Cheap Pipes

[dctune]

My collection is a mixed bag. 20-30 pipes. I’ve got a handful of nice pipes. $100-$200 range. Most of my pipes are in the $65-$90 range I’d say. And then there’s a handful of them that are in the $0-$50 range.

Now, admittedly, I most regularly smoke the “upper middle class” pipes. And admittedly, sone of those el cheapos are downright unsmokeable. But there’s a few of them I just thoroughly enjoy. And I mean throughly!

They just always deliver a great smoke. No fuss. Taste great. Just do everything asked of them. I also suspect they rise to the occasion because I always approach them with lower expectations. But at the end of the day, a good smoke is what it’s mostly about.

Cheers to the budgets.

 

[AJL67]

I have a couple Comoy, Savis, 2 Dunhill birth years, and a couple other nice estate pipes, that being said 75% i real hard for one of the MMs, i have 2 for aros, 2 for Virginias, 2 for VaPers and 2 for English blends, they smoke great and at the price it’s hard to beat.

 

[dctune]

I have a couple Comoy, Savis, 2 Dunhill birth years, and a couple other nice estate pipes, that being said 75% i real hard for one of the MMs, i have 2 for aros, 2 for Virginias, 2 for VaPers and 2 for English blends, they smoke great and at the price it’s hard to beat.

Indeed. I love my cobs. Just really into them in the last 12 months, & they’ve all become quite special to me. Through the winter, I smoked them a lot. Of course, when I wrote the post I was mainly thinking about a few Spitfires by Lorenzo I have and some unidentified pipes I can’t remember where I acquired them. But I suppose cobs would certainly fall in this category too. Interestingly, however, in my mind, I kinda place cobs in their own special category bc they’re just so darn delightful. ?

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

It depends. I have some sub $100 Moretti pipes I bought new that smoke as good as anything I have. I have a couple of Al Pascia Curvy that smoke great and bought for around $110. My cobs smoke great. I think price is more aesthetics than anything else and I'm not minimizing the importance of how a pipe looks and feels. For the most part, I smoke $300 to $600 pipes, I'm willing to pay for the aesthetics.

I think it is more likely you'll get a poor do or bad stem work with a cheaper pipe. But it's not a given.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Curious about the apparent smoking of "some of those el cheapos are downright unsmokeable."

You seem to have enough pipes to not smoke the poor ones!

 

[mso489]

There are reasons to buy the most expensive pipe you can imagine affording. There are a long list of these reasons including aesthetic, historical significance, major carvers present and past, the finest materials, perfect craftsmanship, and so on.

If your primary consideration is the best possible smoke and you don't want to spend much money (right now or ever) you can do that with an MM cob or hardwood, or any of a number of pipes (if carefully selected) below, or well below, $100. Price is not the key to that.

There are two entirely different objectives here. You have your choice.

 

[kcghost]

It's not worth fighting about. You smoke years and I'll smoke mine. Remember we're all in this together.

 

[Michigan_Bill]

I purchased a MM hardwood pipe and a cob some weeks ago. The hardwood is so pleasant that I haven’t got to the cob yet. Just spoilt for choice! ?
To echo what others have said, there are good and worthwhile reasons for more expensive pipes, and on the other hand sometimes cheap pipes can be surprisingly enjoyable. So there you go.

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

My question is what’s “cheap”? Are you talking about poorly made or those that don’t cost much?

 

[dctune]

Curious about the apparent smoking of "some of those el cheapos are downright unsmokeable."

You seem to have enough pipes to not smoke the poor ones!

Yes. Basically what happens is this: every once in a while I decide to dust one of them off bc I’m an idiot & have this thought that all of a sudden this garbage pipe will magically work. I always end up dumping the bowl out & throwing the thing back in the drawer in disgust. My very first pipe falls in this category. It’s a Dr. Grabow I bought at Walgreen’s. I loved that pipe…until I found out what I was missing. It draws like a thick milkshake. It’s an entirely frustrating smoke.

Then, I also have a few pipes that people have bought me from various places around the world. It’s clear they spent around $0.65 at some third world street vendor. Out of these pipes (which I don’t actually count as part of my collection proper), I may have tried an initial bowl just for giggles when I was given the gift.

 

[dctune]

My question is what’s “cheap”? Are you talking about poorly made or those that don’t cost much?

