A pipe is a pipe is a pipe. Everything else is bloviated blather.
Dunhill
- Thread starter sparrowhawk
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This right here is all I've been trying to say! An OK pipe but you're paying extra for the brand name.
That's the truth. But it's interesting that people pay more, for what is essentially the same thing, but dressed up. Pipes, cars, guns, televisions, fishing rods, boats, kitchen utensils, watches, stereo systems, computers, carpets, art, plants, hot tubs, food, travel, jewellery, clothing, bicycles, golf clubs, pens, tables, etc., etc.
Every single one of those examples has the budget, under $10 option going all the way up to sky high pricing. And in every above example, you're likely to find an option that performs just as well on the low end as it does on the high end, with minimal functional difference.
Yet people still choose the expensive options in some cases. In fact, I think most people, at one point or another, will choose the expensive option, relative to another person, for some things. It's a strange thing, but people have a lot of different motivations for whatever it is they do.
Perceived value is highly personal, in my opinion.
absolutely.
however with most of those things you are going to get an upgrade besides just a name brand.
There are no $100 pistols that perform like $500 pistols.
however with most of those things you are going to get an upgrade besides just a name brand.
There are no $100 pistols that perform like $500 pistols.
Is a Monet painting worth owning given the price? I suppose it depends on how much you like the way it looks, how much value you place on the name/history, and how much disposable income you have.
As these things vary greatly from person to person, so shall opinions on a Dunhill (or any pipe for that matter).
There are considerably cheaper options out there that offer the same level of functionality.
As these things vary greatly from person to person, so shall opinions on a Dunhill (or any pipe for that matter).
There are considerably cheaper options out there that offer the same level of functionality.
I do get a lift when I smoke one of my up-market pipes. I'm aware that it has special origins and attributes . By the same token, I am surprised and pleased at what a great smoke I get out of my Kaywoodie Drinkless Ruff-Tone with a stinger -- a stinger! -- this just shouldn't happen, but it does. I've pulled out all the removable stingers in pipes, but this one holds the stem in the shank. It only takes a second to clean, and it is a shamelessly good smoker. A Forums member instructed me on getting the bit back straight with a hair dryer to loosen the glue, and that's part of its story too. Sometimes a good pipe is just a good pipe.
Perceived value is highly personal, in my opinion.
So very true. And each item you mention above is "worthy" of hot and long drawn out discussion/argument as to its intrinsic or extrinsic worth.
So very true. And each item you mention above is "worthy" of hot and long drawn out discussion/argument as to its intrinsic or extrinsic worth.
I've bought lots of apples and eaten most of them.
I've bought only one diamond (for myself, several for SWMBO) and lost it. I was still hungry.
I've bought only one diamond (for myself, several for SWMBO) and lost it. I was still hungry.
I do like smoking my humblest pipe and thinking that if I had to sell them all but one, this one would do.
And then I like smoking my fanciest one and marvelling at the craftsmanship.
And then I like smoking my fanciest one and marvelling at the craftsmanship.
Yes. You should buy one if only because if you do not you will always wonder.
The prices for new White Spots/Dunhills are high in US retail, compared to Europe, that is a fact. In any case, if you prefer old style classic lightweight pipes with good comfortable vulcanite stem work and not the usual too thick and maybe acrylic bite, then the cheaper alternatives to these mentioned Dunhill qualities are not that common here in Europe. The mentioned alternatives to Dunhill are also often estates, that were mostly made in factories, that are closed long ago. Some of these closed factories brand names, however still live on, in what many of us old snobbish bastards find are inferior pipes and now made ‘somewhere else’.
I'm confused, sparrowhawk bought a Dunhill a few years back.
The Dunhill Arrived! :: General Pipe Smoking Discussion
In a post below, I wrote about my indecisiveness concerned purchasing a Dunhill. After absorbing lots of comments about it--'cause spending $200 for a pipe scared me to death--a forum member named Irish came along with an almost identical Dunhill, made a year later, for a rock bottom price. I...
pipesmagazine.com
That's exactly the perception of value I'm talking about. You couldn't give me a $500 pistol. I simply have no use for it and the value that you would attach to it means absolutely nothing to me.
If I was using one, I have no doubt that a $100 pistol would be exactly the same to me as the $500 one because I genuinely would not know the difference. That might all sound pretty ridiculous to you, assuming you have an interest in these things, but that's perception for you!
The difference here is that the $100 pistol will be drilled straighter.?
LOL, true. I took to carrying a Kimber on duty, but in comparison not having a Dunhill might not make the difference between life or death.
I guess my point was there are points where perceived and actual value start to create a gap that can only be explained by brand name. Same reason brand name anything costs more.
Sure they're pretty nice, but one must wonder, can they match Dr Grabow in the heat of battle?
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