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drwatson

Lifer
Aug 3, 2010
1,721
5
toledo
We have all seen threads about how many pipes you have, or how many is too many. What I was wondering is, how many pipes have you broke/lost/destroyed/burned out since you started. For this questions we should exclude cobs, for the reason I know some who only use them as tester pipes or abuse them more than normal. This past week I put a nice Canadian in my back pocket, forgot about it and sat down. CRACK! I also once dropped one out of my mouth while fishing. Swimming in Lake Erie now.

 

tobyducote

Lifer
Jun 10, 2012
1,204
3
New Orleans
Ouch...I've been very fortunate and only burnt 1 out...it was dead of winter..I was hunting and smoked it too fast, trying to keep warm and burnt right through the bottom

 
I have never burned out a pipe. But, I have stepped on one. My wife has stepped on one, and I have had a meerschaum break when walking from my warmed house outside into the brisk cold with a full burning bowl, thermal shock. I also had a Tinsky break, just self-destructed on its own, but I had him fix it, even thought he was an ass about it. And, I had a Randy Wiley that the stem fit when I walked out of the shop, but before I could get home, the stem was loose like trying to make love to a 70 year old, been-around-the-block-many-times cougar, loose and floppy. I had that one repaired as well.
I've been rather lucky though. With a collection peaking over the 100+ plateau, these are the only issues. Water and rain hasn't killed a pipe, even when left on the tractor overnight in a rainstorm. Dropping them hasn't killed one yet, and no other stem fitting issues.

 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,568
27,070
Carmel Valley, CA
Just broke a small piece off a Hilson's shank. Couldn't find said piece as it fell on matted leaves and prunes. Searched for hours in different lights of day.
Never burned through a bowl.
Lost a couple of favorites in moves over the last 50 years.

 

aldecaker

Lifer
Feb 13, 2015
4,407
42
Only one irreparable casualty- completely destroyed a (rather nice) basket briar while honing my airway improvement techniques. The cost of learning is failure sometimes.

 

mrbigglesworth

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 1, 2015
196
1
Winston Salem, NC
I have a beautiful (yes beautiful) bent Grabow that was given to me by the great grandson of the original owner of the Grabow factory while on a tour several years ago. It is a Grabow "custom" pipe that hung on the wall along with others that were special finds crafted by the workers in the factory. I asked how much the pipes on the wall were, and he told me to just take my pick. This has always meant a lot to me. There are no markings on the pipe labeling it a Grabow in any way. But I cherish it, and have never gotten to smoke it.
The stem and tenon were turned from a solid piece of acrylic, and not long after having it at home my son (about 4 at the time) picked up the pipe and said, "What's this?" And with one hand on the bowl and the other on the stem, he snapped the tenon right off with hardly any effort.
That pipe is sitting in a plate beside the stove in my kitchen and I keep telling myself I'm going to send it to Walker Briar Works or somewhere and have it fitted with a new derlin tenon. It looks like it would be an excellent smoker. Sigh...
I'll try to post a photo when I can.

 

rigmedic1

Lifer
May 29, 2011
3,896
75
In 1986, I had my first pipe breakage: an Edwards freehand that cracked down the side of the bowl while I was smoking it. One of my sons broke a Caminetto Canadian right in two when he was a toddler, late 80's that one. I dropped a Lepeltier clay pipe that I was fond of in the 1990's, and they don't make that shape anymore. I guess I should count all those Grabows and Yelloboles from before that, but they went on to second lives with my more liberal friends.

Never had a burnout or breakage otherwise, if you don't count stems. :lol:

 
May 3, 2010
6,423
1,461
Las Vegas, NV
The only one I've broken was a Savinelli 626 Choclat.
I accidentally snugly fit a 9MM adapter into it when it takes a 6MM and over time it cracked the shank. One time I was taking it apart to clean it and half the shank came off with the stem. It's currently in ICU at a pipe repair buddy's house. Hopefully he, Dr. Frankenstein, can bring it to life again.

 

twangthang

Can't Leave
Sep 15, 2012
358
44
Snapped the tenon off of two pipes in one week. One was a brand new Chacom Prince and the other A Savinelli Oscar Canadian. I sent them both to Walker for repair.

That was my beginner lesson on how not to remove a stem.

 

sthbkr77

Starting to Get Obsessed
Mar 17, 2015
221
0
MD
A half dozen Dr Grabows were thrown out by my mother years ago ( she thought they were paraphenalia for something else). My ex wife threw one away because, well, she's a steaming pile of something. Most recently, I had a very small basket billiard perfect for traveling unless left on the roof of a vehicle.
A moment of silence for our wood that's moved on.

 
Jun 4, 2014
1,134
1
I broke the stem on a basket pipe prince. The stem always seemed flimsy and it finally snapped. I've had a few close calls; I've knocked several pipes off my workbench onto the concrete floor, and had one fly from my fingers while I was polishing it.

 

rblood

Starting to Get Obsessed
Mar 2, 2015
250
0
I guess I have been very lucky. In 25 years I have not had one burnout or broken pipe. I have dropped a pipe or two and marked them up (one dropped and put a nasty dent in the silver band), but luckily none broke (knock on briar).
Have a few chewed stems with holes though :)

 

ejames

Lifer
Oct 6, 2009
3,916
22
I have broken 3-4 by dropping them or having them fall out of my shirt pocket. One I closed (dropped) the lid of a large wooden tool box on and snapped the shank. Luckily I was able to repair them.

 

brass

Lifer
Jun 4, 2014
1,840
7
United States
Split the shank on a pipe after dropping on a hard surface a number of years ago. And broke another as I sat down with it in my back pocket, as have others here.
After 40 years of pipe smoking, I'm still surprised at how durable and how much abuse briers and cobs can take.

 

warren

Lifer
Sep 13, 2013
11,699
16,206
Foothills of the Chugach Range, AK
I've cracked one stem, had it banded. I've destroyed, then tossed a few bad smokers on purpose as I couldn't see passing on a bad pipe to some unsuspecting smoker. But, in 50+ years I've never broken beyond repair, briar or meer. Tis a good thing cobs were excluded.

 

gogosamgo

Starting to Get Obsessed
Mar 5, 2015
244
0
None yet, but then again I've only been smoking for a little under a year :wink:

 

aggravatedfarmer

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 9, 2015
865
3
I've destroyed all cobs. Put my Brigham Mountaineer through the wash, still smokes great. It's my first pipe and I have abused it. Once I get a couple cheap beaters fixed I'll put it on the workbench and fix it up.

 

jkrug

Lifer
Jan 23, 2015
2,867
8
I've never broken a pipe but I have 4 or 5 Brigham pipes that I have put away somewhere in storage that I haven't been able to locate? They are the first pipes I bought back in the early 80s when I started pipe smoking. Hopefully I will stumble across them some day....I'd really like to put them in the pipe cabinet with my current pipes. :puffy:

 
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