I've kept a running handwritten record of what pipe I bought, the date, seller and price. It's an interesting record of what's come and gone.
Do you Keep Records/Details of the Pipes in your Collection?
- Thread starter Fiver5
- Start date
Yes …
I capture the following
1. Pipe Name and Number
2. Price paid - Helps me track how much money I spent on my pipes
3. Number of bowls smoked - This is quite accurate except from the very beginning where I don’t have about 3 months worth of data. This also helps me accurately observe the impact of coloring of Meerschaum on the number of bowls smoked
4. Marking them whether they are rare and collectible
5. Price per bowl - Amortized over the life of the pipe, how much I spending per bowl. This has also given me an interesting insight - Unlike most people pipes are not cheaper for me compared to cigars on a per smoke basis. I pay roughly the same amount of money for pipes and cigars on a per smoke basis , and the number has been steadily increasing for pipe smoking, although as I smoke more I expect it to go down, unless I buy too many pipes
6. I also have an empty column - Current valuation. I will start populating these after 3/4 years.
I capture the following
1. Pipe Name and Number
2. Price paid - Helps me track how much money I spent on my pipes
3. Number of bowls smoked - This is quite accurate except from the very beginning where I don’t have about 3 months worth of data. This also helps me accurately observe the impact of coloring of Meerschaum on the number of bowls smoked
4. Marking them whether they are rare and collectible
5. Price per bowl - Amortized over the life of the pipe, how much I spending per bowl. This has also given me an interesting insight - Unlike most people pipes are not cheaper for me compared to cigars on a per smoke basis. I pay roughly the same amount of money for pipes and cigars on a per smoke basis , and the number has been steadily increasing for pipe smoking, although as I smoke more I expect it to go down, unless I buy too many pipes
6. I also have an empty column - Current valuation. I will start populating these after 3/4 years.
I have a small pipe journal I'm a writer so it's in my blood I guess. Nothing too detailed... notes on pipes and tobaccos (reviews), interesting pipe quotes, various topics like cleaning etc.
Wow-I never thought of including the price of a particular pipe when buying tobacco and considering how many bowls I get out of a tin. Yes-of course, the pipe is part of the overall expense of smoking. Just never thought of it this way. Fascinating to me is the way our minds work so differently and the many things I overlook, too
mike
It's amazing to me how many of us share the same hobbies, for me it's also guns, knives, guitars, and lately hats...
I keep track of the first 100 smokes in each new pipe. I’m still keeping track of pipes I bought in 2017. Once I’ve complete all of these I’m done though, it’s a huge pain in the ass.
I don't keep pipe records, but have a cellar list and all my boxes labeled. The cellar list describes what I have and tried, along with if I will cellar deeply or not purchase again.
As for the break down in "price of admission", I believe @hoosierpipeguy gave a formula without the price of a pipe in a different thread.
I used to smoke RYO and the price of admission in buying an 8 ounce bag, tubes, and rolling machine was about the same as a carton of cigarettes and produced the same amount.
After the startup costs, the price with a 1 pound bag with tubes was approximately $0.90ish a pack of 20 cigarettes or about $0.04 a smoke.
The startup cost was primarily the machine and a one time purchase, opposed to pipes which can constantly add to the cost.
However, I liked RYO more than my poison of choice and pipe tobacco above all. Cost benefit analysis results in me enjoying the pipe more and I have a disposable income budget that allows for it. If I didn't, I would be smoking cobs and RYO blends exclusively.
As for the break down in "price of admission", I believe @hoosierpipeguy gave a formula without the price of a pipe in a different thread.
I used to smoke RYO and the price of admission in buying an 8 ounce bag, tubes, and rolling machine was about the same as a carton of cigarettes and produced the same amount.
After the startup costs, the price with a 1 pound bag with tubes was approximately $0.90ish a pack of 20 cigarettes or about $0.04 a smoke.
The startup cost was primarily the machine and a one time purchase, opposed to pipes which can constantly add to the cost.
However, I liked RYO more than my poison of choice and pipe tobacco above all. Cost benefit analysis results in me enjoying the pipe more and I have a disposable income budget that allows for it. If I didn't, I would be smoking cobs and RYO blends exclusively.
I do keep a spreadsheet for my tobacco cellar, now that it's stored in several places in the house the spreadsheet helps to locate stuff. Since I also track the age I can identify what specific tin I should be looking for if I want the oldest VA in a blend. Lastly, I check the spreadsheet prior to each tobacco order to make sure I'm not re-ordering when it's not necessary. This only takes a few minutes of work for each order, no big burden to maintain.
