Extra Credit Qualities for Pipes Across Brands

[mso489]

Certain traits in pipes exert an appeal across brands, or even if I don't know a brand well. Here are two of mine, and you might have others of your own. Two of mine are:

Absence of a coating in the chamber tends to suggest the pipe is made to appeal to experienced pipe smokers not like to smoke a pipe to death while it is being broken in. Definite extra points for this. Most of my pipes have come with coatings, but it's better when they don't.

Vulcanite stems have a definite pull, suggesting old style values in materials and craft. I really like my lucite and acrylic stems, the fact that they tend not to get tooth marks, and don't oxidize. But vulcanite says quality all the same.

What specific traits in a pipe, regardless of brand, speak to you?

 

[warren]

Gotta catch my eye, fit my fist and then it's mostly about fit and finish. To catch my eye it must be bent to some degree, have an acceptable bowl shape, all in a nicely weighted proportion. Of course the bit must be rubber for briers. I prefer no fills but, will accept if tiny, properly camouflaged/colored. Any silver must be in keeping with the pipe shape, not overly done and professionally applied. I always want a comfortable fit in my hand. All of these, where applicable, must be in place or, back into the display it goes. I'm way to old and set in my ways to compromise. I have a sufficient number of pipes so a new one must be correct.

 

[Casual]

Army mounts and spigots. Crisp lines at the lip of the bowl. And the most important: light weight. An ounce or less is great and pretty rare.

 

[FurCoat]

I perfer smooth classic shapes with a bend to some degree. For now free hands do not appeal to me. Mostly Italian or American though I do own British and Irish pipes. I perfer no bowl coating and will remove it prior to smoking. Took me two days to remove the coating from my last two Petersons. I came close to using a Dremel.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Ebonite stems and a deep concentric ring blast.

 

[edger]

Certain traits in pipes exert an appeal across brands, or even if I don't know a brand well. Here are two of mine, and you might have others of your own. Two of mine are:

Absence of a coating in the chamber tends to suggest the pipe is made to appeal to experienced pipe smokers not like to smoke a pipe to death while it is being broken in. Definite extra points for this. Most of my pipes have come with coatings, but it's better when they don't.

Vulcanite stems have a definite pull, suggesting old style values in materials and craft. I really like my lucite and acrylic stems, the fact that they tend not to get tooth marks, and don't oxidize. But vulcanite says quality all the same.

What specific traits in a pipe, regardless of brand, speak to you?

Even after 50 years smoking pipes I don't like stained and oxidized stems. In the old days I could get the guys at the BM to buff them when I bought tobacco. Now I'm finally considering an inexpensive buffer. I'm apparently too lazy to go the micro mesh route. I'm too old to buy more pipes with my preferred acrylic stems.

 

[edger]

I perfer smooth classic shapes with a bend to some degree. For now free hands do not appeal to me. Mostly Italian or American though I do own British and Irish pipes. I perfer no bowl coating and will remove it prior to smoking. Took me two days to remove the coating from my last two Petersons. I came close to using a Dremel.

I succumbed to purchasing a new Irish Army recently with fishtail acrylic stem and there was no bowl coating at all!

 

[canucklehead]

I like an open draft, a lot of my pipes are filter pipes that I smoke unfiltered for that reason. I like ugly pipes too, it makes me feel bad for them, like the runty kitten of the litter, or the chubby kid picked last for the team. I want to adopt them and give them a good home.

There is a certain artisan pipemaker that made a pipe that reminded me very strongly of a teenage trip to Pizza Hut in 1997, a ridiculously strong sense of nostalgia, that if I ever have disposable income again post-covid I need to commission a version of for myself.

 

[milehighpiper]

It must pass a pipe cleaner with little effort and I should be able to digitally penetrate the bowl. One thing I hate is to feel it getting moist and then wrestling around to jam a cleaner in it. In regards to the other hole, it needs to be able to fit my finger because pipe smoking is an event in my day. I am going to sit and enjoy it for a while and it must hold enough of the good stuff to last me about an hour... All holes must be the right size.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Army mounts and spigots. Crisp lines at the lip of the bowl. And the most important: light weight. An ounce or less is great and pretty rare.

