"Bargain" Olivewood Pipe

[4dotsasieni]

I wanted to try an olivewood pipe, but, being of necessity cheap, I didn't want to spend a lot. So I ordered a Turkish-made pipe, marketed on Ebay under the name "Dapper," but stamped on the shank as ""Seimus Pfeife" for $55.

I got what I paid for: the pipe arrived with a white chalky substance coating the inside of the bowl, which I swabbed out with some Irish Whiskey. The bowl has been either unevenly drilled or unevenly "pre-carbonized;" there is a noticeable ridge about halfway down the bowl. The shank on this pipe has extremely thin walls, requiring a lot of caution when removing the stem. And the tenon showed signs of having had beeswax applied, indicating a poor (loose) fitting.
The thing came with a misshapen piece of what I think is balsa wood, jammed in the tenon, to serve as a filter; I of course immediately removed it. I loaded it with what everyone recommends for breaking in a new pipe, Carter Hall (man, I hate this stuff - I call it "The Extinguished Pipe Tobacco" (the container says "A Distinguished Pipe Tobacco") because that's what I usually do after a couple of puffs, although I do occasionally use it for blending. The pipe drew well, dry smoke, no gurgling. I certainly can't say I discerned any olivewood taste or smell (are you supposed to be able to taste olivewood?)
So, basically, I got what I paid for - teach me not to be so cheap!

 

[bigvan]

As they say in Mandarin, "guide bugui, jiande bujian"; "expensive is not expensive, cheap is not cheap".

 

[locopony]

Olive wood looks nice. If it were quality made it would be a neat pipe.

 

[pipedreamer]

Beeswax is not just for loose tenons. applied to ease first entry of stem and to balance while pipe adjusts to cutting and climate.Water shifts in briar even when dry changes opening.Ie. A pipe coming from arizona to florida may have to wait a while for stem to fit. The pipe opening gets bigger.This is related to humidity.Beeswax helps this,also shipping the pipe with stem inserted helps.

 

[atiercan]

My friend, you made a big mistake by swabbing out white chalky substance. That is meerschaum which is perfect for pipe making. Basically you ruined the most important part of the pipe.

 

[rigmedic1]

I have a Seamus Pfeife olive wood pipe. Now this thing is not the star of my collection, but, I bought it to find out if olive wood changed the flavor of the tobacco. So far, I found that it lends flavor to Latakia based blends that I enjoy. However, nothing else is good in it. Seems to cover the taste of Virginias. I suspect if I smoked it enough to form a cake, that might change. Regardless, the grain is nice, even if the stem is cheap and the drilling no good.

 

[rigmedic1]

 

[rigmedic1]

Btw, that should be a Savinelli 9mm balsa filter inside. I left mine in because the draw without it is way too open. This pipe was a $55.00 experiment to experience olive wood, and as such rarely gets smoked. But it beats spending $200 or more for a nice one and discovering that I do not like it.

 

[winton]

I picked up an estate olivewood pipe recently for $25, last year. It is huge in the hand and smokes well. I feels great to grasp. My Savinelli 320 is in front of it for size comparison. I think I got a great deal.

 

[jamespworth]

My friend, you made a big mistake by swabbing out white chalky substance. That is meerschaum which is perfect for pipe making. Basically you ruined the most important part of the pipe.

I'm certain he won't have swabbed out the meerschaum, for starters it wasn't a meerschaum lined pipe and secondly it doesn't wash out with a bit of whisky.

 

[fishnbanjo]

I got one made by Benner and it's a great smoking pipe and just a shade over twice what you paid.

 

[mso489]

There are a number of good smoking pipes in the $50 range, for example the Nording-made

Eriksen in various shapes, or the brushed black Stanwell's from P&C that go for $49.95, for examples.

This olive wood pipe wasn't one of them. It takes some homework to buy a good pipe at that price, true.