How to buy a Good Estate Pipe

[alaskanpiper]

Is there any correlation between general quality of those pipes with fixed cost vs the best offer price or am I just dreaming?

Not really. Possibly if you’re referring to the methods of a specific seller, but generally speaking the method of sale indicates little more than the level of risk the seller is willing to take to offload the piece.

I’ve seen high end stuff in beautiful shape go for a song, and absolute dog shit listed at an absurdly high fixed price and everything in between.

If you actually somehow ran a study with empirical data and a reliable and valid measure of quality, I suppose it’s possible you could find a correlation, but I would not suggest using method of sale in any way as a factor in judging a pipe’s quality when contemplating a purchase.

 

[Hillcrest]

How to buy a Good Estate Pipe:​

Figure out what you like/want first !
Check the For Sale listings on this forum.
Check the Estate Sale listings on the Sponsors sites.

 

[Briar Lee]

Only if you strip the finish and then slather it with beeswax.

$15 today.



Geezus what a beautful pipe.

And you know that sap filled oxblood colored 80 year old Algerian pipe is going to be good for another 80 years.

Quality matters, and quality shows.

They looked better, and they smoked better.

If the French had won we’d still have new ones.

 

[Choatecav]

$15 today.

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Geezus what a beautful pipe.

And you know that sap filled oxblood colored 80 year old Algerian pipe is going to be good for another 80 years.

Quality matters, and quality shows.

They looked better, and they smoked better.

If the French had won we’d still have new ones.

That's beautiful!!
Don't know that I've seen one just like that before.
$15.......wow..................

 

[Briar Lee]

That's beautiful!!
Don't know that I've seen one just like that before.
$15.......wow..................

Two things are at work in that Chadwick.

The French government owned every burl of briar in Algeria, from 1830 until they lost the war in 1962. The French government had to approve every bag of briar sold on world markets and it was all graded by French inspectors so the sellers couldn’t screw the customers, which were pipe makers.

Algerian briar sold from $16 a bag to over $100 a bag.

The good stuff, the top grade, looked like that $15 Chadwick.

The second thing was, Wally Frank figured out a way to sell $2.50 top grade Algerian carved pipes.

That looks like a Mincer or Marx contract.

It’s not London Made or it would say so.

That’s made in Murca!.

 

[alaskanpiper]

sap filled

I realize you are sticking with this whole sap thing to get a rise out of people, which is fine, it’s a pretty hilarious notion, but there are people here with limited experience who may mistake the comical satire for well researched knowledge rather than farcical conjecture.

I’d hate to see an innocent newbie show up to pipe club meeting incoherently rambling about the sap in his “top quality” ebay junker only to end up rather embarrassed when his undoubtedly polite compatriots inform him that what he has been led to believe by people he thought were well informed experts is in fact patently absurd.

I mean, most of us who have been around a while understand of course that the whole sap filled briar thing is an ongoing joke, we get it, but the way you present it could easily be mistaken as serious by someone who is just starting out.

 

[Alejo R.]

I realize you are sticking with this whole sap thing to get a rise out of people, which is fine, it’s a pretty hilarious notion, but there are people here with limited experience who may mistake the comical satire for well researched knowledge rather than farcical conjecture.

I’d hate to see an innocent newbie show up to pipe club meeting incoherently rambling about the sap in his “top quality” ebay junker only to end up rather embarrassed when his undoubtedly polite compatriots inform him that what he has been led to believe by people he thought were well informed experts is in fact patently absurd.

I mean, most of us who have been around a while understand of course that the whole sap filled briar thing is an ongoing joke, we get it, but the way you present it could easily be mistaken as serious by someone who is just starting out.

All groups have points of view and none are necessarily true. I agree with you that mass-produced American pipes could hardly be considered top quality. On the other hand, if, I believe, you asked an American pipe club and a European one that is a Top quality pipe, the answers would be different.

 

[alaskanpiper]

All groups have points of view and none are necessarily true. I agree with you that mass-produced American pipes could hardly be considered top quality. On the other hand, if, I believe, you asked an American pipe club and a European one that is a Top quality pipe, the answers would be different.

Yeah, this post wasn’t referring to that, although I did mention it so I can see how one could infer that. Yes, “top quality” is pretty subjective. Old algerian briars being filled with special sap that makes them color in 2 smokes and taste special, not so much. That’s more what this is directed toward.

