Years back in a similar thread, I threw out the name of a pipemaker and Sable pushed back asking what it was about the pipe that made it so good. He was right, of course. It’s far more helpful to new folks to identify what makes one pipe different from the next.
Here are a few favorites of mine;
Comoy’s Grandslam- classic British shaping, light, well aged and properly seasoned briar, very thin bit and an open draw, good price.
Castello, Kino- cool shapes (33, 10, 55, 84, 74), excellent briar wrt smoking character, very reliable quality, good prices abroad.
Peterson- eff yew, I like Pete’s, but mostly the old ones, particularly the deluxe systems...cool and dry smoke, with an unusual smooth character, easy clenchers and make you look like Sherlock.
Lasse Skovgaard- top notch stem work which( isn’t a given with Scand-pipes (Ime), amazingly tactile, organic sandblasts and shaping, good wood.
Ken Dederichs- under the radar pipe maker, pipes are jewel-like, excellent overall quality and beautiful shaping, good price/quality.
Claudio Cavicchi- big ass, reliable pipes, everything you need for an excellent smoke, great stems.
Walt Cannoy’s Cardinal House line- best bang for the buck handmade pipes, hands down. Excellent stems, funky take on classic shapes.
This year I have my eyes out for pipes from Scotty Piersol and James Jones. Scotty seems to be constantly developing while I’ve heard great things about James’ stems. Not really buying too many pipes these days.