Estate Pipes - How to Buy Correctly

[sablebrush52]

A couple of other rules I have with eBay sellers:
If you ask a question and the seller can't be bothered to respond, avoid.
When considering a pipe on eBay, I want to see clear pictures of the "business" areas of the pipe, the rim, the bit, and the slot, in addition to any other pictures. If they're not in the listing and the seller isn't willing to post them when asked, I don't bid.
I'll also ask if there is any evidence of crazing, or splits in the chamber walls. With older estates such issues are always a possibility.

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

Today the majority of my estates comes from smokingpipes.com, no complaints whatsoever, yet I appreciate the fact pipes they list correspond to the description, nonetheless 99% my purchases from the U.S goes through the customs clearance process and after that I can't say they are affordable no more, leaving alone those few brand new ones which I had bought in America lately,but sometimes You simply can't get a specific model or Brand here in EU,(for instance Comoy's , Ropp to name only a few)so choices are few in that case.

 

[bnichols23]

+1googol on what Jesse said. It's impossible to overemphasize that!

 

[elguapo]

I've bought a few off of ebay, but most of mine have been from antique malls/flea markets. I have to clean them up myself, but I've found some great pipes. I recently picked up a large Dunhill for $7. A few years ago I found a 1980 Olympic Games Dr Grabow display with 3 unsmoked pipes from that series, all different shapes, for $25. That said, I've also walked through more stores than I can count and walked out without finding a thing. I also have 50+ pipes sitting around that I still haven't gotten around to cleaning. :|

 

[wyfbane]

I've gotten a couple of pipes that have charring in the bowl. None that couldn't be fixed, but I know that I now own those pipes forever... lol. One of them came from a very well know Ebay seller who offered a definition of slight charring I disagree with. It was more than slight to me, yet still fixable. Long way of saying I agree with doing ri our homework and avoiding anything resembling char in bowl, spider webbing as they used to call it for a while, etc.

 

[alexnc]

Agree with Smokingpipes, and greatestates on ebay.
You'll do well to learn basic refinishing, it's easy. I've picked up quite a few on eBay that looked like crap but had solid chambers and restored to like new condition without a ton of work.