Anyone else feel wierd about smoking an estate pipe?

[mso489]

Two issues, health, which is addressed by sanitizing properly, and legacy, which posits that you are either "smoking someone else's pipe" or smoking the pipe of a dead person. I have only one pipe which I did not buy new, but it is one of my flagship pipes. The former owner is alive, well, and prosperous, so I am hoping that is contagious. I will say, when pipes get some real age on them, twenty years or more, they really do hit their stride. There's breaking in a pipe, and then there is having a pipe attain its full potential over time.

 

[iamn8]

So long as they're clean, estate pipes allow me to purchase pipes otherwise out of my price range. I have zero problem smoking them. For $100, I once licked a movie theater floor so take my opinion with a grain. I think people are too paranoid. While you might feel icky about it, you likely take FAR FAR FAR greater risks on a daily basis.

 

[mso489]

Nate, you licked a theater floor for a hundred bucks? You are a wild guy. I wouldn't, but I appreciate that you did.

 

[jackswilling]

Most of my Castellos and all of my Dunhills are estates. Would not pay for a new Dunhill with a large 14k gold band. I have the $$$, but I have been very happy with the estate pipes. As noted, estate does not mean "for sure came from a diseased dead man." I like pizza, and just deal with the fact that there are skin cells and e coli, i.e. krap particles in the dough.

 

[pagan]

To each his own. I have nothing but estate pipes, except my cobs, and I clean and sanitize everyone then send em to Stem and Briar for rejuvenation, Im very confident the are safe and sanitary for reuse.
They are pieces of history and continue to serve as intended
There are many comments to the contrary but like the restaurant reference, or public bathrooms, bowling shoes ete. etc... it all comes down to personal preference.

 

[philobeddoe]

To each his own, but....have any if you ever kissed a girl or shagged a girl sans prophylactic? I can assure you that there were waaaaay more germs exchanged then, than any estate pipe carries. Most germs, microbes etc. need some form of media to live in/on, and once the saliva from the previous owner has evaporated and the leftover schumtz in the stem has dried, there won't be much for the little buggers to live on. What I mean is, most estate pipes are quite dead, germ wise, I know there are still some creepy crawlies in there, but a good Everclear bath will kill the vast majority of them. The rest....well c'est la vie!
P.S. Do any of you have a dog or a cat....do you know where that tongue has been?

 

[edgreen]

I buy almost nothing but estates. I can't part with a particular sum of money for a new pipe when I know I could get twice the quality in estates. I only deal with a few sellers I trust. I learned a long time ago that viruses and bacteria can live on a guitar fingerboard for a really long time (I was reinfecting myself). Plenty of people buy and play vintage instruments. Maybe if we called them vintage pipes instead of estate pipes it wouldn't seem so weird.
BTW, I've sold pipes and later saw them sold as estates and I'm still very much alive. Just seemed weird because of that word..estate

 

[andrew]

@aldecaker

 

[aldecaker]

@Andy- Yeah, I used to think that... 8O
Anyway, this is a weird conversation. It seems a few people are saying, "I don't like estate pipes BUT IT'S NOT BECAUSE OF THE M*&%#@ F&^*$#& GERMS" and the entire rest of the forum says "Great! Let's go off on a huge bender on talking about how estate pipes have no germs and if they do everything else has more germs!". I'm afraid to reiterate the fact that it's NOT BECAUSE OF THE GERMS for fear of fifty more responses about germs.

 

[iamn8]

In the late '80s, $100 was a good bit of cash, especially to a high school kid. I was quite happy to lick the floor and likely would've done it for less

 

[mayfair70]

People used to have picnics in graveyards while visiting the dearly departed. They also used to prop up said relative in the parlor and have home viewings and take pictures prior to burial. I spent most of my youth walking through cemetery to get to the rope swing by the lagoon. So, I've walked over untold graves. Does this make an estate pipe more palatable to those creeped out by it? Hell no. I find this whole thread very interesting. I smoke estate pipes and if you don't like it or can't do it, fine. Obviously many here smoke estates, there are constant threads about them and many make money off them. If you are disgusted by it, simply don't do it. If dead great uncle Jed is mad I'm smoking his pipe, he's more than welcome to complain to me personally. But he won't, he's dead. Can't stomach estates? Don't get them, I won't judge. Everybody has their thing, the line they won't cross. I learned a lot today. 8O

 

[piffyr]

This is like saying, "I don't really feel comfortable dancing on this grave" and having people reply, "Why? There's no cow shit on it".

