Are You a Pipe Smoker or a Pipe Collector?

[sgarrity]

I collect what I smoke and smoke what I collect

I really like Castellos. Especially 55 pots. I have a couple that are unsmoked but that’s only because I haven’t gotten around to it yet. They will get smoked. Recently dipped my toe into high grade artisan pipes. Those could become addictive. But I am smoking them!

 

[Searock Fan]

I have a few antique pipes hanging on the wall in my smoking room. I guess you could call it a small collection but I don't consider myself a pipe collector. All the other pipes I have are smokers.

 

[Salvaje]

Pipe smoker, yes. Pipe collector, maybe. Tobacco collector, Oh God yes!

JimPM,
I have evolved from cigar smoker, to pipe smoker, to pipe collector, to tobacco (cellaring) collector, to estate pipe collecting, to pipe refurbishing. I’m exhausted…might need to sit down and smoke a pipe! ?

 

[Salvaje]

What is your favorite brand/style to collect/buy/or think about buying first?

 

[Anchovies]

Are you a pipe smoker or a pipe collector? It may depend on your point of view. Let's see what G.L. Pease has to say about it in his May column for Pipes Magazine -

And Then There Were Three​

I was tempted to make a new thread for this ... but I've been spamming the forum a bit much lately. Oops.

How can you have only one pipe? Everything I've read is to let your pipe rest a day ... some advocate resting your pipe the amount of days equal to the amount of bowls smoked in the current day ... many others advocate using a different pipe for aromatics and non-aromatics (and some seem to go into even finer fidelity than that).

The only way I can imagine to smoke one pipe is if you smoke the same tobacco every single day and you don't care what it tastes like much. Is that a "pipe smoker"? ... well, sure, obviously it is technically. But in the sense of a "purist pipe smoker" vs a "collector"? Then I think not. In my personal opinion, to be a purist pipe smoker, one should actually care about the tobacco and what it tastes like and should also actually want to experiment and try smoking different tobaccos.

I don't want to insult anyone, but I can't help but think that if you only have one pipe you're simply a nicotine addict and a pipe is your preferred method of delivery. I suppose that still qualifies as a "pipe smoker", but maybe not in the context of what the OP intended ... I dunno ... just thinking out loud.

Annnyhooo ... to answer the question, I'd consider myself foremost a "pipe smoker" ... the pipe is the tool required for the job. However, to do the job well, one needs multiple pipes ... so .... both?

 

[OldWill]

This is my second response to this thread, but I thought I would add my singular definition of beauty. If acquiring beautiful objects qualifies as "collecting", then I am certainly a collector.
Beauty, to my jaundiced eye, lies in the utility of an object, not necessarily in visual pleasantness. By this definition, a well smoked pipe to me is beautiful, in the same way that a pickup truck appeals to me much more than a sports car.
Many people have taken me to task over this definition, but I still adhere to it.

 

[AppalachianPipe92]

A pipe collector who smokes pipes. Just like I'm a vinyl collector who listens to LP's. I'm a collector of many things, so it was only natural to get into the collecting aspect of pipes and tobacco. But unlike some of my other collection, and like some, I'm able to use my pipes and tobacco. And they pair well with some of my other collectibles, like vinyl LPs and hifi gear. While I believe in preserving my pipes to a high quality and "like new" conditions, I also believe in smoking them.

 

[cigrmaster]

I worked with a guy who owned one pipe and smoke Borkumm Riff. The pipe was bit so badly he had cracks all over the stem. He smoked hi pipes while we smoked our cigars and cigarettes. Everyone was happy. Of course we did put some weed in his pipe which pissed him off pretty good. We had a good laugh at that.
I am sure he passed by now but he had a cool pipe name. Enrico Lascola. It just kind of sings.

