Ever Bought a Pipe You Regret?

[cosmicfolklore]

I picked up a 1968 pot shaped full bend savinelli estate that has such a huge shallow bowl (wider than deep) that 1/4 of the tobacco never even gets hot. I have to keep it stirred to even get close to smoking all of the tobacco, and I just haven't touched it in six months. Pretty, but a bummer.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

Man, Pek. Christmas is coming up. Want my address?

LOL. Seriously, though, I hadn't looked at these in over a year. Anyone know anything about a Dunhill Shilling? I just checked all the Dunhills for sale at SP and I didn't see any there. Maybe they no longer make them.

 

[easygoer]

Cumberland
Cumberland is another sandblast with a brown stain and a brindle stem (the material is more commonly called ‘cumberland’ these days, thanks to Dunhill’s influence and the success of the finish over the past quarter-century). Originally, the Cumberland always featured a smooth brown rim, but in the current production the rim is sometimes smooth, sometimes sandblasted. Occasionally, a straight grain blast is finished with a Cumberland stain and a “Shilling Grain,” similar to the “Ring Grain,” resulting in a new variation on the traditional sandblast. The Shilling series is named for the British coin: the sandblast looks like a stack of shillings. Named after the warehouse on Cumberland Road. The old pipes that inspired this finish were found there.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

Ah shucks, and here I thought I had something special. Back in the closet they go.

 

[easygoer]

Of the 15 or so that I have bought in my first year I regret buying at least half of them, lesson learned.

 

[mso489]

peck, well dog my cats, these are actual Dunhills hiding out in the woodwork. Maybe sell them off and buy some of the

pipes you really covet? Boy, is that an obvious response. But if you sell all four at fair prices, you could buy one

tour-de-force Italian artisan pipe that you'd never lose in the closet. Maybe?

 

[bluesmk]

Peck as far as special, among Dunhill blast collctors, that "Shilling" is a fairly coveted finnish.

Dan

Gabrieli Pipes

 

[starcat]

Yes and I will spare some of the complexities of this still ongoing Saga, but I will say definitely that this pipe is most likely going to be utterly destroyed in the near future for being so inferior and due to its major offenses against my being, and also by being so horridly cheap and poorly designed......

The pipe in question is a Leonessa Ruvida Dublin. I highly DONT advise buying from this maker based on this one sordid experience. As such I have zero confidence in anything they might produce.

My memory of a pipe I had when I was sixteen which was most likely a Grabow is infinitely better than this pipe in all respects and in fact most likely todays Grabows are equally decent whereas this Leonessa is utterly useless, the worst part being the mouthpiece and tenon design which will not allow a pipe cleaner down it from the top.

The tenon to mouthpiece being a 2 piece " glued " affair...etc. Horrid all the way around. Sized for a leprechaun....etc. Mucho cheap.

 

[quincy]

Haha I have a leonessa. I actually like it somewhat though it's rarely smoked anymore. But yeah. That whole won't fit a cleaner through the slit at the button drives me up a wall!

 

[lestrout]

Peck - that Shilling looks and sounds like ring grain. Dan nailed the desirability.
Hp

Les

 

[mirain]

In the early days I bought a Knute. A rather odd looking, yet intriguing pipe. The bowl was very deep (2.5"), 1 inch around and fits perfectly in the hand. Thing is the chamber holds so much tobacco by the time it's smoked about half way down it gets like a swamp in there. Unfortunately, more tobacco is wasted than enjoyed. I still like looking at it in the rack.

 

[geo3rge]

Yes, one or two have proven to be either difficult to smoke or just didn't feel good in the mouth. One recently bought has a mouthpiece so soft I can actually feel my teeth pressing it into the air hole inside and the mouthpiece itself is extremely cheap plastic. Didn't look that way in the photo on the website! It has been smoked but it will never, sadly, have pride of place on the rack. Others have just been left alone, rather neglected as time went by and newer pipes took their place. I resurrect them now and then just for old times sake!

Do people ever throw pipes away? Every time I think about this, it feels like parting with a member of the family!

G.

 

[kashmir]

I would never throw a pipe away. Usually I sell them, or give them to friends, acquaintances, or especially as raffle prizes at various pipe clubs I've frequented. A couple of times I've abandoned them in B&M tobacco stores, hoping they'll find a good home. My five year boy once told me if I burried them in the soil, why, they'd grow up to become "pipe trees", and in the autumn, among their dead leaves, their branches would be laden with all sorts of pipes. When I asked him why, he looked at me like I was stupid and said, "Because they're made out of wood". Makes sense. Kind of.

 

[drwatson]

Many!! It is so hard when you usually buy online to really get a feel for it. So if I dont care for I usually just sell off.

 

[bill708]

The first decent pipe I bought was a Peterson 309 system with the p lip. I loved it. I paid $20 for it in 1973. Now I have about 30. I love them. They do take some time to break in but I persevere. I just have this loyalty thing with these pipes. I really enjoy the "house pipes" which are gigantic and do smoke well.

 

[bill708]

The first decent pipe I bought was a Peterson 309 system with the p lip. I loved it. I paid $20 for it in 1973. Now I have about 30. I love them. They do take some time to break in but I persevere. I just have this loyalty thing with these pipes. I really enjoy the "house pipes" which are gigantic and do smoke well.

 

[deleon]

I love Irish Seconds from Peterson I gotten great deals on ebay but this latest one was one i was wanting for months but after cleaning and polishing this pipe, after 5 or 10 mins I couldn't hold the bowl cause of the extreme heat it was giving. The bowl just gets crazy hot that I can't get my hand around it without using a napkin or something to protect myself from the heat. The bowl has thick walls and I've never had this problem before. The tobacco was an everday blend that I've smoked and never had this issues with other pipes.... sad but I'm thinking of letting this go..

 

[foggymountain]

Dozens. By Peter Heeschen, Cavicchi, Rad, Dunhill shells and many more.

 

[jennings]

Well I've only been buying a couple of months. All have been secondhand or estate pipes. I have got to say that I have only had one that I won't smoke so far. That's because it's an old calabash and I can't quite work out the bowl lining material. So I'm steering clear of it just to be on the safe side.
I've got a couple of pipes I love the look of, they balance well in the hand and mouth, smoke fairly well...right up until they get soggy!!! One's a GBD (model escapes me, but was 4-digit beginning with a 5 I think) bent with a metal insert. Still get water up the stem. The other is a Chacom "Hot Chilli" bent which is a 9mm filter stem. I like the pipes over all though, and they look great...just niggle a little.
The above two pipes, and my two Petersons, I also find much more "work" to draw through than my older estate pipes. I know this seems a deliberate design effort to prevent you from smoking them too quick/hot, but I quite like pipes where I don't have to suck like a vacuum to keep them going!

 

[allan]

I just sold a James upshall bent through a dealer on eBay. I really love upshalls and they seem to be quite low in price for a good English made pipe
Anyway it smoked very well but was just too heavy for me to clench
On the other hand, this bent sitter upshall smokes wet and I have struggle to get a falcon pioe cleaner through it--yet I love it

It just handles the English blends so well