Agree on everything - though an ounce is very heavy. Half an ounce or less for me, please!

 

[FurCoat]

I succumbed to purchasing a new Irish Army recently with fishtail acrylic stem and there was no bowl coating at all!

I like Petersons and will purchase more in the future. Good to know they offer noncoated bowls, I will look for it on my next purchase.

 

[cigrmaster]

My favorite stems are ebonite as they are more comfortable for me. I maybe have 3 -4 acrylic stems, the rest ebonite. I clench almost all the time so why have stems that are not comfortable.

 

[Chasing Embers]

My favorite stems are ebonite as they are more comfortable for me. I maybe have 3 -4 acrylic stems, the rest ebonite. I clench almost all the time so why have stems that are not comfortable.

I really don't use my dentures for anything anymore and gumming acrylic is like chewing on broken glass. Very painful.

 

[bullet08]

Peterson. Affordable, wide open, and good classic shapes. And I love hallmarked silver bands.

 

[bmdfm]

For me, it usually has to be sandblasted, or maybe a light rustication. I really don't like smooth finished pipes for some reason, although there are always exceptions. I have a Peterson Green Spigot shape 68 that I really like, despite it being a smooth finish. I don't know that the green would come through as well with a rougher finish anyway, and I tend to really like green pipes. I'm also not a fan of really rough rustication, or of a rustication style that makes the pipe look cheap. There seem to be an awful lot of those. Luckily, sandblast models tend to be a little less expensive than a smooth finish, so that works out well.

I also prefer an acrylic stem. I had a few cheaper Peterson's that seemed to oxidize quickly and I hated that. I just bought my first artisan pipe, an estate Don Marshall that has a vulcanite stem, so I am anxious to try that one out and see if my preference on stem material will change. It is my understanding that a better grade of vulcanite may be less prone to oxidizing. We'll see.

I prefer staight pipes, or with a slight bend, as these will pass a cleaner. I have some bent Peterson's, but they all have a military mount. Other than that, I like a wide variety of styles so if I am looking at a new pipe these days, it has to offer something that I don't currently have in my collection. Usually. Well, sometimes anyway. I reserve the right to break my own rules at will.

All that being said, I have a couple of meerschaum pipes now that I am really enjoying, but those are a whole different beast and my preferences for meershaums do not reflect my preferences with briar pipes. The 3 that I currenly have all have the delrin stem connector and are all smooth pipes with classical shapes. I have my first figural meershaum on the way as I am typing this. It is a bent claw with egg shaped bowl.

 

[Chasing Embers]

It is a bent claw with egg shaped bowl.

The claws are fun to hold.

 

[bmdfm]

The claws are fun to hold.

View attachment 52353

Wow! Looks very similar to the one I'm getting. Love the red stem. Mine is black and grey swirl. Looks mostly black in the picture though.

 

[autumnfog]

Medium or smaller sized, sandblast or rusticated. Straight.
I don't like unnecessary decorations and bling on a pipe.
There is beauty in simplicity. Less is more.

 

[workman]

It is really hard to make a general rule as to which features make a pipe pleasing to me. It is very much a matter of proportions and lines, balance and texture, colour etc. and how they interact.
I prefer classic shapes like billiards, apples and bulldogs, bent or straight, smooth or sandblasted, silver or other metals are fine, but not necessary. It all comes down to whether or not I like a particular pipe.
I do prefer acrylic stems. I have a couple of very good pipes with ebonite stems, but when I search for a new pipe, acrylic is a must.
The one thing all of my pipes have in common is clenchability. All of them can be clenched for a long time without much effort, and that is the only set rule I have for a pipe.

 

[mso489]

Simplicity in design that still exudes artistry in proportion, balance, and style is magnetic to me. A nice band or ferrule is okay, but if a pipe can establish its quality and craftsmanship without any embellishment, I am really impressed, certainly in factory pipes, but especially in artisan work.