Are You a Pipe Smoker or a Pipe Collector?

[alan73]

Well at over 400 pipes , about half I haven’t smoked yet nor have any immediate plans to, I’ll go with collector.
Of the pipes I do smoke, I smoke them all the time or sell them if I don’t like them.

 

[Salvaje]

Well at over 400 pipes , about half I haven’t smoked yet nor have any immediate plans to, I’ll go with collector.
Of the pipes I do smoke, I smoke them all the time or sell them if I don’t like them.

Are you sure 400 pipes makes you a collector? ….or a pipeaholic?

 

[ashdigger]

I’m a pipe smoker. I just like collectible pipes.

 

[dunnyboy]

I’m a pipe smoker. I just like collectible pipes.

Indeed you do! Your pipes are to die for. Actually, I would imagine most of the original owners of those pipes have actually done so.

 

[daveinlax]

Another solid article. I really enjoy what GLP has to say!

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

I'm 75% Pipe Collector and 25% Pipe Smoker.

Not for lack of tying though.
Pipe tobacco grates on my throat more than anything else, can't figure it out, meanwhile I'd probably get by just fine smoking a Cigar every day except that to my senses Cigars still just smell like burning hair and fermented motor oil.
My compatibility with tobacco will forever be a catch 22.

 

[OzPiper]

Great read. I am more of a pipe hoarder. Sometimes it makes me just as happy to know that the pipe I have just bought keeps someone else from having it.

Wow, @cosmicfolklore
A kindred spirit ?

 

[MacMarty89]

I’m not a collector of pipes. I have got pipes to smoke. I have a collection of high end shoes (Crockett & Jones, Edward Green, etc.), but I am not a shoe collector either. There is a difference.

That’s why I can understand if someone collects art for example. That’s a decorative item, a good investment. It has some aspect in the work itself that has hooked that person. Art was never meant to do anything else than be decorative. But for pipes, I can’t fathom why someone would merely collect and not smoke them.

 

[TheIronMonkey]

I’m not a collector of pipes. I have got pipes to smoke. I have a collection of high end shoes (Crockett & Jones, Edward Green, etc.), but I am not a shoe collector either. There is a difference.

That’s why I can understand if someone collects art for example. That’s a decorative item, a good investment. It has some aspect in the work itself that has hooked that person. Art was never meant to do anything else than be decorative. But for pipes, I can’t fathom why someone would merely collect and not smoke them.

If one thinks of pipes as sculptures, or works of art, it's not a stretch to see how a person might want to preserve or archive them unsmoked, as issued. I smoke the majority of my pipes, but, because my father was a package designer, and I also do graphic design, I do have some pipes in their original packaging that I wish to preserve unmolested. I approach toys the same way. I generally keep them in their original packaging. If I really feel to need to handle it, I get a second one and open it up. When art has a function, other than hanging on the wall (like a pipe), one can choose to use it for its intended purpose or not. I totally get it. @virkia 's pipe collection is awe inspiring, partially because so many pipes are virginal and in unsmoked condition. If smoked, they'd just be a bunch of cool, old, used pipes; but, many seem to be museum quality, and that is no small feat.

 

[tklee]

I'm both. I'm a smoker and a collector. I just started smoking pipe for 5 months, now I already have 14 pipes! ? But only 3 that I regularly smoke.

 

[winton]

Over the last 10 (?) years, I have acquired 43 pipes. I have a pattern of buying a pipe each year, from a few carvers, since I like their work. Perhaps, I will sell some of my pipes that don't have value to me.

 

[OzPiper]

If one thinks of pipes as sculptures, or works of art, it's not a stretch to see how a person might want to preserve or archive them unsmoked, as issued. I smoke the majority of my pipes, but, because my father was a package designer, and I also do graphic design, I do have some pipes in their original packaging that I wish to preserve unmolested. I approach toys the same way. I generally keep them in their original packaging. If I really feel to need to handle it, I get a second one and open it up. When art has a function, other than hanging on the wall (like a pipe), one can choose to use it for its intended purpose or not. I totally get it. @virkia 's pipe collection is awe inspiring, partially because so many pipes are virginal and in unsmoked condition. If smoked, they'd just be a bunch of cool, old, used pipes; but, many seem to be museum quality, and that is no small feat.

?
No, I’d rather smoke them ?

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Greg didn't say that collectors don't smoke the pipes. Where does this come from? I realize that some people do buy pipes and don't smoke them. I have a few that I don't smoke either, but this is not indicative of a collector.

 

[scloyd]

I'm both.
Since purchasing The Peterson Pipe book and reading the history, I became more interested in Peterson pipes. I've purchased seven Peterson's in the last couple of months. Some I haven't smoked yet because I'm not a daily smoker. I may go weeks without smoking a pipe. So, I'm both, a smoker and a collector.

 

[Peter Turbo]

I’m here because I enjoy smoking. Pipes are just a tool.

 

[Zapasta]

To me, if you smoke the pipes you own, then you are a pipe smoker. But if you smoke Grabows while having all your nice pipes unsmoked on a shelf, then you are a collector.

 

[MacMarty89]

If one thinks of pipes as sculptures, or works of art, it's not a stretch to see how a person might want to preserve or archive them unsmoked, as issued. I smoke the majority of my pipes, but, because my father was a package designer, and I also do graphic design, I do have some pipes in their original packaging that I wish to preserve unmolested. I approach toys the same way. I generally keep them in their original packaging. If I really feel to need to handle it, I get a second one and open it up. When art has a function, other than hanging on the wall (like a pipe), one can choose to use it for its intended purpose or not. I totally get it. @virkia 's pipe collection is awe inspiring, partially because so many pipes are virginal and in unsmoked condition. If smoked, they'd just be a bunch of cool, old, used pipes; but, many seem to be museum quality, and that is no small feat.

Fair enough, I get that point. If you approach pipes as works of art. Some of them, for example Tom Eltangs Saturn, indeed fall in that category. But most of them are intended by the carver for smoking, I guess.

 

[JOHN72]

In the end, I buy a quantity of pipes, according to the variety and quantity in kilos of tobaccos that I have, or will have. And of course, you end up putting together a good collection. But as I said before, only for the exclusive use of smoking the tobaccos in the best possible conditions. Of course the pipes in their shapes and colors drive me crazy, I love them. But not to see them in a showcase, and show them to the neighbor, new, without smoking them. I like how they get older as the years go by, the countless smokes, and the anecdotes that this entails. I am not a pipe collector, and neither am I a tobacco collector. I buy pipes and tobacco to smoke and enjoy their variety. I am very grateful to this forum, where I have learned a lot from you. I used to spit tobacco out of my pipe, and now I smoke a pipe, hahahahahahaah. I am very serious about it.

 

[DonutLuvr]

Only been smoking a pipe for around 4 years. At first, I didn’t understand why guys had so many pipes that they could smoke a different pipe a day for over a month. It seemed silly to me. But now I am approaching those numbers - especially with the last few pipes I’ve purchased, it’s clicking with me. I want more pipes by different makers, different shapes - anything aesthetically pleasing. I have my workhorse pipes that I smoke more often, but they all have a use and get used.
My main focus is trying more tobacco and bulking up my cellar - but as time goes on, I’ll focus on adding pipes as the tobacco gets more and more expensive.

 

[JimPM]

Pipe smoker, yes. Pipe collector, maybe. Tobacco collector, Oh God yes!