Bargain High End Pipes

[Briar Lee]

Like other luxury goods, with a briar pipe if you spend double the money for a high end one, you don’t get double the quality. Instead you get a little better for a whole lot more cost.

Every briar pipe from a Dr. Grabow to a Dunhill is essentially the same product, a piece of artfully carved briar attached to a hard rubber stem.

Extra cost comes according to extra finish and larger size, and figure of the wood.

The NOT FOR SALE White Spot was $100, the Tilshead $75, and the Three Star 5 pointed star era Lee $35. All three are bargain high end pipes. No pipe could be given a higher finish, and any extra figure in the briar would come at a frightful increase in price. The White Spot is the largest, the Lee the smallest, and all three are like smoking a piece of jewelry, in owner satisfaction and pride of ownership.



High end pipes are worth the extra cost.

I’m just too cheap to pay much more than $30 for better toys.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

When I buy, what I consider, a high end pipe, I am buying artistry and aesthetics. The very idea of a bargain disgusts me. But, you do you.

Some, when they buy a higher priced factory pipe, are buying a brand, or a notion that they are getting a piece of history... or they have their own reasons for this or that. Not my place to question.

 

[telescopes]

The very idea of a bargain disgusts me.

Why?

 

[gervais]

I’ll gladly pay more for a pipe with grain or a blast that tickles my fancy, no problem. But I'm one who likes to admire the pipe as I smoke it. It's a big part of the whole thing for me.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Why?

Why do some people like blue instead of red? Why do some people prefer to wear blue jeans, and some find them too working class? Some people like to find sales and discounts, and some of us don't want to live like a poor person. Being poor is fine. I have nothing against them. If a poor person offers me something I want, I hope they appreciate that I do not try to barter or discount them.
Why do some people take every little thing someone posts on here too seriously?

 

[alaskanpiper]

if you spend double the money for a high end one, you don’t get double the quality. Instead you get a little better for a whole lot more cost.

One could say the same about lawyers!

Then again, maybe I don’t really know what I’m talking about….

 

[Briar Lee]

A good test of a high end pipe is to disregard all brand markings.

Does it look, well made and expensive?

Are there any obvious uses of putty to fill holes?

Aside from symmetry, does every bit of the stummel have grain coverage?

Is the pipe perfectly constructed?

All three of these pipes are top shelf.

 

[sablebrush52]

The thing about discussions around "high end" pipes here is that everybody talks about the wood and almost nobody talks about the stem work, which for me indicates that the level of discussion isn't terribly knowledgeable. There's a hell of a lot more effort that goes into the hand carving of a stem and button, executing the transition from the airway into the slot, than is involved in the stummel. That "magic inch" is the point of contact, and that contact greatly affects one's smoking experience. And yet, that's almost never a part of the discussion.
Any slack jawed, drooling, knuckle dragging troglodyte can belch out "Niiiicce grraaaaaaain!" It's not illuminating.

 

[gervais]

The thing about discussions around "high end" pipes here is that everybody talks about the wood and almost nobody talks about the stem work, which for me indicates that the level of discussion isn't terribly knowledgeable. There's a hell of a lot more effort that goes into the hand carving of a stem and button, executing the transition from the airway into the slot, than is involved in the stummel. That "magic inch" is the point of contact, and that contact greatly affects one's smoking experience. And yet, that's almost never a part of the discussion.
Any slack jawed, drooling, knuckle dragging troglodyte can belch out "Niiiicce grraaaaaaain!" It's not illuminating.

That's fair, but if it isn't pretty to look at, I don't want to smoke the ugly thing, lol. If I can blow air into one end and it comes out the other, chances are it'll smoke just fine, in my experience. Then again, I may be one of those slack jawed, drooling, knuckle dragging troglodytes. LOL.

 

[cigrmaster]

I am very picky about my stems and only have one artisan pipe that is not made from vulcanite and it is a Michael Butera and the design and bend to the pipe makes it smoke pretty darn good for acrylic.

One of the reasons I own mostly Rad Davis and Jack Howell pipes is because of their stem work. They only used high quality German vulcanite which is soft to my teeth and is also easy to keep from getting oxidized with a little Obidisian stem oil. All of the rest of my artisan made pipes have well made stems from the German vulcanite. When I did my big culling only the best stems stayed in my collection.

Jesse is right that stem work is not discussed as much as it probably should be.

 

[alaskanpiper]

The thing about discussions around "high end" pipes here is that everybody talks about the wood and almost nobody talks about the stem work, which for me indicates that the level of discussion isn't terribly knowledgeable. There's a hell of a lot more effort that goes into the hand carving of a stem and button, executing the transition from the airway into the slot, than is involved in the stummel. That "magic inch" is the point of contact, and that contact greatly affects one's smoking experience. And yet, that's almost never a part of the discussion.
Any slack jawed, drooling, knuckle dragging troglodyte can belch out "Niiiicce grraaaaaaain!" It's not illuminating.

X 1000

 

[anotherbob]

The thing about discussions around "high end" pipes here is that everybody talks about the wood and almost nobody talks about the stem work, which for me indicates that the level of discussion isn't terribly knowledgeable. There's a hell of a lot more effort that goes into the hand carving of a stem and button, executing the transition from the airway into the slot, than is involved in the stummel. That "magic inch" is the point of contact, and that contact greatly affects one's smoking experience. And yet, that's almost never a part of the discussion.
Any slack jawed, drooling, knuckle dragging troglodyte can belch out "Niiiicce grraaaaaaain!" It's not illuminating.

but that's not so easy to see in the pretty pictures. It's harder to sell that. Since it's in the I'll have to take your word for it. I.e. the stem internals are great, well can't really see them in action without smoking the thing.