Chronicling an AliExpress Pipe and Purchase for Science

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mikethompson

Lifer
Jun 26, 2016
11,292
23,327
Near Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Please disinfect upon arrival

Most certainly, like any pipe.

I salute you, sir, for jumping on that potential grenade for the good of the cause

The honour is to serve.

I vote you put it through the dishwasher upon arrival

that sounds like a good stress test.

...one chinese plastic handmade pipe for one year?.....

I smoke so infrequently as to make that a very boring proposition. If you on the other hand would like to try, I'd happily purchase one for you.

I've ordered a few watch bands from AliExpress and they were pretty decent. The postal tracking they supply also works very well.

I ordered my TECSUN shortwave radio, Android boxes, stickers, flags, and some other stuff off of aliexpress and never had issues with shipping other than it was very slow. But considering how cheap the shipping charges were I'm not surprised.
 

A few years ago, I started getting these packages addressed to my middle daughter with Chinese looking addresses. She had just gotten her first job and bank acct. And, she was ordering clothes. She was getting tons of really nice stuff. So, since her acct was linked to mine, I checked it out, and she was spending under a dollar for each item that would have cost a fortune in the US. She said she was getting them off of Aliexpress. At the time, I had never heard of it. I guess the differences in economies and production costs keep their costs low. No idea. But, her closet soon started overflowing with the crap.
 

cigrmaster

Lifer
May 26, 2012
20,249
57,280
66
Sarasota Florida
You couldn't pay me a grand to smoke that pipe. I am betting it is toxic and a danger to your health. It is too cheap to be anything but a piece of shit that is made from some toxic shit they have laying around . I would chuck it in the trash as soon as you get it. Don't play games with your health.
 

eugenepark

Starting to Get Obsessed
Dec 13, 2018
140
273
Oklahoma
Also if it is actual Ebony, from Pipedia:

"Ebony. An extremely dense wood, out of which I've built two pipes. The first one cracked on the first smoke from the end of the shank to the bottom of the bowl. The second, a straight Dublin, has a 1 7/8" tall bowl with 7/16" thick walls and weighs 2 7/8 ounces. I recently had the ninth smoke in this pipe, its first full bowl. So far, so good. It has some lines on the bottom of the bowl and the shank that look like cracks, but they haven't opened up. I've heard that ebony has a propensity to crack, so it may not be suitable for pipes."
 

mikethompson

Lifer
Jun 26, 2016
11,292
23,327
Near Toronto, Ontario, Canada
She (she?) sounds like y'all already have a close relationship. Perhaps she is looking for good American husband to bring her over yes?

Well she will be disappointed then, I'm not American. This place confuses me sometimes, we all want friendly customer service right? ;)


You couldn't pay me a grand to smoke that pipe.

I'm sure it is a cheap pipe. I won't be smoking it, but am curious as to just how cheap it is. How is the drilling? How is the stem fitment? Can it survive a sledge hammer? Important questions like those.
if it is actual Ebony

17c.png
 

kcghost

Lifer
May 6, 2011
13,159
21,433
77
Olathe, Kansas
This has got disaster written all over it. Whoever lives near Mike should keep track of him and let us know what the final arrangements will be.
 

anotherbob

Lifer
Mar 30, 2019
15,678
29,400
45
In the semi-rural NorthEastern USA
A few years ago, I started getting these packages addressed to my middle daughter with Chinese looking addresses. She had just gotten her first job and bank acct. And, she was ordering clothes. She was getting tons of really nice stuff. So, since her acct was linked to mine, I checked it out, and she was spending under a dollar for each item that would have cost a fortune in the US. She said she was getting them off of Aliexpress. At the time, I had never heard of it. I guess the differences in economies and production costs keep their costs low. No idea. But, her closet soon started overflowing with the crap.
one thing people forget about products is you have to pay rent on them. If the building you are storing it in doesn't cost too much that drops the price.
For a while you could get snuffs from India (ISO certified too by the way, a good thing to look for if a product is coming from somewhere with lax legal standards for product quality) in astonishing quantities. And talking to the people who run those companies saying they love our market because they can sell their product for a ton more to people who feel like they're getting a huge deal (go look at how much a large bulk container of some Indian snuffs cost at Mrsnuff.com.
 
