Again, How Many Pipes Recommended?

[mso489]

Again, the popular question, how many pipes do you need or want? This relates to the fetish, compulsion, obsession, or habit -- depending on point of view -- of each pipe owner. I'd guess about twenty pipes would be a good target, if you want higher-end pipes, whatever that means to you and your budget. Alternately, you can become self-schooled in owning more pipes at lower cost as long as you spend a lot of time shopping and knowing what is available that is good quality at low price, but it takes time and research. I have about 92 pipes, not counting a few unsmokeable ones that are souvenirs, for example one all wood pipe with the chamber lined with tin can metal. I'd say about twenty of my pipes are high end, by my lights, many of them gifts. The rest are intended as especially good picks, and most of them are, and some of those smoke as well as my high end pipes. How many pipes make a good stable?

 

[anotherbob]

I've got ten and honestly I only want one more but that will be in a while. It's going to have to be an expensive custom job since I don't really see any pipes of that style made these days. That said I was at one point very content with having one or two pipes for years. I think you need as many as you will enjoy. Of my pipes I smoke all but one of them at least twice in a two week period. The one is a very special occasion pipe.

 

[coming to_falling too]

I don't really have a target in mind. I think I have roughly 30 or so pipes, though I haven't counted lately, and am always adding to that number.

 

[mso489]

All of my 92 are in rotation, and it is a treat to pack one that feels like I haven't seen it in a long time, sort of like a new pipe, but without any suspense about how it will smoke. All my pipes get more than plenty of rest and dry out completely.

 

[sablebrush52]

Need? Maybe 10
Want? Maybe 1,000's

 

[jpmcwjr]

I'd recommend one more than you have currently.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I put all of mine but one into storage to cut back on clutter so I'll say one.

 

[warren]

Unless I find another pipe I want ,,, I have a sufficient amount. There is no magic number.

 

[seanv]

I am close to forty pipes at the moment. I smoke all of them occasionally and a few of them often. I have trimmed the herd a bit and feel good about each one that I have kept. For me, that is the most important thing.

 

[canucklehead]

How many pipes are needed? Well, at least one pipe. You can't smoke a pipe without one. Anything past one is a luxury, not a necessity.

I have 40+ pipes but only use 10 or so of them on a regular basis, I have on a few occasions used only 1 pipe for an extended period (not like didi, like for a week or so) with no ill effects other than boredom.

 

[Country Bladesmith]

Depends on how many genres of tobacco you enjoy, and how much you want to separate pipes by genre. One pipe is technically enough if you don’t care about smoking your straight Virginia in the same pipe in which you just smoked a full English, etc.

 

[cshubhra]

You need about 10-20 depending on the number of bowls per day and the variety of blends you smoke.

I have 40 out of which I smoke may be 36-37 with fair regularity. However, that’s much more than I need.

I have significantly slowed down my pipe buying, but since I have a few themes going on, may buy them time to time.

 

[alaskanpiper]

As you said it depends. As @didimauw has proven, one could probably get by with one for a quite a while if they had to. I have probably 70, that all get smoked roughly equally. The exception would be the cheaper pipes in my collection, which get smoked much more often in the summer, as in the summer I am usually out and about fishing, hunting, and adventuring, and tend to bring pipes that won't be a big loss if they fall out of a boat/airplane/ATV and are never seen again.

 

[petes03]

I smoke one bowl in a pipe, then let it rest a minimum of 24 hours before I smoke it again. Lately, I average about 3 bowls a day. Sometimes 1 on workdays and maybe 4 or 5 on off days. Therefore, I need roughly 21. I keep 26 next to my recliner upstairs and roughly 35 or so in my den. I don’t have a specific goal, number wise. I do have “bucket list” pipes though, many of which I’ve already obtained. Unlike my gun and knife collections, I actually sell and trade pipes from time to time. Currently, I have around 60, but at one time I had 75+. I’ve owned around 100 total though.

 

[peregrinus]

I put all of mine but one into storage to cut back on clutter so I'll say one.

Yep.
I have well north of 100, however at the start of 2020 I began an experiment. I keep only 3 regulars in rotation.
Once a week (or thereabouts) I pick one or two out of the rest and smoke them, then they, or one of the regular 3, gets cleaned, polished and put away. Thus keeping my rotation at 3-4 pipes.
So far I’ve refurbished and retired over 25 pipes and I plan to keep this up until I re-evaluated every pipe I own, or at least the ones I ever intend to smoke. Then I plan to pick 10-12 to keep and sell/give away the rest.
In then meantime it seems I can get by with 3-4 pipes quite easily.

 

[Casual]

I don’t smoke enough to need more than one. I smoke roughly 1/15 of didimaw and he needed exactly one.

 

[philobeddoe]

42

 

[tradition]

I have 7, 3 of which have been with me for over 45 years.

And yes, they all get smoked regularly.

 

[bnichols23]

Need? God only knows, I don't.
Want? More than I've got, but how many I couldn't tell you.
Have? Lord knows for sure. Somewhere north of 140. I honestly don't know, sorry.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

I'd say 10 or less is the reasonable answer.. but that would be hard to do. If you believe in resting your pipes for days after each smoke, and you smoke a good many bowls each day.. plus having dedicated pipes for different blends.. You might need at least 92.

I try to keep 7 going at once, even 7 causes quite a bit of pipe clutter.