 

[bullet08]

1. The previous owner has to be dead. Don't want them coming back asking for the pipe.
2. Possible medical records going back 30 years. You know, certain contagious things can not be cured.
3. Absolutely no dung smoking pipes. God bless his soul.

 

[Briar Lee]

I realize you are sticking with this whole sap thing to get a rise out of people, which is fine, it’s a pretty hilarious notion, but there are people here with limited experience who may mistake the comical satire for well researched knowledge rather than farcical conjecture.

I’d hate to see an innocent newbie show up to pipe club meeting incoherently rambling about the sap in his “top quality” ebay junker only to end up rather embarrassed when his undoubtedly polite compatriots inform him that what he has been led to believe by people he thought were well informed experts is in fact patently absurd.

I mean, most of us who have been around a while understand of course that the whole sap filled briar thing is an ongoing joke, we get it, but the way you present it could easily be mistaken as serious by someone who is just starting out.

Yesterday I bought a $20 bag of Jamaican Rum flavored cheap pipe tobacco that must have had enough additives or flavorings to get hot as hell when it burned.

The smoke wasn’t hot, I can smoke any pipe, any blend, all day, all night, I’m such an addict I’m not getting bit. The pipe got hot when I touched it.

I’m right about why Algerian briar tastes different.

The sap in the things tastes wonderful.

You can really tell it if you only have a resin on the bowl and the briar gets hot enough to cook that sap.

Why we smoke briar pipes instead of cobs or meers is the slight briar taste. Then most smokers used to build a cake so there wasn’t a briar taste.

I’m breaking in a new corn cob.

The thing has some sweet corn sap still inside and it’s over fifty years old.

Tannins, might be the proper name for pipe sap.

I posted an article on Algerian briar from November 1948 where the guy stumbled on why Algerian was so highly prized as best.

The briar not only grew on the sides of the Atlas Mountains where a mule or goat had a hard time going.

The wind from the Mediterranean lashed the Heather shrubs, and that caused them to be stunted and the sap went down to the burl.

If Heather were Eastern Red Cedar nobody would question why, it’s used for cedar chests and to line closets.

You can smell cedar sap.

 

[OzPiper]

I realize you are sticking with this whole sap thing to get a rise out of people, which is fine, it’s a pretty hilarious notion, but there are people here with limited experience who may mistake the comical satire for well researched knowledge rather than farcical conjecture.

I’d hate to see an innocent newbie show up to pipe club meeting incoherently rambling about the sap in his “top quality” ebay junker only to end up rather embarrassed when his undoubtedly polite compatriots inform him that what he has been led to believe by people he thought were well informed experts is in fact patently absurd.

I mean, most of us who have been around a while understand of course that the whole sap filled briar thing is an ongoing joke, we get it, but the way you present it could easily be mistaken as serious by someone who is just starting out.

Oh !
He IS serious

 

[alaskanpiper]

Yesterday I bought a $20 bag of Jamaican Rum flavored cheap pipe tobacco that must have had enough additives or flavorings to get hot as hell when it burned.

The smoke wasn’t hot, I can smoke any pipe, any blend, all day, all night, I’m such an addict I’m not getting bit. The pipe got hot when I touched it.

I’m right about why Algerian briar tastes different.

The sap in the things tastes wonderful.

You can really tell it if you only have a resin on the bowl and the briar gets hot enough to cook that sap.

Why we smoke briar pipes instead of cobs or meers is the slight briar taste. Then most smokers used to build a cake so there wasn’t a briar taste.

I’m breaking in a new corn cob.

The thing has some sweet corn sap still inside and it’s over fifty years old.

Tannins, might be the proper name for pipe sap.

I posted an article on Algerian briar from November 1948 where the guy stumbled on why Algerian was so highly prized as best.

The briar not only grew on the sides of the Atlas Mountains where a mule or goat had a hard time going.

The wind from the Mediterranean lashed the Heather shrubs, and that caused them to be stunted and the sap went down to the burl.

If Heather were Eastern Red Cedar nobody would question why, it’s used for cedar chests and to line closets.

You can smell cedar sap.

Ok, so you are not going to stop the gag then?

