Do You Prefer to Buy Unsmoked or Pre-Smoked Pipes?

[Toast]

Unsmoked. As a beginner, so I'd know if it was me or the previous owner if there were any issues.

Now it's just a silly rule I've stuck with. Though it does help preserve my bank balance. There are more than enough tempting unsmoked pipes without adding in the smoked!

 

[captpat]

No real preference, I've purchased both. A quick alcohol treatment and a previously smoked pipe is good-to-go

 

[SBC]

Wow, some of you guys are really fastidious. I've often smoked other guys' pipes without cleaning them. Like at a friend's house if I didn't bring my own pipes. Or, I used to be part of a church in which most of the guys smoked pipes, and sometimes at a fellowship meal on the lawn after service one of the guys would hand out a bunch of loaners.

When I get in a lot of estates, I often clean them before smoking. But even there, on several occasions I've been so excited about a particular pipe that I've just smoked it right away without cleaning.

Anyway, to answer the OP, I prefer estates. Not only do I feel way less guilty about the expenditure, but more importantly, they're more fun to discover, learn about, and collect. They have stories, and those stories include the way you found them.

 

[solideogloria86]

Both.

 

[burleybreath]

If you collect something like, say, pre-1967 Dunhills, that kind of limits the choice, doesn't it?

 

[NC TX ID pipeman]

My first pipe was an estate from my father ...I stole it from him from a drawer..he did not smoked it for years and did not want me to smoke it so I stole it...he never found out,I was 17 years old...some magic was in that pipe for some reason...Later i have been told that pipe was from 40s...Just a pebble rusticated straight bulldog...I smoked the hell out of it in next 30 years....But after that my pipes were mostly new ones until about 10 years ago when older pipes started to interest me...Recently i just bought several old pipes from antique stores for 6,-$ to about 50,-$...love them...I only chose a quality pipes or rare ones...and quality of wood is just amazing to look at...and they smoke well...The only time I had trouble to accept that somebody smoked the pipe before me was when I bought a rare estate pipe online and in a few days I have seen a picture of the somewhat unatractive ,fat,pipemaker with this pipe so I could not help a fact that he smoked it and had to return it....I never had a problem like this after or before just that one time,,,,

 

[Donb1972]

I am not a huge fan of briar pipes...I've only bought two new for myself. My others belonged to my Grandfather. I do love the oddball pipes, and many of those are difficult to find unsmoked. So I most often buy previously smoked pipes.

 

[augiebd]

I buy both because I am interested in the function, story and significance of the pipes I buy. This it is all relative to me, not anyone else. How will it smoke, how does the story relate and have significance for me. Not too concerned how the larger pipe community would view the pipe. Which is good because I couldn’t justify the cost of pipes that were deemed significant by a lot of pipe smokers. Not saying the cost is unjustified, I just have other priorities now.

 

[Alejo R.]

I couldn’t possibly smoke a pipe that has already been in someone else's mouth. Yuck!

I suppose that in a restaurant you demand that the cutlery be new.

 

[Alejo R.]

I could never have built any of my collections just buying unsmoked pipes. One, I couldn’t afford them and two, they don’t make many of them anymore.

Exactly

 

[Alejo R.]

No special preference. I have plenty of both options. I buy at antique shows and restore my pipes myself, so I don't have any worries about the cleanliness of the pipes.

 

[Irish Piper]

So far, I've only purchased new pipes, but that's only because I've not found any estates that I like. The selection is a bit more limited on smokingpipes.eu. I don't think I could buy a pipe where the stem is all chewed to hell, which is pretty much all that there is on that auction site. I guess I could replace the stem, but I've not seen replacement stems being sold anywhere except for MM cobs.

 

[Alejo R.]

From what I've read I think we all have a different idea of what it is to buy pipes.

In my particular case, all the new pipes I have, I have bought them personally.

I would never buy a new pipe online. Important details can hardly be appreciated well by photo. Weight and balance, for example. I am not interested in betting a good amount of money that the pipe is what the seller describes.

I do buy estates on the internet, not from resellers or tobacco shops that sell estates

I buy from private sellers, always if the price is good and the pipe does not need repairs. I always check if the seller has other pipes and try to buy more than one, if he is willing to give a discount.

I have bought most of them at flea markets, antique fairs, thrift stores, etc.

It's a hobby, I never intended to create an instant collection and I've bought one out of every hundred pipes I've found. I have always bought them with the money I had in my pocket.

The pipe in the photos is an example of what you can find. I bought it a week ago at a Flea Market that takes place on Saturdays in a square. I was just passing by and decided to take a look. The condition is what it was in when found.

Did I need it? No.



Am I going to keep it? Probably not.



It cost me USD. 4.5.

 

[anotherbob]

only bought unsmoked pipes. Not against ones other people have smoked, I just don't like it. The truth is when I see a pipe I really like suddenly I don't care.

 

[condorlover1]

All of my pipes are 100+ years old and all seem to have come with some kind of Lakeland type ghosting. I often wonder about the previous owners. One or two I know the back story on but all the others I just smoke. I have purchased the odd 100+ year old meerschaum but they are more the exception than the rule.

 

[Alejo R.]

Eateries normally are inspected and held to certain standards. Pipes? Not so as one would notice. So, some people, not knowing what communicable disease the previous smoker may have died of, simply prefer to be cautious. But, smoking is for the risk takers so. many smokers simply choose to ignore such or, trust in their or others abilities to fully exorcise what ever demons might reside in a used pipe. People's health concerns shouldn't be trivialized.

You can always clean a pipe yourself, it is something that does not have much complication. But to tell the truth, unless the pipe goes from one mouth to another in a short period of time, it is very unlikely that you will catch a disease. The viruses and bacteria that, being in the mouth of a smoker, pass to the pipe, will soon die if the pipe stops having contact with that mouth. Only a few days would last in that environment.

 

[Alejo R.]

Wow, some of you guys are really fastidious. I've often smoked other guys' pipes without cleaning them. Like at a friend's house if I didn't bring my own pipes. Or, I used to be part of a church in which most of the guys smoked pipes, and sometimes at a fellowship meal on the lawn after service one of the guys would hand out a bunch of loaners.

When I get in a lot of estates, I often clean them before smoking. But even there, on several occasions I've been so excited about a particular pipe that I've just smoked it right away without cleaning.

Anyway, to answer the OP, I prefer estates. Not only do I feel way less guilty about the expenditure, but more importantly, they're more fun to discover, learn about, and collect. They have stories, and those stories include the way you found them.

Well.... that's my king Church...

 

[Alejo R.]

In any case, anyone who knows the relationship that Argentines have with Mate will understand that it would be stupid for me to worry about health problems related to sharing a pipe.

 

[timelord]

In any case, anyone who knows the relationship that Argentines have with Mate will understand that it would be stupid for me to worry about health problems related to sharing a pipe.View attachment 132820

Hey, it's not only Argentinians! It's quite popular here in Brazil too.

 

[Alejo R.]

Hey, it's not only Argentinians! It's quite popular here in Brazil too.

Shut up you caipirinha drinker. Jajajaja. Yes, that's true it's an Argentinian, Brazilian, Uruguayan and Paraguayan thing.