I can grab one of my objects d'art and wrap my worried mind around it. Or, just when my mind needs something to get it to spinning, same thing. It's just a phenomena of materialism to take comfort in a thing. Hey, it beats getting drunk and wrecking my truck, ha ha.
 
Jan 28, 2018
12,952
134,613
66
Sarasota, FL
Holy Cow! :)))) LOL The stuff you guys come up with (You, Sir, have a wit along with BROB and some others who CRACK ME UP!! I try sharing SOME of this with the wife and she doesn't quite get the humor??? LOL
chuckling away in texas,
mike

I could have a frontal lobotomy and still be wittier than BROBS. C'mon man, seriously? But thanks for the compliment even though you watered it down with the BROBS inclusion. BROBS even likes shitty tobacco, c'mon.
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,623
44,833
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
People acquire pipes for any number of reasons, and I personally have no issue with any of them. People who have a problem with collecting unsmoked pipes, well, it's their problem, not mine. I'm primarily a smoker of pipes, but I do have some that I don't smoke.

The only pipes I've bought knowing that I wouldn't smoke them was the cased two pipe 1907 Barling companion set. I enjoy having that little time machine. There's something cool about owning a pristine piece of pipe history still exactly as the maker made it. It's not like I lack for great pipes to smoke or even great vintage pipes to smoke. But I have no desire to smoke those two.
hzZwztQ.jpg


I have a few others that I've since decided to enjoy as beautiful, sometimes quirky object d'art, like this unsmoked Paul Tatum:
SarBAq4.jpg


It's never going to look a good as it does once it's been smoked.

There are a few others, but the rest I smoke.