Artisan Pipes

[mso489]

sablebrush, I thought I was saying basically the same thing as your last paragraph, maybe with a slightly different emphasis, but I think we're on the same page here.

 

[jefff]

They were Stanwells, cheap Savs, Rossi's and low end Bjarnes.
Either the mortise hole well off center or not anywhere near the bottom of the bowl.
These were just my experience. I am sure others have had better luck. I also have a few inexpensive briars that are perfectly drilled and smoke wonderfully. Among them is a late 90's or early 2000 Barling. Not an era that inspires poetry.

 

[sablebrush52]

I've never owned a Rossi, so no comment there. I have several Stanwells and Bjarns. The Stanwells were all older, made before Stanwell decided to outsource production to Italy and they were properly drilled and smoke well. The Bjarnes are also properly drilled and are good pipes. These are also low to mid level pipes. Maybe I was lucky, but I don't collect either of these, just have a few of each.

 

[jefff]

To be fair. All of those experiences were 20-30 years ago. And not all of my pipes are artisan.

 

[halfy]

IMHO, very few of the artisans have the know how and know why of pipe making... Though factory pipes are usually worse ...
All that is, you get what you pay for.

 

[cigrmaster]

dave,

Update: So I bought the Luigi Viprati....and it's the best smoking experience I've had so far! It trumps my cobs and savinelli 320 In my humble opinion, if you're going to buy a briar, go for a really good one with premium quality briar, otherwise, just stick with cobs. I think the briar of my sav 320 is low quality as it's at the lower end of the savinelli range? I prefer my cobs to the 320 but the Viprati trumps all! Brilliant smoke

I once owned around 6 Viprati's at one time and everyone smoked really nicely. They were all a 4Q so the grain was fantastic. I am glad to hear you love how it smokes, Viprati's are a good example of how well Italian pipes smoke. Having a shank dimension of 4.0-4.5mm makes for a nice dry smoke. Seeing as you love your Viprati, you can now expand into the world of Italian factory pipes such as Castello's, old Caminetto's, Radice's Ser Jacobo,Ardor to name a few.

Here are a couple of examples of really great pipes for a modest some of money.
This pipe is nothing to look at but it will be a great smoker. These older Caminetto's were carved by Radice and Ascorti and smoke as good as any Italian pipe made. They are from the 70's in most cases. I have owned around 5-7 of these over the years and the only reason I no longer have them is the stems are made of acrylic which I don't care for anymore.

http://briarblues.com/jio53.htm

Here is a Castello for 165.00 that should be an awesome smoker.

http://mkelaw-pipes.com/html/pipee3731.html
There are so many more examples of great estate pipes for a great price. If you want to get into the world of artisan pipes I would recommend Ryan Alden for a new one. I own 2 of his pipes bought brand new and both are superb smokers. He goes by the handle of Lonestar here. Another member who carves a great pipe for the money is Zack Hamric, he is a moderator here and his handle is Zack. Another option for you are pipes made by a British company named Willmer. They make an awesome pipe an I just bought 13 of them at one shot from an ebay seller. That is how much I like these pipes.
If you want any help picking out pipes, just pm me and I will be more than happy to help you.

 

[lestrout]

I recall that some of the great Danish carvers believed in having the air draft hole a few mm above the floor of the chamber. Maybe that helped reduce gurgling in the dottle with the goopy aromatics?
hp

les

 

[warren]

45 out of 90? Someone needs to inspect prospective purchases more closely.

 

[jefff]

A point of clarification. I meant 40, not 90.
I blame the keyboard
Let the mocking begin!