Estate Pipes Editorial - Feb 1946 (Pipe Lovers Magazine)

[ssjones]

I recently received some scanned copies of the "Pipe Lovers Magazine", from the 1940's. I printed them out and they'll provide some interesting reading over the rest of the winter. This editorial regarding estate pipes from the February 1946 issue caught my eye. I liked the line "And rather than see a favorite companion fall into the hands of a stranger, he would sooner break it himself and discard the pieces". That's hard core! The Editor doesn't close the door on getting rid of a pipe, but apparently it was a pretty weighty decision in 1946.

Edit: Corrected the date of the magazine, 1946.

 

[tbradsim1]

Great Article, times have changed, opinions about Estate pipes has changed. Reminds me of a time an Old Cajun hunting Guide died, we buried him with his Crack Barrel shotgun, loved that shotgun.

 

[misterlowercase]

That's totally awesome Al,

many thanks for sharing.
A weighty decision indeed,

I very much enjoyed the read.
It does remind one just how much times have changed.
::

 

[gtclark]

Interesting read - it does raise the point the best smoking pipes are probably still on the rack, and not on eBay.

 

[mso489]

That was during the war when briar was hard to come by. The article may have been heart felt. And/or it may have been a strike against the used pipe market on behalf of friends in the pipe-making business who wouldn't have been pleased at the thought of competition from a used pipe market. I think of those days as having an ethic of owning one pipe and smoking it until burn-out, and then buying a new one. I think the pipe rack and rotation became more common with prosperity after the war.

 

[ssjones]

That brings up a good point - in 1944, where there any artisan pipe makers?

 

[sablebrush52]

Cool read! I don't think there was much of a market for used pipes at that time. I certainly have no issue with buying a used pipe as long as it's in good shape. It's the only way that I'm going to be able to smoke the pipes that I like, with the occasional exception of a commission, and not pay through the nose.
I don't have an issue with buying used. Let someone else pay the premium for new.

 

[tuold]

I enjoyed reading that. I can fully understand how someone might feel so attached to a pipe they'd rather have somebody throw it on their funeral pyre than give it away to a stranger. Thank goodness not everybody felt that way or we would have far few examples of pipe history than we do now in the form of some of the beautiful restorations we see on the forums.
gtclark, there is some truth to what you say. The really fine pipes were probably smoked to the very end and the bad ones left residing on ebay. My own experiance in buying estates over the years bears that out to some small extent, (especially the ones in my budget range) but not all. Some of them have turned out to be real gems.

 

[ssjones]

Someone pointed out I had the date wrong on the article, it was from 1946 (Feb), not 1944.