Buyer Beware

[plateauguy]

Recently I purchased a Kaywoodie 96 from Etsy. It was advertised as cleaned and ready to smoke. Since I don't believe "ready to smoke" unless it comes from our forum members that deal in estates, I decided to take it apart and give it the once over. Don't get me wrong, I like the pipe and got a good deal on it, but I'm glad I trusted my gut.
This is from the stem:


The bowl had 3 salt and alcohol treatments before it was cleaned, and the stem got steralized too.
This is how it was advertised:

 

[woodsroad]

I almost bought the same model pipe on eBay yesterday. Not as nice looking, though the bowl looked OK in their photo.

 

[agnosticpipe]

I never trust what someone says the condition their pipe is in. Not because I feel they may be lying, (although they might be), but sometimes they truly don't know what clean, ready to smoke really means. In any event I always clean any used pipe I get from ebay or any other source to my satisfaction before smoking it. Everyone has their own standards, and mine might not be the ultimate but I'm the one smoking it, so I have to make the last decision as far as what is a clean pipe.

Sometimes you get a good deal, other times not so much, but I still like playing with old pipes.

 

[mso489]

I would trust smokingpipes.com and a few other of the major online retailers, but mostly,

I would expect to completely clean and sanitize any estate pipe. Most sellers don't have

the time, equipment, or knowhow to do it. They buff up a pipe, run a pipe cleaner through

it, maybe, and take a pleasing picture. Anything more is astonishing. You really have to

balance the time and labor on estate pipes against the price of new ones, which, if you

are realistic, is often highly competitive, even if you are only counting your own time at

fairly low wage rates. If it's a joy and a hobby to you, perfect.

 

[sablebrush52]

Every estate pipe that I purchase, whether on line or at my local B&M, is presumed to be dirty until I clean it. Sellers make all sorts of claims, which are best ignored.
Since a lot of online sellers of pipes aren't collectors or smokers, they may actually think that running a pipe cleaner through the stem constitutes a thorough cleaning. But even knowledgeable dealers do only a perfunctory job of it. Cleaning a pipe thoroughly takes time and time is money.

 

[tbradsim1]

I bought a Lumberman from a dealer in San Antinio, he said it was in his rotation and clean and ready to go. Upon receiving it I proceeded to Retort it, 6 or 7 Retorts later it started to clean up, a whole pack of Q-tips , half a pack of tapered bristle cleaners and a Salt/Alcohol treatment it was ready to go. In the feedback section I wrote, Dirtest pipe I have ever received, Ladies if you see this man, don't kiss him. Well I got an ugly email, and Lo and Behold a few months later he had an Upshall that I really wanted. Got it and told myself, lets see how he ships that Boger red , it arrived in a Priorty box rattling in box. 4 styrfoam kernels and nothing else, no damage, very lucky, sent him feedback saying Ladies don't let him package your China. LOL

 

[crazypipe]

I never trust what someone says the condition their pipe is in, the only place I know that the pipe is ready to smoke is The Piperack ,check out his site. ::

 

[taerin]

Keep in mind we all have our own definition for "clean" if I put a few pipe cleaners through a pipe, I consider it clean and smoke it. Your picture seemed a little on the dirty side for being "clean" though. I just count myself lucky if I get a pipe on Ebay and it doesn't need major structural repair. Mike at Briarblues and our forum members are really the best way to buy. My cleaners usually come out a light brown at the end of one of my bi-monthly cleanings, which I think is very clean. I don't mean to be rude but if you buy estate, be prepared to clean is all I can say, especially if you buy from Ebay. A little pipe cleaning never hurt anyone, but it certainly can be a pain.

 

[plateauguy]

Bought this one on Etsy from a dealer in pipes. The price was great and frankly I wasn't too surprised at the cleaning needed. This was to serve as a heads up for those just entering the search for estate pipe treasures - which are out there if you don't mind cleaning them.
I've only bought one pipe on ebay that was actually almost clean. A Dr Grabow, rustic, billard, with a straight stem. Since I'm not into rustic, billards, or straight stems, imagine my surprise at what a great pipe it's turned out to be!

 

[chops]

Other than cleaning and sanitizing the stem for obvious reasons, what harm is there in a 'not-so-clean' bowl? The ghosting?

 

[tinpan]

I pretty much agree with Eric's assessment. It's one thing receiving a pipe and cleaning it to one's own standards, it's quite another getting 10 or 12 pipes cleaned to sell on our favorite auction site. Then you have folks like me that sold a pipe that wasn't cleaned. I sold a Charatan a couple weeks ago that I apparently missed cleaning. I'm pretty sure it wasn't cleaned due to the not so pleasant feedback that was left for me.

 

[plateauguy]

Correction:
Don't know what I was thinking, my rustic, billard, straight stem is an old Yello Bolo, not a Dr. Grabow. I've decided to pick up a few Kaywoodies, Dr Grabows, and Yello Bolos to represent the American side of pipe making. All of them are from the 30's, 40's and 50's.

 

[instymp]

Everytime I sell a pipe on Ebay I state that it is used, and not sanitized. And I assume that everyone I buy will be the same. I agree with MSO, sometimes better to buy new, depending on the pipe & price. & if it were a good deal, I figure in the price to send it off for a professional cleaning & whatever else it needed. But I still have to work for a living & too many other things going on so I don't have the time to do it myself.

 

[ssjones]

I'm with sable brush and clean all of my estate pipes, regardless of the claim from the seller (Wait, my Jack Howell from Briar Blues was pristine). Since the term "clean" is pretty subjective, I advertise pipes I sell as "cleaned and santized to my standards, you may wish to to further cleaning". That way, no one is surprised or disappointed.

 

[taerin]

I'm with AL on this one, my standards are no where near white pipe-cleaners, pipe smoking is not a clean habbit! I've had pipes where 200 pipe cleaners later it still comes out medium brown. At some point it's like, why bother, my smoke comes out black anyways What I can't stand are people that do not clean their pipes and do not ream, I've bought pipes where the openings were totally sealed shut and required metal screws to remove the gunk, now that is crazy.

 

[sablebrush52]

I've bought pipes where the openings were totally sealed shut and required metal screws to remove the gunk, now that is crazy.

Pretty much describes the condition of the Alfred Hitchcock Dunhills that I bought from Gus's Pipe Shop back in the late 80's. Dynamite finally cleared out the bowls pretty well.

 

[ssjones]

Do you still have the Alfred Hitchcock Dunhills? If so, that would make an interesting thread.

 

[plateauguy]

Alfred Hitchcock Dunhills

Does this mean you have a Dunhill that was owned by Alfred Hitchcock, or did Dunhill put out a model with his name on it? Please excuse my ignorance, but I don't know much about Dunhills. (When I was a kid, Alfred's brother lived by my Grandma Wallace).

 

[sparrowhawk]

It's a gamble when you deal with eBay sellers. I've sold a couple of pipes successfully on eBay, with 100% ratings, but I'm very careful to thoroughly clean the pipe and indicate the level of cake. (I didn't own a reamer yet.) And one of the best pipes I own came through Shiny Pipes at eBay, which I had been warned about, but the pipe was a rare (somewhat) freehand Aston with an outstanding pebble grain sandblast, reasonably priced. Despite what I had been warned about, the pipe turned out to be exactly as portrayed and is one of my favorites. You really play dice when you deal with eBay; sometimes you win, other times you lose.

 

[aristokles]

I no longer buy pipes on Ebay -just one too many pipes overly oiled for the photo and claimed to be ready to smoke.