Does Anyone Know Anything About Mitchell Thomas Pipes?

[tobacco]

EDIT: Fixed Capitalization in Title (See Rule 9)

Hello everyone I have looked and saw several post about people with Mitchell Thomas pipes but no one has said anything good or bad about them. Does anyone have one and have a opinion one way or the other about them. I am looking at one of there churchwarden pipes looks alright but you can't really tell online. I have heard they are associated with Aldo in someway I have never owned an Aldo but I hear there good only thing I have heard bad is about the finish on them being questionable. Well any info would be great thanks.

 

[bigvan]

Cheap basket pipes. I wouldn't expect much.

 

[portascat]

Actually, they are not bad pipes. The are Aldo Velani seconds, so far as I can tell.
I have one I bought at a Ft. Worth, Texas head shop (long story, and I think I have told it here, before). One of my best smokers, and a damn handsome pipe.

 

[portascat]

This is mine. Smokes as good, maybe better, than my Aldo bent.

 

[portascat]

In any case, to beat the horse flat, if I had a half dozen more pipes that smoked and looked as good, I would have 6 damn nice looking and smoking pipes.

 

[tobacco]

thanks portascat for the price i guess its worth a try i have also found some of the cheapest pipes are the best smokers. right now i am smoking a kaywoodie that smokes amazingly find myself reaching for this pipe more and more. as for the aldo seconds i only have one aldo and it smokes fine but it is a rather small bowl. well thanks for the info.

 

[wnghanglow]

I feel a little story would go well here: There was a man who was driving and stopped to check out a little stand on the side of the road, the stand has two pots among other things. The pots looked very similar yet one was priced 19.99 while the other was 39.99. The man asked the owner what was the difference between the two pots. The owner answered "some men want to pay 19.99 and some men want to pay 39.99." it always baffled me when people would take price into consideration for anything and that includes pipes. Of anything expensive pipes cost to much to throw out so they will do anything to make it passable, where with cheap material you can try again and again until top quality is reached so my point is yes they are very good pipes not only for the money but good piles no matter the cost.

 

[zekest]

wnghanglow,
Somehow I find your logic makes sense.
In a pipe factory some QA person says "the grain on this pipe is looks a little too wide to be a Dunhill, I'll just toss it into the bucket to be made into a lesser pipe".
Some guy gets a pipe for 1/4 the price of a Dunhill, that would, on any given day, by any other QA person, be stamped with the Dunhill logo and sold to some dentist.

 

[mso489]

It is worth noting that there are some handsome, well-crafted, good smoking pipes at the low-price end.

I'm not trading off all of my more expensive pipes for these, but I am always pleased when I find a quality

pipe for a surprisingly reasonable price. MM cobs are the standard example on Forums. Dr. Grabow.

Chapuis-Comoy on tobaccopipes.com at around $30 are another example, but there are many. Newbie

smokers can get a good rotation, with cobs and a few of the quality low-price briars for a truly affordable

price, maybe two concert tickets. Going high end is like buying art, and it is art I like very much. Some of

the artisan carvers take my breath away. But its not about smoking a bowl of tobacco, per se.

 

[blendtobac]

I bought a no-name meerschaum-lined briar Canadian that was made in Italy for $25 in the late seventies. In over thirty years, I've never had a bad smoke from that pipe. It has a very thin bit, and yet it's held up like a champ. What I've come to realize is that spending more for a pipe may increase the likelihood of being a better smoker, but there will be surprises at both ends of the spectrum.
Russ

 

[tulsagentleman]

I just discovered Thomas Mitchell pipes on the West Virginia Smoke Shop and was curious about them. I told a friend I had never heard from them and then looked closer at the Forum and found this thread. I certainly agree that cost is not a guarantee of a good smoker. One of my first pipes 40 years ago was a drugstore Kaywoodie and I still enjoy it. I have nicer pipes now and I enjoy them but am tempted to try one of the MT pipes. They look very nice and are certainly inexpensive. This thread is five years old. Does anybody have a more recent experience with them?

 

[Briar Baron]

I think I bought one from ebay about 6 months ago, a straight grain Churchwarden. The seller had several and has been selling for a while. He had straight grain and normal but there was only about $15 difference between them. ($60 Vs $75?)
I think he said that he got a heap of them (bowls) and put on the stems? I am sure these are the same as your question but they were referred to as Mitchel Thomas and are stamped as M/T inside a shield. The bowl seems very good for the price and it smokes well. The stem is as expected of a cheaper pipe.

 

[ray47]

Last year I bought a slightly bent rusticated featherweight and enjoyed it so much I ordered a bent smooth featherweight. I enjoy the rusticated one more then the smooth one. The smooth one gets hot even with slow smoking. I think their similar to Dr. Grabows. I would recommend them as beater pipes.

 

[mso489]

Some well-made lower priced pipe brands and series include: Rossi Vittoria series non-filter pipes made by Savinelli; Kaywoodie Drinkless now made with push-bits (but be sure you aren't buying older screw-in stinger models unless you want that); Dr. Grabow; small pipes from EWA sold at Iwan Ries; Yello-Bole Checker series made of briar, but avoid Brylon unless you want those; and most French brands -- BC, Chacom, Genod, Villiard, others -- have low-end pipes made with the same French precision as more up-market French pipes. There are many others, but too many to mention. PC, smoking pipes, and other sponsor retailers mostly won't sell you any clunkers ... they want you to enjoy pipe smoking and come back for tobacco and other pipes.

 

[TLP27]

Smoking a MT churchwarden purchased new on eBay for $55 right now. Fit and finish seem flawless. Nothing special, but it was the exact shape I wanted at a reasonable price, and two bundles of churchwarden pipe cleaners were provided gratis. The bowl is smallish, which is what I wanted. The stem came pretty filthy on the inside, but two swabbings with Everclear took care of that. First smoke (Carter Hall) had a distinctly funny taste, but I stuck with it to the bottom of the bowl. First part of second smoke (which I am still enjoying—SWR Aro) has a smidge of the funny taste still, but it is about gone. Seems a very good pipe for the money.