Estate Pipes-OK?

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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,759
13,783
Humansville Missouri
If I’m correct in my guess, this $30 delivered WDC Milano Extra was made before the 1925 Hesson Guard patent and it will equal the best English pipes of the era.

The plain Milano cost $3.50 before there was a Kaywoodie. This is a Milano Extra.

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1922 Milano Ad

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You cheat only yourself when you only buy unsmoked pipes.

A pint of 190 proof Everclear is cheap, and will sterilize any plastic straw or vulcanite stem. If you are more frugal, then use isopropyl alcohol or even soap and water.

But those that won’t smoke dead man’s pipes leave more for me.:)
 

OzPiper

Lifer
Nov 30, 2020
5,756
30,561
71
Sydney, Australia
The vast majority of my pipes are estates.
I like old Britwoods, and most have not been in production for decades to over a century - a la @ashdigger
and @sablebrush52

There are estate pipes and then there are estate pipes. They are not all equal

Estate just means pre-owned
Some are NOS = New Old Stock ie pipes sitting unsold at some tobacconist or an unsmoked present that has been sitting in someone's drawer for decades
Others have been very lightly smoked and are almost new

Some sellers/vendors are meticulous in their cleaning.
Their pipes arrive in a "can be smoked now" condition

EBay pickings range from the pristine to those you "handle with gloves/Hazmat suits".
Some vendors clean the exterior only, but don't touch the internals (veritable sewers)
Be sure to ask the vendor if you are not sure.
I've been stung a few times by seemingly pristine-looking estates (in pics).

Apart from buying out of production pieces, you can buy high end pieces, usually at a substantial discount (of their new price)
2 good enough reasons for me.

Disclaimer: I clean every pipe I receive, whether they are estates or new.
 

vosBghos

Lifer
May 7, 2022
1,521
3,360
Idaho
I love old stuff so no problem with estates the ghosts can be intense I had one that probably only smoked Ennerdale and it was renamed to the wood when I got it but The Ennerday ghost was still hiding in the mortise and shank, did the ol sea salt Everclear treatment and it got fainter after many bowls of Five Brothers...
 

didimauw

Moderator
Staff member
Jul 28, 2013
9,891
31,597
34
Burlington WI
I personally love hunting through estate pipes and own quite a few. Hell, it's no different than eating at a restaurant or do those repulsed by estate pipes bring their own plates and silverware? Let's not even get into cloth napkins and drinking utensils.
A dirty old fork was left at a restaurant. Covered in crusty old food remnants and saliva for months or years. The chef then showed you a picture and gave you the fork. " It's cool, I cleaned it".

I suppose you'd still use it??

mouldy-baked-beans-in-bowl-with-fork-BBP9D8.jpg


Ok maybe a slight exaggeration. I mean, I have smoked one estate once....
 

OzPiper

Lifer
Nov 30, 2020
5,756
30,561
71
Sydney, Australia
A dirty old fork was left at a restaurant. Covered in crusty old food remnants and saliva for months or years. The chef then showed you a picture and gave you the fork. " It's cool, I cleaned it".

I suppose you'd still use it??

View attachment 195195


Ok maybe a slight exaggeration. I mean, I have smoked one estate once....
Growing up in M’sia and going out for meals, I recall my mother demanding large bowls of freshly boiled water in which she would wash all the utensils and bowls, then polishing them with serviettes before allowing us to eat 😁

Needless to say I became increasingly embarrassed by her germ phobia in my teen years
 

shanez

Lifer
Jul 10, 2018
5,188
24,081
49
Las Vegas
Well this digressed rather quickly didn't it?

Back to the actual OP question @colt54 the answer is this:

If you know (or learn) how to clean a pipe  and you don't have a mental blockage against the concept then estates are the logical choice as you can either get something normally out of your price range, something with a rarity aspect to it, or simply just get a good deal.

Conversely, if you have a mental opposition to the estate concept then no amount of savings or rareness will overcome your blockage and estates simply aren't for you.
 

OzPiper

Lifer
Nov 30, 2020
5,756
30,561
71
Sydney, Australia
Estate pipes are a great way to buy pipes provided you are dealing with a reputable person. There are several guys on eBay who are just great to deal with. Steve Fallon and Chance Whittacre are bona fide pros to deal with and there are many others.
Also site sponsors SmokingPipes, Blue Room Briars, Mkelaw Pipes, The Danish Pipe Shop and of course, Pipestud (Steve Fallon)

Members’ offerings on the “Pipes for Sale” section almost always come with full disclosure
 

Alejo R.

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 13, 2020
832
1,643
48
Buenos Aires, Argentina.
"Hell, it's no different than eating at a restaurant or do those repulsed by estate pipes bring their own plates and silverware?"

Big ... big difference. What health organization provides routine inspections with regard to used pipes? In my town kitchens and eating areas are inspected for temperature, cleanliness and so forth. To my knowledge, there is no regulation with regard to selling used pipes. Well, except for customer feedback. Which includes what insurance the vendor carries should sold pipe result in illness or death? A far fetched idea to sure but, not out of the realm of possibility.

Check the vendor's rep before buying is all I'm suggesting.
There is a lot of logic in your reasoning, I would never trust a seller to tell me that a pipe is clean and disinfected.

But there are no regulations or inspections to sell new pipes, which you do like. I bet that the only disinfection that a mouthpiece has undergone is when it has been heated to give it curvature and only if it is a curved mouthpiece.
I would recommend that you also clean them before putting them in your mouth. The same with cans or bottles of Soda, beer, etc.
As for estate pipes, I clean them myself and leave them in good condition.
Regarding restaurants, at least where I live, whoever cleans the cutlery is the newest and lowest paid employee in the restaurant industry. Here it is called Bachero.