 

[Salvaje]

I worked with a guy who owned one pipe and smoke Borkumm Riff. The pipe was bit so badly he had cracks all over the stem. He smoked hi pipes while we smoked our cigars and cigarettes. Everyone was happy. Of course we did put some weed in his pipe which pissed him off pretty good. We had a good laugh at that.
I am sure he passed by now but he had a cool pipe name. Enrico Lascola. It just kind of sings.

I’ll smoke a pipe with you anytime. Ha

 

[pruss]

I pretty much smoke what I get and don't try to collect. But some how or other I have a bunch of pipes around here.

Yeah… I have a wicked looking collection, of which I smoke three.

 

[makhorkasmoker]

Looks like I’m in the minority. My ideal is to have the absolute minimum of pipes to maintain a rotation, making allowances for aros and a few different bowl sizes, take care of them, and smoke them with appreciation, but without desire for new ones, til the end

 

[bbqpiper]

I think I like collecting pipes from different makers and artisans as much as I like smoking them. To date there is only 1 pipe that I have purchased that I have not smoked. A part of me thinks it will be worth more if it goes unsmoked but then I quickly realize why I got into this hobby and keeping shelf queens as pipes was not the reason. One day I'll smoke it but it'll have to be for a special occasion

 

[Salvaje]

I think I like collecting pipes from different makers and artisans as much as I like smoking them. To date there is only 1 pipe that I have purchased that I have not smoked. A part of me thinks it will be worth more if it goes unsmoked but then I quickly realize why I got into this hobby and keeping shelf queens as pipes was not the reason. One day I'll smoke it but it'll have to be for a special occasion

I can understand that.

 

[That Guy]

Definitely a smoker. To many years as a collector in other hobbies to wake up one day and say why do I have all this stuff and sell it off. These days if it's not being used and serving a purpose it's gone.

 

[Scottishgaucho]

Definitely not a collector of pipes or tobacco blends. Although I do smoke daily I have very few of both to be honest.

 

[sablebrush52]

Glancing through this it's interesting to see the narrow definitions some of us cling to. I'm a smoking pipe collector in every way that one could parse those three words, "smoking pipe collector".

For some of us this will cause existential dread. For some it will seem obvious. For some it will register about as much as an automatic door opener does to a cow.

 

[cigrmaster]

It's not an either/or proposition. Most of us are both. I enjoyed Greg's article and it reminded me that the journey of collecting pipes is not dissimilar from the journey of collecting tobaccos.

I call Bullshit. While Jesse does have great taste in tobacco and a nice cellar of delectable he is the worlds most epic Barling pipe maven. No one knows more, no one would even declare they new more. He is being modest, but if you need a question answered about Barling and other old brit wood, Jesse is the man and will be till the day he kicks the bucket.
I dare anyone to say they know more.

 

[runscott]

I call Bullshit. While Jesse does have great taste in tobacco and a nice cellar of delectable he is the worlds most epic Barling pipe maven. No one knows more, no one would even declare they new more. He is being modest, but if you need a question answered about Barling and other old brit wood, Jesse is the man and will be till the day he kicks the bucket.
I dare anyone to say they know more.

Thanks for talking up the expertise of this forum in 'the other' place. As a result, I am back trying it again. It is good to know there is a Barling's expert here - I just picked up a 1920. It is old and well-used, and as soon as I can find a replacement stem for it, will be added to the smoking rack.

 

[cigrmaster]

Thanks for talking up the expertise of this forum in 'the other' place. As a result, I am back trying it again. It is good to know there is a Barling's expert here - I just picked up a 1920. It is old and well-used, and as soon as I can find a replacement stem for it, will be added to the smoking rack.

You should show the pipe to Jesse. He could probably tell you the exact year and who made it.

 

[runscott]

You should show the pipe to Jesse. He could probably tell you the exact year and who made it.

Here it is. It arrived a wreck with the wrong stem. It's been cleaned and restored as well as I could with minimal intrusion, as it will be a smoker and I can always do more later. The front left is thin and that's where a previous owner apparently beat the pipe to remove tobacco.

It's hallmarked 1920. I believe it's the 'Magnus':