Average Life Expectancy of a Pipe

[Briar Lee]

As I’m smoking my Preben Holm Matt Original full of Nightcap, I cannot imagine this pipe will ever get smoked enough to be some sour, burned, cracked old relic sold on eBay.

But I’m 63, and thirty or forty years is going to wear me out, but maybe not this pipe.

My pipe is a hunk of wood with a hard rubber stem I light fires in. I’ve seen men take one pipe and smoke it completely to death in a year or so, smoking just that pipe.

I also own a 1942 Winchester Model 12 shotgun in pristine condition I occasionally shoot. The famous writer Earnest Hemingway wore out a Model 12 Winchester, and I’ve seen others worn out, good only for parts guns. Winchester used to advertise a Model 12 would shoot a train car load of shells, about 350,000, but they didn’t claim it would shoot two train car loads of shells.

Even my collection of old 21 jewel railroad watches would someday wear out, in constant service. It would take awhile, but it would happen.

Does anyone know the number of smokes or years of service famous pipe makers claim is the service life of their pipes?

I have a few old Kaywoodies from the 1930s that still smoke, but they are very tired. They’ve turned dark all over, and lost their goodness they once had. As much as I try and refresh them, they are close to their end of service life.

Any opinions on what that is?

 

[peregrinus]

Any opinions on what that is?

Entropy

 

[sablebrush52]

Rick Newcombe wrote about this question in his book In Search Of Pipedreams, asking two respected experts what they considered the lifespan of a pipe to be. IIRC, they said about 1500 bowls because the wood would become clogged with tars and oils.
We now know that there is little penetration of the wood. Taking care of your pipes certainly extends their useful lives.
Some of the pipes I smoke are well over a hundred years old. A couple are approaching 140 years of age and are still going strong.
So far as I’m concerned, a well cared for pipe can last a number of generations.

 

[OzPiper]

Taking care of your pipes certainly extends their useful lives.
Some of the pipes I smoke are well over a hundred years old. A couple are approaching 140 years of age and are still going strong.
So far as I’m concerned, a well cared for pipe can last a number of generations.

^^^^^ Exactly that
@condorlover1 and @weezell can attest to that with their 100+yo meerschaums (supposedly more fragile than briar)

 

[mikethompson]

So far as I’m concerned, a well cared for pipe can last a number of generations

Agreed, a cared for pipe can easily have several owners.

Meers could last pretty well forever I would think.

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Interesting question and comments. I've been able to find a couple Hamilton RR watches myself. Both run and keep good time.

Right now my chain saw hasn't seen use in two years. I suspect more harm is being done from disuse. I believe this is true for cars and trucks. I never turn off the a/c and only adjust the temp.

I read about Hemingway's W-12. Apparently is was burned, modified, and had custom shot used.

I have no idea about pipes, except that they are made of wood and we know wood deteriorates. For my musical instruments I use sponges in plastic cases to keep the woods from cracking in Winter since I use gas heat.

Isn't the reason folks allow "cake" build up is to protect the inside of the chamber?

 

[WVOldFart]

That is a hard question to answer because it depends on how much it is used. If the pipe is smoked 10 bowls a day, every day then it won't have the same lifespan as one smoked two bowls a week. Like everything else in life it depends on the care and upkeep you are willing to give your pipe.

 

[Briar Lee]

A part of the service life of a briar pipe is how often it’s smoked, and the care it’s given, I’m convinced.

If the smoker had just one pipe, and fired it up four or five times a day, he might wear that pipe out in a year, or about 1,500 smokes, if he didn’t care for it well. Yet if each night he carefully cleaned it and sat it aside to dry, it might smoke for years, even a lifetime.

Every few months I use up a 750 milliliter (a fifth) of Everclear. Last night I carefully took a paper towel and soaked it, and then cleaned my Preben Holm. The chamber looked not bad, but the towel came out foul and black, and I used up two pipe cleaners, then set it aside to dry.

I may smoke that big pipe, four times a month, or about fifty times a year.

This morning I dug out a big Nording Grade 3 I’ve smoked like that, since 1977. It’s better than new, because it’s broken in. But it’s better today than it will be next year, or ten years from now. It might take three owners and a century, but eventually it’s going to wear out.

We can all see what happens to a meerschaum pipe as the pipe steadily turns coal black, over time, from absorption of tars. My very well worn Kaywoodies are nearly black, too.

But while coloring may help a meerschaum it does not help briar.

The cured and aged root of a Mediterranean heath tree imparts it’s own good tasting flavor to our pipes so long as it’s not fully impregnated with tars.

