As I said - to each his own.That seems quite the superficial statement.
I am an appreciator of tobacco, so yes - I do have some pretty pipes, but I certainly don't frown at a Falcon.
Firstly = I don't think Falcon's look that terrible. They were also quite innovative for their time and are at least interesting as a piece of good functional design.
For a beginner who is looking for a budget pipe, I think they function better than most options at that price bracket (other than maybe cobs).
We smoke pipes for different reasons. Some guys here claim not to give twopence for their pipes as pipes -- they insist that their pipes are nothing more to them than utilitarian tobacco delivery systems.
I don't really believe them, but OK, we'll grant that for conversation's sake.
I have different motivations than that.
Of course I enjoy some tobaccos (and don't enjoy others), but I don't have to have any of them.
If pipes did not exist, and cigarettes were the only tobacco delivery systems, I might smoke only a few times a year.
But pipes do exist and I enjoy them, so I average one bowl each evening.
I'm motivated to smoke (considered in itself) a few times a year.
I'm motivated to pipe smoke every day.
I don't understand all of the reasons that I enjoy pipe smoking, but one of them involves the classic pipe shapes. I enjoy the appearance of briar billiards, canadians, apples, dublins, bulldogs, etc.
A pipe that looks like a vintage oil can is a non-starter for me.
P.S. This has nothing to do with monetary value. I'd be perfectly happy with $20 basket pipes, so long as they were classic shapes.