Personally, I don't have a problem with dancing on a grave. I doubt the guy in it cares very much either. I'd rather not dance in cow shit though.
I understand where you're coming from though, man. I really do. Personal qualms are what they are and there's nothing much to be done for them. On the flip side, it's difficult to rationalize a fear/repulsion/whatever based upon a potential fact that a pipe may have once touched the lips of a man that might be dead now if you don't have that qualm yourself. So, the only rational explanation that can be come up with is that it must be the germs that's turning those guys off.

 

[mayfair70]

My theory is the estate pipe reminds one of their mortality and impending demise.

 

[orobusto]

This conversation can take pipe ghosting to a new level!

 

[igloo]

Depending on one's eclectic tastes some pipes are only available as estates .Just about everything needs to be washed or cleaned at some point or another . When I smoke old estates I often think of how different the time period from which they come from would have been . The only ghosts I have encountered are from tobacco . Just because I walk around with Kleenex boxes for shoes does make me a germophobic fool .Remember folks salads have killed more people than estate pipes .

 

[crashthegrey]

Good point, @orobusto. I guess we may be smoking with a few ghosts when we enjoy our estate pipes. I'm personally glad it creeps some people out, as it will keep the prices lower that way.

 

[aldecaker]

@piffyr- I think we all accept the notion that an estate pipe is simply a used pipe, and not necessarily the former property of a literal dead man. I think people simply use the phrase "dead man's pipe" to be flip, not accurate. A rational explanation probably won't be found, other than to some, a pipe is considered too much of a "personal item" to be used and re-used by different people. I appreciate an acknowledgement that distaste for estates can be attributed to something other than a piper's lack of knowledge about germs, though. It is a refreshing change.
@mayfair- #1- Thank you for not going off on an educational germ rant that is completely beside the point of this thread. I truly appreciate that. #2- I don't believe that anyone was casting any aspersions toward those who enjoy estates; I believe, in fact, that your suggestions have all been followed, to the letter, before you even mentioned them. I think a guy (bobwills) was simply inquiring as to wether or not anyone else shares his feelings about estate pipes, NOT about PEOPLE WHO ENJOY ESTATE PIPES.

 

[aldecaker]

What are you, a shrink? Why would you even have a theory about something this mundane?

 

[iamn8]

Before you smoke an estate pipe, use your finger tracing out a circular motion on your arm and recite "circle circle dot to dot. Now I have my cootie shot."

 

[sablebrush52]

To each his own, but....have any if you ever kissed a girl or shagged a girl sans prophylactic? I can assure you that there were waaaaay more germs exchanged then, than any estate pipe carries.

I was wondering how long it would take for this salient point to be made. When you're being physically intimate with another person, you're being intimate with that person's entire sexual history.
Back to pipes. I have new pipes. I've commissioned new pipes. I have estates. It's all the same to me. My favorite pipes haven't been made for over 50 years, so I'm reliant on estates. Once I've cleaned and sanitized I'm all set. I like the styles and shapes from times gone by. I like the history surrounding pipes, so having vintage pipes is a natural for me. Since my oldest working pipe is from 1882, it's highly likely that one or more of its previous owners is dead, dead, dead. Croaked out. Biting a dirt sandwich. Worm food. So what.
I use previously used things all the time, from aforementioned GF to theater seats, bus seats, public crappers, cars, airline seats, vintage dishes, my grandmother's mixing bowls, DVD's, CD's, antique furniture, etc. I'll happily buy second hand if what I want is no longer made, or if the item is in good working order. Just because I have the money doesn't mean I need to spend it. I don't care. I have nothing to prove. Period.