Finding tampers

[dontbeaburleyman]

I enjoy rooting around antique stores looking for pipes and accessories. Been doing this for quite some time but have never seen tampers.

Why can’t I find tampers at these places? Don’t find them at estate sales with pipes for sale either. Do they just get thrown away? Do people not know what they are? Or did people just not use manufactured tampers back in the day?

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I enjoy rooting around antique stores looking for pipes and accessories. Been doing this for quite some time but have never seen tampers.

Why can’t I find tampers at these places? Don’t find them at estate sales with pipes for sale either. Do they just get thrown away? Do people not know what they are? Or did people just not use manufactured tampers back in the day?

Not sure how long ago “back in the day” is, but if you didn’t want to use a finger, you could use a cut twig or a golf tee. And, I’m pretty sure antique shops tossed burned dirty golf tees that would come in with a pipe.

On the other hand, if you want a silver or gold heirloom tamper… I know a guy.

 

[Deano]

Most smoke shopes have czech tools and as Cosmic said wood golf teas work.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

Apparently they can't find them either!

 

[verporchting]

It’s because they are all buried under all the mismatched socks that mysteriously disappear in the laundry and nobody actually knows where that location is. Probably in another dimension somewhere in the multiverse but you will never find it so just give up now and call it quits.

 

[didimauw]

That's funny. Never thought about tampers before. Where DO they all go???? Lol I have found pipes, tins, stands, jars, etc. Never a tamper lmao!

Like there's some tamper purgatory somewhere they all go to after you die!

 

[kcghost]

There are a few guys who make tampers that are pretty nice but are pricey. Prices of those run from say $30 to the moon. If you just want a pipe nail you can get those for around a buck. As for why you don't see them in antique mall just look at them. They small have no obvious users to a non-pipe smoker. This suggests they got thrown out or are in a different part of the store.

 

[verporchting]

They send them all back to the Czech Republic to be made into coins. Duh.

 

[AJL67]

I’ve had this one for 55yrs definitely an antique at this point.

 

[Zeno Marx]

When I worked at a pipe store, the hardcore smokers...the ones smoking a pound a week who only owned a single pipe...didn't use a tamper. They stuffed their pipe until ribbons were hanging over the rim of the bowl, lit it, smoked the pipe like a banshee, and repeated the process all day long. They didn't buy pipe cleaners, tampers, or a second pipe. Their entire kit was one pipe, a big bag of tobacco, and a lighter. The hardcore cigar smokers were the same. Bite off the tip and light it up. No clipper. I'd be surprised if most pipe smokers ever used a tamper, outside their finger or something off the ground they discarded as quickly as they picked it up.

 

[Ray Popp]

My dad used his finger, or the other end of a kitchen match. I like a fired 30-06 case or a 300 WBY MAG case, again, previously fired, spent primer still in its pocket. And then again, when I fly, when I get to my destination, I buy a Czech tool or a "nail" as the airlines frown on spent ammo cases in luggage.

 

[mso489]

Really handsome well-crafted tampers, if they are carried and used regularly, get lost more than cell phones and car keys. However, if you carry pipe nails or horseshoe nails that cost about a dollar, they never get lost. I think they carry cab or uber fare to find their way home if they are dropped. Neither the artisan crafted tampers nor the pipe and horseshoe nails are identifiable to the average person. They puzzle over them and throw them in a drawer or the trash. For utility, a pipe nail is a masterpiece of efficiency, everything you need and nothing you don't. They aren't pretty, and they aren't all that versatile, but you'll rarely want for something else. However, in Czech tools, I believe I have the one carried in the desert by Moses. I know it goes back to my grandfather anyway.

 

[mikethompson]

Definitely that flat part of the Czech tool is what I use most.

I'm assuming that if most guys used Czech tools as well, there wouldn't be the volume of old tempers in shops to begin with.

 

[scloyd]

I enjoy rooting around antique stores looking for pipes and accessories. Been doing this for quite some time but have never seen tampers.

Why can’t I find tampers at these places?

I found a tamper in an antique shop about a year ago. It was stamped AUSTRIA. I purchased it and sent it to @mikethompson. Mike has an interest in Austrian made pipes.

It's the first and only tamper I've seen at an antique shop.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I’ve had this one for 55yrs definitely an antique at this point.

View attachment 196591

 

[bullet08]

Check out eBay. They got plenty of old tampers. Few old sterling tampers look nice, but $1.50 pipe does the same thing.

 

[daveinlax]

Look for little tobacco branded tamps in the boxes of do-dads at the antique shops or they are always available on eBay.

 

[mikethompson]

I found a tamper in an antique shop about a year ago. It was stamped AUSTRIA. I purchased it and sent it to @mikethompson. Mike has an interest in Austrian made pipes.

It's the first and only tamper I've seen at an antique shop.

This is true - this is the tool I use

 

[Streeper541]

I never once saw my grandfather use an actual tamper. I know he owned one, because I have it... it's a Czech tool he used for cleaning his pipe. The only things he used to press tobacco was his finger or a golf tee.

 

[Briar Tuck]

My dad used his finger, or the other end of a kitchen match. I like a fired 30-06 case or a 300 WBY MAG case, again, previously fired, spent primer still in its pocket. And then again, when I fly, when I get to my destination, I buy a Czech tool or a "nail" as the airlines frown on spent ammo cases in luggage.

I never thought of using a spent rifle casing. That's a great idea. I know what my next tamper will be now!