Best and Worst Pipes

[fallsguy]

Despite what you paid for your pipes, whether $1.00 or $100.00, what are your best and worst smoking pipes?

 

[shawn]

$25 E-bay Ben Wade poker. I had to clean it up a bit, brought the cake down to bare wood, two salt treatments, sanded and restained it, and I olive oil it once in a while. I have had it for two years of enjoyment to date. I will keep that poker forever.

 

[papipeguy]

Worst pipe: a bent Brylon

Best pipe: Ser Jacapo Maxima

 

[hanymamdouh]

Best pipe i has is my petersons kildare 68. It is very regular pipe not a system nor series member but smokes very good. Worst is bigben giant i really dislike this pipe.

 

[spyder71]

Best: Sav Trevi Rustic, smokes like a dream!

Worst: No name Italy that was Lacquered, smoked hot no matter what I tried.

 

[morlader]

Best pipe is Peterson Sherlock Holmes Original and the worst is an Italy no-name bent rusticated (varnished),it's 'orrible.

 

[bucknuts17]

best is tim west,worst medico jetstream

 

[gwynclan]

Worst pipe no name Italy my mother in law bought from venice on a trip. She paid 45$ U.S.

Hot smoker now its just a paper weight.

 

[pstlpkr]

I have several that qualify as "best pipe", but one that is the worst...

The Jobey Sunburst... :evil:

 

[monstermash51]

I only have two pipe (yes I know, I need to work on that), My best is my Sav 101, My worst is a no-name pearwood pipe.

 

[romeowood]

best is tim west,worst medico jetstream

I'll take that jet stream off your hands shoot me a pm
Best--I've only kept the good smokers, but maybe the best of the best are the beckers. And Sasienis. And Chacoms. And Uncle Arthurs. And of course, the Jet Streams. Smoking one now, in fact. ::

Worst--got rid of them all, and maybe I've been lucky but I haven't had a real stinker yet.

 

[juvat270]

I have a few that would qualify for "best pipe," a few Savinellis and the MacQueen Wizard is a favorite.
My worst however, is a Dr. Grabow Savoy. From the fit and finish (draft hole was so severely misdrilled, I wonder if QA called in sick that day), to the "smokability." It smokes hotter than the fires of Hell regardless of blend or technique, and the pipe itself has an "off" taste to it. I keep it around for laughs.

 

[fredvegas]

Best: unnamed italian briar

Worst: anything haujue

 

[adam12]

I don't want to say this and hurt anyone's feelings... but I wasn't impressed with either of the two Boswells I owned, and that's strictly from a smoking quality point of view. They were just lacking in that special something. Oh well, different strokes I guess. I know some people swear by 'em but I can't really see why. I am also not a fan of the newer Ben Wades, they are sorta bulky and frumpy-smoking. Please don't ask me to define specifically what a "frumpy smoke" might be because I just made that up, but suffice to say it wasn't a pipe I returned to. Last but not least, I don't want to step on any toes, but many high-priced carvers around these days aren't really putting alot of attention into anything but pipe design, when they should make their pipes better smokers. That's what distinguishes a GREAT carver from an okay carver: the proof is in the smoke. I won't name names but that's an issue you run into when you buy high-grade stuff these days: they look pretty but they smoke mediocre.
On the other hand, a Stanwell I got at the Richmond show in 2000 or so has turned out to be an absolute favorite. It wasn't even twenty bucks and I have to say I've got more pleasant smokes out of that pipe than any other I own. Then, of course, some of the hand made ones are real special. (A shout-out to Vollmer & Nilsson here.) And last but not least, you know that Polish pipe carver whose stuff you see all the time, is it Worobiec? That pipe is freakin amazing. And I have a Design Berlin billiard that cost me a few bucks and it smokes incredibly. You can never tell sometimes.

 

[briarpipeboiler]

I really don't have a bad smoker, only have three tho, but if I had to say;
Best; Bjarne Freehand

Worst; Savinelli Hercules
I just have to re-light the Sav more often, that's it. Not really a 'bad' smoke, but the Bjarne just burns non-stop. Probably a better question for someone with many pipes but oh well.
For this reason, this time of year, I usually smoke the Sav during the day and the Freehand at night when it's cold out so I don't have to mess with it. Always smoke on my back deck w laptop (slowly convincing my SO to let me burn in the basement). Both hold about the same about of baccy. My other pipe, Bjarne Viking, is my out and about/car pipe and smokes great as well.

 

[bigvan]

My best is probably a Larrysson blasted billiard. The fit and finish are dead solid perfect.
The worst was a Grabow Grand Duke that I bought to see what all the hub-bub was about.

 

[jchaplick]

Best is a boswell, its almost perfect.
Worst...hmm hard one, ive gotten rid of some terrible smokers, worst ever that I actually threw away immediately was a meer lined grabow. Smoked horrible and started to smell like rotten milk after two smokes for some reason. Made my whole apartment stink, chucked it

 

[brian64]

Best is probably a Sav Hercules Dublin if I had to choose, and worst (hate to say it because I think there are a lot of Peterson fans here) but a Peterson bent is probably the worst I own.

 

[bigvan]

"Smoked horrible and started to smell like rotten milk..."
That's probably the best description for a bad pipe that I've ever read in my life!

 

[jchaplick]

That's probably the best description for a bad pipe that I've ever read in my life!

Yeah it was pretty bad