Copy that. Noobs be warned. This is all an ongoing inside joke, he is not being serious.

There is no sap remaining in Algerian briar pipes, pipemakers do everything possible to make sure of it, including boiling, curing, and aging the briar, as any significant amount of residual sap would make the smoke taste horrifying. Additionally, they will not color in 2 smokes unless you change the finish like Briar Lee does.

But they will color, slowly but surely, like all briar eventually will.

 

[telescopes]

If Heather were Eastern Red Cedar nobody would question why, it’s used for cedar chests and to line closets.

You can smell cedar sap.

This is a clear false analogy and a clear logical misdirection. If humans were gorillas, we could hold our own in a fight with lions.

 

[macaroni]

Keep 'em coming @Briar Lee - I love your posts! Educational, funny, insightful; you must have got the brains in your Family!

 

[Briar Lee]

Keep 'em coming @Briar Lee - I love your posts! Educational, funny, insightful; you must have got the brains in your Family!

Not so much brains as curiosity.

Why was Algerian briar so highly prized?

Same reason Havana cigars were, and are.

And Grand Cru Burgundy from Burgandy.

It’s the best place on earth for the sap inside the burl, leaf, or grape.

Tastes good, dammit.

 

[alaskanpiper]

Keep 'em coming @Briar Lee - I love your posts! Educational, funny, insightful; you must have got the brains in your Family!

To be clear @Briar Lee I agree with this. Much of the history you provide is fascinating and well worth sharing, and you do it in a delightful way.

I just wish you were a little more open to being receptive to information that may contradict some of your less researched speculations.

This is not a court of law. Nobody has to win or lose. It is ok to consider someone else’s point of view, actually consider it, and change one’s mind.

Nobody is going to fire you or run you off if you say “I’ll be damned, they might be on to something!”

Our goal here is to find the truth together by listening to each other and discussing what we find. We are all on the same team, man.

 

[Choatecav]

As a 35 year cigar smoker but relatively new to pipes, I am loving y'alls banter. Reminds me of other forums I have been involved with (or even moderators for) on other topics.

I couldn't wrap my mind around the whole sap thing as I had read that they boil and dry those briars to a ridiculous level to remove same, but I figured I was about to learn the secret to the inner circle, ha.
Would be curious to learn what the original joke was on it, though.

One thing I would love to know is how the assigned labels are given out like, lurker, lifer, part of the furniture, etc.? I assume it has something to do with number of comments, etc. but haven't found the criteria yet.

 

[alaskanpiper]

As a 35 year cigar smoker but relatively new to pipes, I am loving y'alls banter. Reminds me of other forums I have been involved with (or even moderators for) on other topics.

I couldn't wrap my mind around the whole sap thing as I had read that they boil and dry those briars to a ridiculous level to remove same, but I figured I was about to learn the secret to the inner circle, ha.
Would be curious to learn what the original joke was on it, though.

One thing I would love to know is how the assigned labels are given out like, lurker, lifer, part of the furniture, etc.? I assume it has something to do with number of comments, etc. but haven't found the criteria yet.

A mod can answer better, but im pretty sure its just based on the amount of time you’ve been a member and/or number of posts, etc.

 

[alaskanpiper]

I couldn't wrap my mind around the whole sap thing as I had read that they boil and dry those briars to a ridiculous level to remove same

Correct.

 

[Alejo R.]

As a 35 year cigar smoker but relatively new to pipes, I am loving y'alls banter. Reminds me of other forums I have been involved with (or even moderators for) on other topics.

I couldn't wrap my mind around the whole sap thing as I had read that they boil and dry those briars to a ridiculous level to remove same, but I figured I was about to learn the secret to the inner circle, ha.
Would be curious to learn what the original joke was on it, though.

One thing I would love to know is how the assigned labels are given out like, lurker, lifer, part of the furniture, etc.? I assume it has something to do with number of comments, etc. but haven't found the criteria yet.

There is no sap whatsoever in a briar pipe. The heather goes through a controlled drying process to eliminate moisture gradually and without breaking. Then it is boiled for more than 24 hours to remove all traces of sap or tannins. It is then stored again in a controlled environment until it is ready to make a pipe. The origins of heather may determine its density or weight, but not its taste.