After that it will still smoke, but it’s lost it’s goodness.

For a well cared for and rotated pipe that’s going to be a long time away.

But it’s not eternal.

 

[danish]

I only remember having tossed pipes many years ago, that I bought from new, when the stems were chewed up. After about maybe 1000+ bowls. I unfortunately didn't consider getting stem replacements then, despite those being among my favorite pipes. If I had bought stem replacements, those mediocre Pibe-Dans and Stanwells could probably have lasted for a further 1000+ bowls . I however presume that 5 star Lee briars would last forever, of course

 

[Briar Lee]

I only remember having tossed pipes many years ago, that I bought from new, when the stems were chewed up. After about maybe 1000+ bowls. I unfortunately didn't consider getting stem replacements then, despite those being among my favorite pipes. If I had bought stem replacements, those mediocre Pipe Dans and Stanwells could probably have lasted for a further 1000+ bowls . I however presume that 5 star Lee briars would last forever, of course

I also accumulate old shotguns, and the finest gas operated semi autos were the Winchester Super X Model One, which was the first computer aided design shotgun, as well. I’ve seen four, and bought all four. They look pristine.

Yet they have a service life of a third of a million shots, exactly like a Model 12.

Why the typical SX1 looks like it was made last year instead of almost fifty years ago is that when new they cost about twice what other excellent shotguns like them cost. In the years since they tend to find good homes.

Three Star Lees were the same price as Kaywoodie Flame Grains. Yet the average Lee is found in excellent condition, the Kaywoodie might be smoked to death.

The Lee buyer didn’t go to the drug store and pay $10 for the best pipe on the rack. He ordered it.

And if he paid that much he took care of it. If he splurged $25 for a Five Star he nearly built a shine for it.

But if we use them, someday it all falls down.

ALL FALL DOWN

 

[STP]

I agree w/above. If properly cared for, a pipe can last a lifetime. I think a lot of things have a better life expectancy than their users?

 

[mso489]

My dad owned only one pipe at a time and smoked from just after breakfast until bedtime nearly every day until the pipe bowl cracked or burnt up. A child's concept of time is undependable, but as I recall, most pipes lasted about two years smoked like this. He smoked only Granger from the foil pouch, beginning at age fifteen, and quitting cold turkey at 65 to take a job on a non-smoking campus, and departed life at age 89 licensed to drive without glasses, living at home.

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Now that I think of it, my grandfather had one 1800’s era double barrel and a guard less pistol that were metal fatigued and loose as a goose.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

They should have asked this guy...
"How many smokes till you kill a briar pipe?"
I bet I know the answer... that owl probably smokes like a freight train.

 

[irishearl]

1 of the pipes in my regular rotation is 121 years old.

 

[kcghost]

To quote Johnny Mathis "Until the twelfth of never...". The thing will last several life times if you take care of them.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I believe a good pipe, well cared for, can last several hundred years, but have no personal direct experience with such.

And can we keep shotguns and watches in another thread?

 

[sablebrush52]

We can all see what happens to a meerschaum pipe as the pipe steadily turns coal black, over time, from absorption of tars. My very well worn Kaywoodies are nearly black, too.

Pipes don't turn black from the absorption of tars. Whoever told you that knows nothing about pipes. That's a myth, like the earth being flat and the danger of sailing off the end of it.

How do we know this? By evidence, pipes with decades of hard service that have been cut in half, revealing little penetration of the wood by tars and oils.

My very well worn Kaywoodies are nearly black, too.

Pipes will darken a little from heat, but most of that darkening is just an accretion of smoke and skin grease. Most of that blackening will clean right off.

hree Star Lees were the same price as Kaywoodie Flame Grains. Yet the average Lee is found in excellent condition, the Kaywoodie might be smoked to death.

Might this not be because Lees were terrible smokers and got left in the drawer and the Kaywoodies got put to use because they were an infinitely preferable pipe to smoke?

You know, when James Stewart's agent negotiated a very lucrative contract for him, Stewart went out and bought his agent a special gift to celebrate a million dollar contract, and that was when a million dollars was real money. And do you know what gift James Stewart bought his agent, a gift for a million dollar contract?

James Stewart got his agent a cased set of Kaywoodies to celebrate that contract. To James Stewart, a real pipe man, that was a gift worth a million dollars. He knew those pipes weren't going to go in a drawer and stay unused, like those Lees you're referring to.

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Shotguns and watches were included in the OP making them relevant unless it’s a personal issue.

 

[cigrmaster]

My pipes are immortal, nothing can kill them. I take such good care of them, they are like brand new after every smoke. My pipes will out last me to a factor of ten.