Best Pipe Money Can Buy?

[fluffie666]

I'm surprised no one mentioned Bo Norde in a thread like this. So, there it is.

 

[stvalentine]

There is of course only one answer: The FALCON! :lol:

 

[smokindreams]

Michael Parks cutty is all sold out, so I cannot let you know how it smokes.

 

[toobfreak]

Smonindreams, what makes you think there IS a "best pipe", that it isn't different for every person on this board, or that there is any correlation between money spent and smoking quality? You can get a great cob for $5-$10. You can get a good briar or meer for between $50-$200, and maybe a little more for a good gourd calabash.
I don't know how good many of the most expensive pipes I've seen really smoke---- but they are usually beautiful works of art probably too expensive and beautiful to ever get dirty.

 

[sablebrush52]

So, let's say if you could buy any pipe you wish what would it be and why!?

I would love to have a pipe carved by Sixten Ivarsson. It's not that his pipes are better than anyone else, but he was perhaps the most influential carver of the 20th century. His designs pushed the boundary past the classical French shapes, involving a more organic fluid shaping that attempted to maximize the marriage of shape to grain pattern - following the grain. He opened the door through which hundreds of others have walked.
Alas, his pipes are very expensive and beyond my reach, so that will remain an unfulfilled wish. I can admire his designs and enjoy the explosion of creative carving that has since flourished because of the path he blazed.
From a practical standpoint, a cob will serve just about as well as a more expensive pipe. In my experience, most pipes smoke equally well, regardless of price. But for more money you get a more comfortable hand cut stem and bit, nicer looking wood, better fit and finish, and perhaps better shaping.
I'm a firm believer that a great smoke is 25% equipment and 75% technique.

 

[twosheds1]

It's so subjective that I don't think there's any way to answer it. On the one hand you have the biggies like Dunhill, but then on the other hand there are lots of artisans making them by hand, like this guy: http://sedercraft.com/ whose pipes are works of art. On the third hand (assuming you're some sort of mutant) you could say that a pipe smoked by someone famous, like Basil Rathbone in one of the Sherlock Holmes movies would be... well, maybe not the best, but certainly up there in value.
For me, it would just be the one that gave me the most pleasure, both in smoking and to look at. I don't think you need an expensive one to do that.

 

[didimauw]

I'm with the cob statement. So much pleasure for so little money.

 

[saltedplug]

If you're going for there best, you more than probably know the standards upon which you will insist inside and outside the pipe, including the stem and you will probably have already narrowed the field, additionally, by price. Though you said "the best" without stipulation, very few can ignore price, and so I'm assuming in the two not the ten thousand dollar range. In the end the pipe that all of your characteristics and that you like the best.

 

[toobfreak]

There is of course only one answer: The FALCON! [:lol:]

Really? From the looks of the picture, that pipe's never even had one bowl in it yet! :: Seriously, that is one pretty cool looking pipe. Is that bowl meerschaum or ceramic?

 

[disinformatique]

Corn Cob Pipes are the best money can buy. Don't listen to these briar mafia guys.

 

[smokindreams]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions and input. I recently ordered a large number of pipes assuming if they cost a good amount of money they must be good smokers :roll:. I realize now it has to do with what makes you comfortable and your method of smoking not so much the pipe, I don't regret ordering all of these pipes because I do plan on collecting sum and I am bit of an compulsive buyer. It all started when I went to get my first pipe, the store owner made it seem like the more expensive the pipe the better it smokes. Do realize I am very knew to pipe smoking so anything I do related to pipe smoking is based on suggestions and what I have read and have been told, I easily trust peoples input and I assumed the gentleman at the smoke shop was being honest.
Thank you

 

[jefff]

The Parks Cutty is still available... only 1650.00
You should get it now.

 

[smokindreams]

Goodness! That is a bit to high for me, I do have a limit, and a wife! LOL

 

[ophiuchus]

Hmmm ... what about the best pipe money can't buy?
:mrgreen:
(*Crickets*)

 

[ophiuchus]

It all started when I went to get my first pipe, the store owner made it seem like the more expensive the pipe the better it smokes.

I think this is where the core curriculum starts.

 

[bassbug]

I do have a limit, and a wife!

I understand having a limit :rofl:

 

[jpmcwjr]

I easily trust peoples input and I assumed the gentleman at the smoke shop was being honest.

Along with ophi, I urge caution when buying a car, major appliance and all.
Anyway, welcome to the forum, and let's see some photos of the new batch!

 

[smokindreams]

Iam currently in Michigan at my parents home , I'll post my pipes by this Friday I'll be home by then and all ll the ones I ordered should arrive. :D

 

[toobfreak]

Funny how guys will always throw the wife in there when it comes to their limits.
Limits on spending, smoking, staying out late, hobbies. Anything you enjoy.
I can't buy it because my wife will kill me.

I have to sit out in the tool shed in 19° because my wife locks me out when I want a smoke.

I have to be home by ten.

I bought five but the wife sent two back.
A guy has got to live like a guy to be truly happy (because we're guys!), and if you did these things to your wife, you would be at best an ogre, at worst, in divorce court.

 

[smokindreams]

In the last two weeks I have spent about $1,500 on pipes and tobaccos and my wife did not mind, in fact she sometimes smokes with me but if I go ahead and drop another $1500-$1600 on a pipe I'm sure she will mind,I don't think it's would be okay for me to spend $3000 in three weeks on tobacco products, my wife is really open-minded about what I do but at the same time I do want respect OUR finances. In my home iam the compulsive buyer, my wife only minds if it starts affecting our finances, and spending $3000 in three weeks I feel that can affect many people's finances.