Why are estate pipes ok?

[elvishrunes]

I am one who doesn’t mind an estate, obviously you clean it, even just water and a paper towel and let it air out. Notwithstanding this, I don’t like some of the queasy images brought up here, tho, and makes me doubt…. I do definitely prefer new pipes tho.

 

[mortonbriar]

Why are estate pipes ok?
For you they are not.

Why are elevators ok?
For me they are not.

I think it is deeper than opinion, but it is certainly personal.

 

[wyfbane]

Wonder if the op ever bought tobacco by the oz? God knows how many dick beaters have been run through that loose tobacco!

 

[Steddy]

Original Poster- “I don’t like estate pipes, I think they’re gross. Why do you like them?”

Us-

 

[Mike N]

Serious question and something I've never understood about the pipe community. And I understand the whole "90% of everything is crap" idea behind estate pipes being more reliable.

That said, when I purchase something I'm going to be regularly placing in my mouth, someone else having already regularly placed it in their mouth immediately ends that deal.

I'm sure a good toothbrush can be rebristled and sold for 70% of the original price, but who in their right mind would buy such a thing?

That said, I just never understood it, but many pipe smokers much wiser and more experienced than me certainly have a different opinion, so just curious why estate pipes are popular.

Have you eaten in a restaurant lately? A thousand people used that fork and plate before you did.

 

[ophiuchus]

I buy my pipes new … but I’ve got an amber stemmed gourd calabash that no one makes anymore I could only have buying pre-owned.

I’m smelling troll-bait …

 

[Sigmund]

Estate pipes are no good. Send them to me and I will tend to them.

 

[pappymac]

Funny you should say that, because St Padre Pio strongly advised against using things that had belonged to a dead person. What I read specifically dealt with wearing clothes from a deceased person, but I strongly believe that anything used long and regularly by someone gets imbued with his essence to a lesser or greater degree. Ever put on something that belonged to a departed one and felt depressed that day? Well, something to do with the garment, chances high.

The context and the things items are used for also matter. And with used stuff most times we simply have no idea not only how well they were taken care of (which impacts the more mundane issue of durability and hidden damage), but where they've been and what things were done with them. Who in his right mind and spirit would want to smoke from a pipe somebody else used to smoke whilst reading from a grimoire? Why would I want to use a leather knife that some pervious leatherworker used to make sexual bondage paraphernalia? &c., &c.

Even when I get brand new tools I spray them with holy water.

There have been many times in history where the clothing and other belongings of the dead were burned but that was during times like the Black Death in Europe or yellow fever epidemics.

 

[cynyr]

Can I just get an 'attaboy' for having read the entire thread?

I laffed at some parts, furrowed my brow at others, but came away with my opinions unchanged. Oh, except for wearing dead men's clothes.

 

[pappymac]

I have estate pipes. I cleaned them several times before smoking them. Growing up poor, I was often given hand-me-down clothes to wear. I have owned used cars. I have lived in rental apartments, In the past, I have known used women. I could go on but you get the point.

As for new pipes. I have been in pipe shops and I have seen guys pick a new pipe off a wall display and put it in their mouths, then put it back on the wall. That's not to mention picking up a new pipe and having to wipe the dust out of the bowl or wondering about the oxidation on the stem.

I don't smoke a new pipe before I clean it like an estate pipe.

 

[Shore]

Can I just get an 'attaboy' for having read the entire thread?

I laffed at some parts, furrowed my brow at others, but came away with my opinions unchanged.

Same here...

 

[Zeno Marx]

so I won't come in contact with anything that anyone has ever touched.

It really is all about what is on the hands. We could wax poetic about surface materials all day long, but without proper handwashing protocol, a lot of that goes out the window (and I got news, most people don't know how to wash their hands...or how to keep those washed hands from not IMMEDIATELY getting re-contaminated).

Any scientists in the house who are willing to take some cultures from a soap and running water scrubbed piece of briar and a vulcanite stem? Totally serious. The person who ran the pipe through the dishwasher and then bandsawed it in half did the community (at least myself) a real service. I know the wet shaving community has had some scientists do testing and research on all kinds of interesting, odd things on the hobby, from soap compounds to blade stropping to hair hydration to blade gaps.

 

[crazyhog]

Serious question and something I've never understood about the pipe community. And I understand the whole "90% of everything is crap" idea behind estate pipes being more reliable.

That said, when I purchase something I'm going to be regularly placing in my mouth, someone else having already regularly placed it in their mouth immediately ends that deal.

I'm sure a good toothbrush can be rebristled and sold for 70% of the original price, but who in their right mind would buy such a thing?

That said, I just never understood it, but many pipe smokers much wiser and more experienced than me certainly have a different opinion, so just curious why estate pipes are popular.

The only estate pipes I have ever bought were those that were unsmoked. Now, I only buy NIB. I am not a collector or heavy pipe smoker, so I can be more selective.

 

[CoffeeAndBourbon]

As I've stated before, I've got Stoopid built right into my name, I'm not to be taken seriously.

And bait. Just sayin

 

[Homer]

Serious question and something I've never understood about the pipe community. And I understand the whole "90% of everything is crap" idea behind estate pipes being more reliable.

That said, when I purchase something I'm going to be regularly placing in my mouth, someone else having already regularly placed it in their mouth immediately ends that deal.

I'm sure a good toothbrush can be rebristled and sold for 70% of the original price, but who in their right mind would buy such a thing?

That said, I just never understood it, but many pipe smokers much wiser and more experienced than me certainly have a different opinion, so just curious why estate pipes are popular.

Thats why I prefer virgins.

 

[The Benedictine]

Thats why I prefer virgins.

Like cheese and wine, I prefer the ones with a little culture.

 

[Pipeski]

I believe in that sentiment for the new modern artisan pipes. I’m not buying an estate Eltang, or J. Alan just because I can find them a couple hundred dollars cheaper than an unsmoked.

However the estate pipe market is very important for us who appreciate the history of the hobby. There is something special about utilizing and collecting the tools of a by gone era.

 

[OzPiper]

Like cheese and wine, I prefer the ones with a little culture.

Spoken like a true Frenchman

 

[woodsroad]

Whatever. To each their own. I have other things to be worried about.

Also, I regularly smoke pipes that are over 100 years old. I’m only 62. Do the math.

Finally, why do you care what I do or stick in my mouth?

Some people have a deep-seated need to ridicule others for choices that have zero impact on them. It’s a control thing. Or maybe it’s obfuscation, calling out someone else’s behavior to mask the shame of their own deep-seated weirdness. What can I say? People are strange.

​

 

[telescopes]

If most pipe smokers were women and if those pipe smokers refused estates because they didn’t like the thought of whose mouth that pipe might have previously been in, then there would be a lot of men with un blown pipes. It just stands to reason.