Why are estate pipes ok?
- Thread starter stoopidbaits
- Start date
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Where? Some B&Ms sold restored ones at that time period and the market was huge on ebay.
The controversy over estate pipes aside. I am shocked the capitalization of the thread title has not been addressed.
This is the real controversy.
This is the real controversy.
As is the argument against estate pipes.
The market for estates was going strong over 30 years ago and nobody has any issue with it. Gus' Smoke Shop did a lively business in estates, especially from celebrities, like Alfred Hitchcock and William Conrad, from who's collections I bought several pipes in the early 90's.
Where? John Dengler did a thriving business with Estate Pipes back in the 70s - and this was in the midwest where everything seemed to be frowned upon. I do wish I could have gotten to Gus's.
I used to buy Estate Pipes at the time,Ebay was a feast where you could buy pipes for a third of what they cost today. but admittedly, fewer smokers were buying them. Tobacco shops were more common, and new pipes were more accessible.
new york where I lived and the internet. Estate pipes sold, sure, but they where not at the percentage of a new pipe sale they are now. I distinctly remember estates being much cheaper than they are now on smoking pipes for example.
My memory could be wrong of course.
A properly restored estate pipe can and does leave little to know traces that it was previously owned. Finished with an Ozone treatment, nothing organic will survive, especially when the internals are brought back to bare wood. In fact, the pipe must go through the breaking in process all over again. Yes, chatter on the stem can be an issue but stems can be replaced.
When I get an estate, it is shipped off to Briarville where it is fully restored. If the stem is unacceptable, one of two things happens. I replace the stem, and in the case of a pipe that has value as a named pipe such as a Charatan's Make, the original stem is restored to the extent it can be restored and sent back as well so that if I sell the pipe, the original stem can accompany the transaction.
Today, I no longer have interest in older stock pipes. I have the examples of the ones I wanted and that is enough for me. That includes two very old Kaywoodies, a few exceptionally grained Lees that are in the 1% of that genre, and a few older Stanwells that were the best of the best of that line. Of course I have NOS Marxmans as well as two restored Estate Marxmans. Each of those is also an outstanding example of the genre. For me to purchase a pipe today, I would have to really, really be motivated to do so. My interest now is maintaining my 60 or so pipes in top condition and reducing the number I own to around 35 pipes.
When I get an estate, it is shipped off to Briarville where it is fully restored. If the stem is unacceptable, one of two things happens. I replace the stem, and in the case of a pipe that has value as a named pipe such as a Charatan's Make, the original stem is restored to the extent it can be restored and sent back as well so that if I sell the pipe, the original stem can accompany the transaction.
Today, I no longer have interest in older stock pipes. I have the examples of the ones I wanted and that is enough for me. That includes two very old Kaywoodies, a few exceptionally grained Lees that are in the 1% of that genre, and a few older Stanwells that were the best of the best of that line. Of course I have NOS Marxmans as well as two restored Estate Marxmans. Each of those is also an outstanding example of the genre. For me to purchase a pipe today, I would have to really, really be motivated to do so. My interest now is maintaining my 60 or so pipes in top condition and reducing the number I own to around 35 pipes.
This thread is too much fun, I’m back with a reason as to why estate pipes are both intriguing and gross.
Let’s say I find a used Armani suit that fits me like a glove. It’s only $50. However, the previous owner had the garlic sweats (anyone with an Italian Grandpop might understand) and crapped his pants every time he wore the suit. Like a thousand times. The suit has been sanitized. I might wear that suit, I might not, maybe I’d have to try it on.
Let’s say I find a used Armani suit that fits me like a glove. It’s only $50. However, the previous owner had the garlic sweats (anyone with an Italian Grandpop might understand) and crapped his pants every time he wore the suit. Like a thousand times. The suit has been sanitized. I might wear that suit, I might not, maybe I’d have to try it on.
Did you know that water you made your coffee with was once dinosaur piss?
Never drink downstream from the herd.
If you s..t in your pipes, you can keep them.
I'd never buy an Armani suit, shit or no shit.
It is. The "estate" market really got going in the 1980's. It existed before then, but not to the same extent.
It existed sure, but what I'm saying is that you could get an estate (making up percentages here) for 25% new and now it's 50%.
It has gone up but most of my estates were well below 50 percent Well, 50 percent of current value. Probably more than originally purchased.
Some were close to 50 but I knew the price was a bit high. Ebay is frequently overpriced. Ever increasing fees dont help.
Some were close to 50 but I knew the price was a bit high. Ebay is frequently overpriced. Ever increasing fees dont help.
I'm not understanding what you just posted. Are you saying that at one time estates averaged about 25% of the price of a new pipe, and that now they are 50%?
Prices on estates vary a great deal depending on how large a market of collectors there are for them. Even adjusting for inflation, some estate pipes go for more than they fetched when they were first sold.
In general, 50% to 60% is today's average pricing on pipes that aren't unicorns. But even now, some obscure pipes go for far less.
As markets mature, levels appear. Take the "vintage" tobacco market. Certain star brands or blends can go for multiples of their original release price. Every $16 dollar tin of McClelland 40th Anniversary blend I bought, now sells for $100 or more. But 15 years ago it was just old tobacco and I could, and did, buy tins of A & C Petersen Escudo for $15 to $20 a tin, as well as other old blends, and those now sell for $120 to $140 a tin.
If your argument is that estates weren't a large market until fairly recently, you're mistaken, full stop. I was buying them 30 to 40 years ago, and tobacconists had cases devoted to estates in their shops. That's not the sign of a fringe market.