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JPremo

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jul 22, 2020
119
282
Viva Las Vegas
Hey I tried this experiment a few months ago with lighters! I said to myself "sure an old boy or xikar is nice, but can we find similar designs for less?"

I came up with these three guys all together for under $25. Two have built in tools, which I enjoy, and one is a flint striker à la skinny Dupont clone.
MMzxNg6.jpg


I'm sure they'll end up coming apart quicker than a proper lighter, but at the price I can't complain, build quality is decent enough and they all work just fine.

My one problem is the knowledge that the only reason we're able to get these things for (basically) the cost of their materials is because labor costs are nothing where they were made. Thus we ourselves, by the simple and innocent act of ordering a product online, are benefiting from and promoting the use of slave labor.

Then again it's not like Bezos got to 200 billion by giving a damn about anything but the lowest cost for the highest profit, including foreign labor and employee living conditions. If Amazon and Walmart both take advantage of countries more concerned with enriching and empowering their elite than their working class should we not do so as well? Are we just shooting ourselves in the foot with a "buy local and support your community" mentality?

Questions to ponder over a pipe later....
 

anotherbob

Lifer
Mar 30, 2019
15,678
29,400
45
In the semi-rural NorthEastern USA
Hey I tried this experiment a few months ago with lighters! I said to myself "sure an old boy or xikar is nice, but can we find similar designs for less?"

I came up with these three guys all together for under $25. Two have built in tools, which I enjoy, and one is a flint striker à la skinny Dupont clone.
MMzxNg6.jpg


I'm sure they'll end up coming apart quicker than a proper lighter, but at the price I can't complain, build quality is decent enough and they all work just fine.

My one problem is the knowledge that the only reason we're able to get these things for (basically) the cost of their materials is because labor costs are nothing where they were made. Thus we ourselves, by the simple and innocent act of ordering a product online, are benefiting from and promoting the use of slave labor.

Then again it's not like Bezos got to 200 billion by giving a damn about anything but the lowest cost for the highest profit, including foreign labor and employee living conditions. If Amazon and Walmart both take advantage of countries more concerned with enriching and empowering their elite than their working class should we not do so as well? Are we just shooting ourselves in the foot with a "buy local and support your community" mentality?

Questions to ponder over a pipe later....
right there is a huge problem with being in a society. You can participate and promote horrible things while having no idea what you're supporting. It's one of the reasons I don't get too snotty about my own morality, cause who knows what misery I'am spreading just going through my day to day life.
 
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mingc

Lifer
Jun 20, 2019
3,976
11,065
The Big Rock Candy Mountains
You couldn't pay me a grand to smoke that pipe. I am betting it is toxic and a danger to your health. It is too cheap to be anything but a piece of shit that is made from some toxic shit they have laying around . I would chuck it in the trash as soon as you get it. Don't play games with your health.
OK, OK, I'll won't smoke any more! Sheesh! You'd think they'd keep the anti-smoking zealots out of a pipe smoking forum!
 
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eugenepark

Starting to Get Obsessed
Dec 13, 2018
140
273
Oklahoma
Hey I tried this experiment a few months ago with lighters! I said to myself "sure an old boy or xikar is nice, but can we find similar designs for less?"

I came up with these three guys all together for under $25. Two have built in tools, which I enjoy, and one is a flint striker à la skinny Dupont clone.
MMzxNg6.jpg


I'm sure they'll end up coming apart quicker than a proper lighter, but at the price I can't complain, build quality is decent enough and they all work just fine.

My one problem is the knowledge that the only reason we're able to get these things for (basically) the cost of their materials is because labor costs are nothing where they were made. Thus we ourselves, by the simple and innocent act of ordering a product online, are benefiting from and promoting the use of slave labor.

Then again it's not like Bezos got to 200 billion by giving a damn about anything but the lowest cost for the highest profit, including foreign labor and employee living conditions. If Amazon and Walmart both take advantage of countries more concerned with enriching and empowering their elite than their working class should we not do so as well? Are we just shooting ourselves in the foot with a "buy local and support your community" mentality?

Questions to ponder over a pipe later....


The middle one looks exactly like my Ronson Pipe Lighter that I bought at walmart for $8.
 
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