I haven't yet started to track pipes, but thinking may I should as not all of the collection is displayed. I Hope to avoid buying copies of the same pipe (except Cobs). If I start it will only be to track purchase date, brand, shape, dimensions, cost -- no way I'd track what I smoke in it.
I haven't yet started to track pipes, but thinking may I should as not all of the collection is displayed. I Hope to avoid buying copies of the same pipe (except Cobs). If I start it will only be to track purchase date, brand, shape, dimensions, cost -- no way I'd track what I smoke in it.
I have a pretty detailed spreadsheet about what I've purchased. Brand, stamp, number, parent manufacturer, date made, shape, material, color, finish, country of origin, cost, restored?, condition, stem imprint, other info, and sold. I can see where this would suck for some, but I enjoy it, and it's fun to look back at what I paid for certain pipes. Also fun to see old pipes that I long ago gave away or sold, and to be honest, I forget sometimes what pipes I bought fully restored, and which ones I worked on. And, like others have said, when I kick the bucket, I want someone to have an idea of what some of them are worth.
When I hit mid-age I decided to get into all the things I thought were cool when I was a kid. Pipes were one of them. I also think a lot of manly things are being destroyed and derided by the new cancel culture p.c. society we have now... Men are NOT toxic and Masculinity is NOT toxic. Toxicity exists in all genders, races, and especially. in the cancel culture p.c. groups themselves.
I've posted this before, but my best friend is a lawyer, and I hear stories when we get together. One of the things to keep in mind is that even if your marriage is just a tad bit shakey,.. you may want to avoid making a spreadsheet of any inventory of your hobbies.
Guy who was into collecting and making stuffed birds, kept an inventory of his birds... Boom, ended up being split in court by his wife.
Guy who kept an inventory of his firearms and ammo... boom, he lost half of them.
Soooooo... if you are married and want to keep an inventory, maybe delete all records off of your PC, and maybe keep them in a bank or at least somewhere off site. Even if your marriage is great today... there's always tomorrow. Making an inventory is just giving them the fire power. Also, if you don't think your PC will be the first place a wife making plans for divorce will look, you just have no idea...
Guy who was into collecting and making stuffed birds, kept an inventory of his birds... Boom, ended up being split in court by his wife.
Guy who kept an inventory of his firearms and ammo... boom, he lost half of them.
Soooooo... if you are married and want to keep an inventory, maybe delete all records off of your PC, and maybe keep them in a bank or at least somewhere off site. Even if your marriage is great today... there's always tomorrow. Making an inventory is just giving them the fire power. Also, if you don't think your PC will be the first place a wife making plans for divorce will look, you just have no idea...
I totally agree, without getting too political it seems freedom of speech/thought is quickly being eroded. I'm not sure where you're located but here in Canada there's a current movement to basically erase history, political correctness is reaching new levels of stupidity.
I can just see it now, a divorced woman's display cabinet with Royal Doulton China on the left, Dunhill pipes on the right.
A divorced man's display cabinet with crystal figurines on the left, Castello's on the right...
I don't see it as political so much as cultural I am in Toronto but I follow the US closely and it is the worst in these 2 countries although it has spread throughout the world Australia is getting it now too - places like Japan are holding out lol.
Unless you can get hold of a detailed inventory of her china, shoes, figurines, etc... it's really hard to bring it to the chopping block. Making an inventory is making it easy on her. Just sayin'
Defensive thinking. I like that! Everyone's a friend until they become an enemy. ?
Wife and I have been married for 41 years, at this point I think the only way we split is when God calls one of us home. I view an inventory as a favor to her, it should help her (or my executor) in avoiding shysters wanting to pay Pennies on the dollar
I would never keep a list of where my pipes came from as I am way too lazy. Right now I am in the waning phases of my second culling. I was at 90 something pipes and now I am at 38 and everyone is an American artisan made. I have around 17 Rad Davis and 12 Jack Howells and then ones and twos of other artisan pipes.
My plan is to fill a 15 count glass door pipe cabinet I completely emptied it making room for more American artisans to fill it. I haven't redone my collection for years and it is fun doing it again.
My plan is to fill a 15 count glass door pipe cabinet I completely emptied it making room for more American artisans to fill it. I haven't redone my collection for years and it is fun doing it again.
Belly button lint spreadsheet deleted! Thank you.