I’m apparently a connoisseur of both. ?

 

[LotusEater]

I have a lot of estate pipes that are under $100 - they are a mixed bag some are great smokers others less so. I have a few that I paid a bit more for including a couple Dunhills. It has been my experience that the difference in smoking quality between a $75 and a $150 dollar estate is very often negligible or non existent. Earlier this week I ordered a brand new Ardor. I paid considerably more than $150 for it but I imagine it will not smoke any better than my best $75 estates. It is however very pretty.

 

[Chasing Embers]

It is however very pretty.

That really is the biggest difference. I'm glad skulls are cheap! ? ?

 

[LotusEater]

Funny you should mention skulls
There has been so much talk about them on here lately that I decided to take the plunge in my own weird inexpensive way. - This one is not “pretty” but I think it will look good On the shelf behind my bar.

 

[anotherbob]

My collection is a mixed bag. 20-30 pipes. I’ve got a handful of nice pipes. $100-$200 range. Most of my pipes are in the $65-$90 range I’d say. And then there’s a handful of them that are in the $0-$50 range.

Now, admittedly, I most regularly smoke the “upper middle class” pipes. And admittedly, sone of those el cheapos are downright unsmokeable. But there’s a few of them I just thoroughly enjoy. And I mean throughly!

They just always deliver a great smoke. No fuss. Taste great. Just do everything asked of them. I also suspect they rise to the occasion because I always approach them with lower expectations. But at the end of the day, a good smoke is what it’s mostly about.

Cheers to the budgets.

one thing I keep saying is the value of a pipe is a weird thing. You're buying a tool and also a fashion accessory like a hat or bracelet. You could also say a piece of art as well. How well the pipe smokes kind of comes down to things like the drilling in many ways. Which how well the drilling is done has little to do with price.
The point you have to know what you are looking at and what you're looking for. And while you get what you pay for in many ways, it's rarely explicitly stated.

 

[AJL67]

My question is what’s “cheap”? Are you talking about poorly made or those that don’t cost much?

“Cheap” is relative, I’ve stopped chasing the ‘Davidoff No 1s and ‘95 Sig VI that i do love because paying up to 1500 - 2500 for 25 cigars is nuts to me, then again i have many friends that chase $50,000 humidors, now that I’m piping way more it’s easy for me to grab a nice Dunhill i want or some other estate pipe with a past life to its name or that $100 tin of tobacco knowing it’s not one cigar that will last me an hour, its a pipe that will put live me or it’s a tin that will be enjoyment for months or longer.

 

[craig61a]

As far as cheap pipes other than cobs, Morgan Bones get my vote.

$40-$50 bucks and they smoke great. I funnel the slot and open the draft in the tenon. If i was on an extremely tight budget and not hung up on aesthetics, that’s what I would buy. Of course, they have sort of an aesthetic appeal all their own. The stems are some sort of plastic (not acrylic as far as I can tell) but have some give sort of like vulcanite.

I just discovered two more that were stashed away. And the bent poker passes a cleaner with ease. Now how much would you pay…?

 

[anotherbob]

“Cheap” is relative, I’ve stopped chasing the ‘Davidoff No 1s and ‘95 Sig VI that i do love because paying up to 1500 - 2500 for 25 cigars is nuts to me, then again i have many friends that chase $50,000 humidors, now that I’m piping way more it’s easy for me to grab a nice Dunhill i want or some other estate pipe with a past life to its name or that $100 tin of tobacco knowing it’s not one cigar that will last me an hour, its a pipe that will put live me or it’s a tin that will be enjoyment for months or longer.

my first pipe i paid 100 for felt expensive untill i realized that if i broke the price down to a per smoke it would take less then a year for it to be a fraction of a cent. Now i consider that price nothing.
Fun fact most of my pipes are around that range because that is just where my tastes lie. Often above that or below just doesn't tickle my fancy so much.

 

[edger]

Falcons. Inexpensive, not cheap!

 

[PipeIT]

@dctune be sure to read this if you haven’t already.

‘The Myth of Brand and Maker in Pipesmoking’, by Dr. Fred Hanna.

https://www.greatnorthernpipeclub.org/_files/ugd/17b259_acdce5ca70354ca7a5f64775f95ae600.pdf