$6500.00 Chonowitsch

[saltedplug]

I will take my lumps for the opinions expressed. I'm usually pissed off, but about once a week I am overtly so, and as being angry IRL is a disaster, I use the forum for its expression.
As regard this topic, I don't feel that I'm angry because I can't afford the pipe nor at those who can. The judgment comes from the complete disjuncture between the object and its stupendously assigned dollar value, flashing in neon the word, "illusion, illusion, illusion," at which point, in my perception, it is like a dirty, clogged drain with smelly water or an unwashed body at close quarters. Its jolts me because of its a-reality.
Dr. Hanna's article, above , concludes that:

In the case of tasting pipes and tobaccos, it is the brand myth that dictates our expectations, prepares our taste buds, and constructs the tasting experience, while we honestly though naively believe we are being objective and impartial.

Also, in fewer words, the pipes that do smoke better do so according to his adage "Briar, not brand."
Maybe no one is prepared to agree with my statement that the price is wildly inflated and dedsrves the designation, "ridiculous," but I'm partial to it given the wildly exaggerated cost. But I will retract the same judgment about those who would buy the pipe, who I'm sure didn't care about my opinions in the first place.

 

[pipebuddy]

A pipe that price has been most likely purchased by a collector; who will not smoke it and, in 10 years from now, put it up on eBay for 5 times that price.

It's speculation. Our pipe world is subject to greedy capitalism as much as other spheres of human activity. :wink:

 

[brian64]

Maybe no one is prepared to agree with my statement that the price is wildly inflated and dedsrves the designation, "ridiculous," but I'm partial to it given the wildly exaggerated cost.

My contention is that what the price is primarily reflecting is how little value federal reserve notes actually have. You just don't notice it so much until you look at high-end items, especially collectibles...because there are many ways in which inflation is masked at the lower end of the spectrum...cheap imports, mass production, subsidies, etc.

 

[warren]

I refuse to lower my standards of living just to enjoy the esteem of the masses. To be judged as "sick" because of how I spend or do not spend my moneys is ... well ... just sick. :rofl:

 

[pipestud]

I'm usually pissed off, but about once a week I am overtly so, and as being angry IRL is a disaster, I use the forum for its expression. - salted plug

Lucky us. ::
Pipestud

 

[brian64]

I'm usually pissed off

Try some higher nic blends.

 

[philobeddoe]

There are plenty of fellas out there, who have been puffing on the same tarred up cob or Grabow for the last ten years who would find that spending more than $20.00 on a pipe to be ludicrous. It’s all in your perspective. I too find these threads about cost very revealing, as how and why another person spends their own money should be of no concern to anyone else. A commodity is generally priced at what the market will bear, therefore Mr. Chonovich’s pipes are priced accordingly.

 

[saltedplug]

Try some higher nic blends.

Wish it were that easy. In any case high-nic is what I smoke 2/3 smokes:
Dark Flake

Dark Plug

Brown rope

Black rope

University Flake

Royal Yacht

Irish Flake

1792

Haddos

Old Ironsides

Jackknife Plug

Triple Play

Condor

Semois

War Horse

 

[sablebrush52]

Of course the thing about high end collectibles is, being fluff, that they become worthless in a bad financial crunch. My boss at the jewelry store told me about how prices on gem quality diamonds dropped to 5% of their former prices within weeks after the 1929 Crash. Personally, I place fiscal limits on my toys because it's all just money up in smoke, literally. Same goes for pretty much anything else that isn't tied to making a profit.

The judgment comes from the complete disjuncture between the object and its stupendously assigned dollar value, flashing in neon the word, "illusion, illusion, illusion," at which point, in my perception, it is like a dirty, clogged drain with smelly water or an unwashed body at close quarters. Its jolts me because of its a-reality.

Well, of course! None of this is strictly, or maybe even remotely, rational. Another purpose is being served. What that is, is unknown.
It's all a matter of opinion. I think that the whole Danish price point is one of the bigger and more hilarious scams in the pipe world, but that's just me, and someone else may say that Britwood is shitwood.

 

[scrumpyjack]

How do you have the money to keep all those extravagant blends on hand? :puffpipe:

 

[scrumpyjack]

How do you have the money to keep all those extravagant blends on hand? :puffpipe:

 

[deathmetal]

Same goes for pretty much anything else that isn't tied to making a profit.

Excellent advice, I think. If you can use it to make money, it has value. If not, it's only worth what someone else has to spend on it, which varies with the trends and times. Kind of like the people stashing Beanie Babies.

To be judged as "sick" because of how I spend or do not spend my moneys is ... well ... just sick.

