Culling My Pipe Herd

[geopiper]

Tonight I have to select a few pipes I'm willing to let go to offset the purchase of a pipe that is begging me to buy it. I typically keep all the pipes that I buy, even if they fall to the bottom of my rotation. In this instance though, I can't justify the expense of the new pipe without offsetting it with a trade in.

Beware my pipe collection...I'm coming for some of you. You'll be missed (or will you?)

 

[pappymac]

Been there, done that and fixing to do it again. Last time I made enough money to buy two RD Powell pipes.

Good luck with your sell.

 

[mso489]

Me too. I want everything on the rack or in the cabinet to get smoked, so I picked out a few that I wasn't smoking nearly as much. As I was nearing 100 pipes, it felt a little crazy. I'm not a collector, don't keep any as visual art, although I like it when they fill that role too, and get smoked. I like the idea of converting four neglected pipes into one that gets used. And I like the idea of someone finding one of the culled pipes as just right for them, which is often the case. Settling on what I would get as a replacement pipe is driving me a little nuts, but I guess that's the sport, what makes it a hobby not just a purchase. Since I want to wait on the amount of store credit, I'm having to pick out a few pipes in priority, in case the top one or two get picked off. Also, I want one that looks like it can stand in for four, a tall order. Nothing wrong with any of the culled pipes, just preference.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I did a major collection overhaul last year to clean out some clutter. Threw out over 140 of them just to make room for the ones I regularly smoke.

 

[mso489]

I too like to unload stuff when it gets choking. With 140 pipes, I probably would have headed to a weekend flea market and bet the cost of table space. But it is time, and time is money.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I too like to unload stuff when it gets choking. With 140 pipes, I probably would have headed to a weekend flea market and bet the cost of table space. But it is time, and time is money.

Living miles from anywhere does put a hamper on some things. I only make it to town once or twice a month, and that's around 10 miles away. Don't think there's a flea market anywhere near.

 

[JMcQ]

Let us know where this sale will be located. You will likely have some buyers here.

 

[saltedplug]

When you find that though you have plenty of pipes but still can't stop buying more, you're a collector. Most collectors had that realization at some 50-100 pipes, as before then they were in denial that allowed them to rationalize buying. They just wanted another pipe and they bought it without thinking. But then the number broke through, and they had to justify by culling the number of their pipes: they had became a collector, especially if they redefined their collection's focus.

 

[kcghost]

I'm doing it right now with pipestud.

 

[ofafeather]

When you find that though you have plenty of pipes but still can't stop buying more, you're a collector. Most collectors had that realization at some 50-100 pipes, as before then they were in denial that allowed them to rationalize buying. They just wanted another pipe and they bought it without thinking. But then the number broke through, and they had to justify by culling the number of their pipes: they had became a collector, especially if they redefined their collection's focus.

My stepdad always said if you have two of something you have a collection...

 

[ofafeather]

I’ve gone through it I’m different directions. At one point I need cash, never really the best time to sell anything! At another point I found myself fixated on Dublin’s, a shape I despised when I first started smoking pipe. I traded and sold a bunch of pipes to pick up some Dublins. Probably ready to do some more refining. A bunch of pipes I currently have I would not have bought if they weren’t flea market finds. I recently did a tobacco inventory and will probably do a pipe one with the goal of really seeing what I have and want to keep.

 

[radrick96]

I’m sorry for your loss! Looks like it’ll be worth it if the thought crossed your mind!

I’m hoping to plan out my 21 pipes so I don’t go overboard or have to cull anything. But I am a newb still

 

[shanez]

Living miles from anywhere does put a hamper on some things. I only make it to town once or twice a month, and that's around 10 miles away. Don't think there's a flea market anywhere near.

That reminds me of a Steve Earle song...

Are you running moonshine by any chance? ? ? ?

 

[Chasing Embers]

Are you running moonshine by any chance?

No idea who Steve Earl is, but yes.

 

[shanez]

No idea who Steve Earl is, but yes.


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I was probably around 15 when he released this song:

I do think his version of Devil's Right Hand is probably his best song.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I was probably around 15 when he released this song:

I do think his version of Devil's Right Hand is probably his best song.

I'll check him out.?

 

[musicman]

Well, as someone who is still building a rotation, I, for one, look forward to seeing what you might be selling, especially if you're selling on here.

 

[Old School 3319]

I have about 20 pipes and i try to smoke them all but i smoke a few several times a day. When i first started I would only smoke a briar once a day and rest it. But after seeing the post a grabow for a year i let it rip and have several i smoke 2 or 3 bowls a day with

 

[saltedplug]

No idea who Steve Earl is, but yes.

That'd be one hell of a drunk! If you had restraint that could be two off three lesser drunks, you know, the kind where you don't have to crawl to the toilet or bed. But then, any drunk worth his salt drinks until he passes out or blacks-out. And then, if his momma raised him right, when he comes to, or not, in a blackout, has another drink.

Fella I knew was a at a concert, and he took a drink. Next thing he knows he wakes up in a different state, naked, on someone's sofa. That was kind of a jolt, and he thought about taking a drink, but since he didn't know where the liquor was, he settled on finding his pants.


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[mso489]

Advice to people who want a limited number of pipes, as few as five or keeping it to twenty, is to start with one or two medium to high price briars, fill in a rotation with MM cobs (I'd recommend the special additions with acrylic stems for longevity) and then save and buy only one pipe a year, after careful and expansive shopping. This will not give you the variety or number of pipes I've enjoyed, but it will give you fewer to maintain and rack, and should give you some especially fine pipes, if your taste in pipes remains somewhat the same. You do give up the fun and "high" of shopping and purchasing, but you get up-market pipes in exchange. The other reward is that you will find out what good pipes MM cobs are.