Coating or not, many estate sellers on Ebay are flat out sodomizing pipes. In other words, reaming/drilling the bowls down to new wood essentially. Making for bowls with really thin walls in most cases. Need to really pay attention to dimensions as the the photography can be good enough to deceive the human eye. Way too many high grades are getting ruined.
Bowl coating, re - coating and over restoration
- Thread starter oldgeezersmoker
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Yup.
It's usually from entirely removing the cake from old pipes---categorically a VERY BAD IDEA---and then saying, "Oh, shit!" when they see the sunken areas and/or heat damage that MOST well-smoked older pipes have, and trying to erase it by CONTINUING to sand/scrape.
The only question is which will happen first, the flippers and kitchen table "restorers" will learn the right way to do it, or the world's cool old pipes will disappear...
"It's usually from entirely removing the cake from old pipes---categorically a VERY BAD IDEA-"
Amen. But alas, it seems to be much more the rule than the exception.
Amen. But alas, it seems to be much more the rule than the exception.
Clearly, the answer is the world's cool old pipes will disappear. Everybody wants "pretty pretty". God forbid anything should look like it has a history. Ahhhh, but underneath all of the pretty exterior there is the burnt, abused, and screwed with interior.
I'm a fan of the certain bowl coatings (organic in nature) on new pipes. I generally assume that a coating was applied to an estate pipe was to repair or hide damage. I either avoid that pipe or reduce my max bid significantly, if I feel like gambling.
I can only think of one estate pipe that I purchased which was coated. The coating was wiped out with a towel and alcohol, revealing a pristine bowl. I sent a communication to the seller as to why they coated a bowl that was in great shape. They replied to "make it more visually appealing". I told them it reduced my final bid by $100. I still see this seller using a coating on all of their pipes.
How did I miss this thread for a week???
I can only think of one estate pipe that I purchased which was coated. The coating was wiped out with a towel and alcohol, revealing a pristine bowl. I sent a communication to the seller as to why they coated a bowl that was in great shape. They replied to "make it more visually appealing". I told them it reduced my final bid by $100. I still see this seller using a coating on all of their pipes.
How did I miss this thread for a week???
Other than how a recoated bowl might affect its value on the used market, if a pipe has some visible damage/deterioration inside the bowl, it seems to me that it is better for the pipe long term that it be repaired with water glass, pipe cement or furnace cement to protect it rather than continue to be smoked against the exposed, damaged areas, yes?
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