Ah, the difficult post-1789 years when no one can escape the implicit discussion of class. Welp, I'm off to smoke some of the 'Yacht.

 

[brian64]

Depends of course on what the "collectible" is. High-end collectibles are generally in the category of rare works of art, which can hardly be compared to something like beanie babies. But it's a game for those with truck loads of money.
As for the rest of us, if you want to be prepared for a "crash" the best thing to do is try becoming as self-sufficient as possible. Food will be the most priceless commodity if there's ever a real crash.

 

[saltedplug]

In my 20s I waited tables for 5 years at a posh club high above the ground in Chicago in what was then called the Sears Tower. Lunch was packed but dinner sparse, as all the monieds skipped town after work for their uppity homes on the North Shore. Lunch was for making deals, and one guy in particular is easy to recall. He'd stroll in impeccably tailored, handsome, with a barracuda smile, and the calculation in his eyes palpable. Watching him over the course of a meal was like watching a cat circling its prey. I'm not sure if he won the deal he pursued every time, but I do imagine he won plenty, enough to amass the wealth he was reputed to have.
Maybe that's part of the answer to why the pipe upsets me, an entire society based on privilege, that based on what I have and you don't. What could be more empty than materiality and the depraved social distinctions derived from it? A greedy and corrupt nation with a pipe as its exemplar.

 

[jpberg]

Unlike the amount of money one should spend on a pipe, can we agree that stupidity has no limits?

 

[warren]

It's not a society based on privilege. A lot of people are easily content with "good enough." They then spend time throwing darts at those who chose to achieve more. It's more a society based entirely on effort. Do the necessary work (preparation, study, etc.) and possibly reap the benefits from taking the risk of not having a monthly paycheck. This "class warfare" crap is just that crap. If you are jealous of someone having more money than you, go make more money. If you are content, why denigrate those with more money?
Your diner was working hard, even at lunch. Admirable? To me, yes. To you? Apparently not. One can have sufficient moneys. No one can have too much money.
---------
Stupidity is more than likely self-limiting. No cure for stupid. Lot's of remedies for lazy, aimlessness, self-satisfaction and ignorance. Unfortunately, those cures usually require some sort of figurative or literal kick in the ass get started on.

 

[sablebrush52]

It's not a society based on privilege. A lot of people are easily content with "good enough." They then spend time throwing darts at those who chose to achieve more. It's more a society based entirely on effort.

I wish we lived in a meritocracy, but we don't. There's plenty of privilege based advancement in the US of A, make no mistake about it. But what separated us from rigidly class stratified societies was that you could also rise through effort. The notion that "who you know" doesn't matter is just not true. That's why competition to get your germy kids into the right prep school is even keener than fighting over the last Tele Tubbie on Black Friday. That said, It isn't only "who you know".
But guys like me, with no societal connections, through sheer persistence and some self made "luck" could also succeed in very competitive fields. Along the way I've seen plenty of well connected mediocrities siphon off the rewards created by and belonging to others. And I've seen some real forces of nature who could create magic like nobody else and who earned very accolade they received. Society is a mix. It's not just, nor is it fair. But there are opportunities.

 

[ron123]

I've seen these discussions on multiple forums...always bothers me. I don't have a cabinet full of Bo Nordh's...but I wish I did, and I wouldn't mind being in a forum where guys are comfortable posting pics of high end pipes, but the discussions always devolve into a "more money than brains" consensus. Weird how it's ok to mock what we can't have, but nobody better dare mock the poor SOB's wallowing in the muck of their sacred cobs and dr grabows, and all the other more common than dirt pipes. Pretty dull...

 

[brian64]

@Sable: Gee thanks a lot...you just shattered all my illusions. Until now I really thought that each and every member of the Skull & Bones Society was there because they were/are the best and the brightest.

 

[warren]

Fair? Well chosen word Jesse. Probably the key word. Lots of folks want fairness in life. Ain't gonna happen.
I maybe took too much umbrage with the "privilege" argument. But, though privilege makes it easy for some, it is a situation which, as you pointed out, can be surmounted.
We all know incompetents who make it to the top. We all know hard chargers, bright and hard working, who didn't. And, more importantly we all know constant failures who doggedly kept at it and succeeded.
I guess the point I missed making was just because a person has money, he is not automatically a bad guy or a good guy as some opine. Classifying a person simply on how they spend their money or how much they have is damned shallow. If I wanted to be rich, I'd spend a lot of time wherever they are to be found, mouth shut, ears open. Maybe get a waiter position in an establishment the rich frequented. A great way to learn.