Fujima (and other cheap Chinese pipes)

[macgilleeathain]

I'm one of those people who have to learn things the hard way.
After reading all the warning posts against purchasing one of those generic Chinese pipes, I still decided to try it for myself. Not sure if I would enjoy smoking a pipe, I wanted to keep my initial expense down. I purchased one of those Fujima muffler system, metal bowl insert, o-ring jobbies from my local tobacco shop for about $8. What a complete waste of time, money and tobacco! I had problems with it from the very beginning. The stem sucks, cleaning it is a pain in the butt, and it constantly gurgles like a fish tank (even after cleaning it). My experience was so bad that it made smoking a pipe more of a hassle than a pleasure.
I now own a Dr. Grabow Duke. What a world of difference. So, for anyone who has considered one of these Chinese-made catastrophes...for the love of God, don't do it. Learn from my mistake. Spend the extra $20-$30 and get a real pipe.

 

[taerin]

Or spend $4-8 and get a MM cob which smokes better than most briars $50 and below

 

[sfsteves]

macgilleeathain said:

I'm one of those people who have to learn things the hard way.

Look at it from a different perspective ... imagine the world we'd be living in if every single individual that has gone before us had always accepted the advise of others ... had you, for example, done so, you'd not have made the mistake of buying a (crap) Chinese pipe ... on the other hand, if Columbus and every sailor who ever followed him had accepted the advise of others, we'd still all be subscribing to the pre-sixteenth century 'conventional wisdom' which held that the Earth was flat ...
Also, consider that not everything you've decided to 'try for yourself' has turned out badly ... it's likely that the majority of those impulses have turned out well, some even VERY well to the point they constitute the best things you've ever done ...
Lastly, on the plus side in this instance, you can take pleasure in knowing that you didn't spend a great deal of money in the failed experiment ... I can tell you that some experimental things I've done which ended in similar failure have cost me dearly ...

 

[spartan]

Learn from those that have been there before, but use your brain as well.
If the you think the old codgers are blowing smoke, then try it your way and report back on your findings.
We're all here to help and had fun.
We'll just add your testimony to the hundreds of thousands that came before you. ::

 

[mso489]

Some business people in China are doing their fellow Chinese business people a real disservice. The

Chinese have a long history of artful, well-crafted, thoughtfully produced products going back actually

thousands of years. But by diving for the quick buck, the less ethical ones have effectively closed the

market to the Chinese for decades, until someone can win the world back in these product areas.

Too bad because, although a small and specialized market, tobacco pipes are something that could

be produced in smaller towns and cities, done beautifully and profitably, in a proud and honorable way.

Well, forget that for a long, long time. The Irish, French, English, Italians, etc., need our business, not

to mention our home folks here in the U.S.

 

[antbauers]

My local BM actually sells Sanda pipes for $30 each. They are the same thing as the Fujimas, metal bowl, o-rings and all that. $30 dollars! They even have cobs for $15 and I don't mean MM cobs. I feel bad for pipe smokers who are starting out and have the experience ruined with pipes like these.

 

[tuold]

It is a tortuous and expensive path to wisdom. My first purchase from eBay was a boxed set of four of those awful pipes. They looked like briar, had some unusual styles and the metal bowls were hidden in the pictures. I pulled the stems off, threw them in a drawer and dropped bowls in the trash. I later got another one in a lot of estate pipes. I keep it on my desk as reminder of my fallibility before making any ebay bids.

 

[doctoronln9]

I got one with a 'starter kit' I purchased from an otherwise great online retailer. I thought I was getting a great deal.
The pipe caught fire on the first bowl. Not a 'toasty' sensation, but actually lit completely on fire.

 

[mrfus]

Unfortunately there are a lot of cheap pipes on the market and the bad experience or inexperience turn down many people who in some point try to join the ranks of pipe smoking...

 

[seagullplayer]

On the bright side you now have a great gift for you MIL next Christmas!