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anotherbob

Lifer
Mar 30, 2019
15,675
29,392
45
In the semi-rural NorthEastern USA
I have 2 grandchildren 17 and 15 that cannot tell me what time it is by looking at our wall clocks. Sadly they have to look at their phone. Next time they visit I can check to see if they can read in cursive. If i had to put money on it I would bet against it. I have heard from guys at work they quit teaching it at some point.
glad about the cursive. Just because there are more useful things for them to learn. Like computers or cooking or counter terrorism.
 
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saltedplug

Lifer
Aug 20, 2013
5,194
5,097
My feelings about very expensive pipes are very ambivalent.

I believe that it is impossible to evaluate them without being influenced by their purportedly elite status. Well, Manduela was trained by Poul Ilsted. Since he was great, Mandela must be/perhaps is great. Also Ilsted's pipes are expensive. Perhaps Manduela's are justifiably expensive. You may say that you can consider her pipes objectively nonetheless. I say you cannot.

Nor can I. A further bias against these towering prices, which seem to me self-indulgent (to me to me to me) , both for the maker and the carver, their value one part true to three parts pipe-hype. My problem (my problem, my/my/my, my problem) is that claims about a certain maker's pipes are only valid by the judgment of your experience alone. I cannot have your experience. Unless and until the judgment of your palate can be mine, your findings are unreliable. One's pipe experiences (continued below)
 

saltedplug

Lifer
Aug 20, 2013
5,194
5,097
(continued)

are the judgment of your palate alone. They are private. Until the community can duplicate what you did to arrive at these findings, others have no way to assess their veracity.

This maker's prices are very high, and until I could assess by virtue of my subjective palate your supposedly objective claims, which I hold cannot happen, I will continue to buy modest pipes and let the high-dollar pipe smoking crowd buy pipes such as the above.
 
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anotherbob

Lifer
Mar 30, 2019
15,675
29,392
45
In the semi-rural NorthEastern USA
My feelings about very expensive pipes are very ambivalent.

I believe that it is impossible to evaluate them without being influenced by their purportedly elite status. Well, Manduela was trained by Poul Ilsted. Since he was great, Mandela must be/perhaps is great. Also Ilsted's pipes are expensive. Perhaps Manduela's are justifiably expensive. You may say that you can consider her pipes objectively nonetheless. I say you cannot.

Nor can I. A further bias against these towering prices, which seem to me self-indulgent (to me to me to me) , both for the maker and the carver, their value one part true to three parts pipe-hype. My problem (my problem, my/my/my, my problem) is that claims about a certain maker's pipes are only valid by the judgment of your experience alone. I cannot have your experience. Unless and until the judgment of your palate can be mine, your findings are unreliable. One's pipe experiences (continued below)
My expensive pipe doesn't smoke any better then any of my other pipes. I get better smokes out of it because I only get it out if all I am doing is smoking. No lunting, reading, writing, or talking with other people. Maybe also sipping on something that came from a bottle I wouldn't normal spend that much on. I love that thing though. And I guess if you find one you love and have the extra money it's suddenly worth it. I also really like just handling my pipes and look at them and enjoying things like the grain or the carving. I think at that price it's not just a pipe but also a work of art (then again same can apply to a factory made pipe too). The one thing that all the high end pipes have is rarity. I think that's a lot of the price and a lot of the appeal too. I can look at a 100 or 200 dollar pipe for days weighing the pros and cons of it. A thousand dollar or more pipe will almost always be more of a buy it now or not at all. I'll put it this way if I find a Peterson I am particularly found of and the next day someone buys it I will not have to wait long to find another one I know I'll be just as happy with. A big fancy carved meer like mine or Chasings skull meer it could be years before you find something like that again.
 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,248
108,345
and I bet you knew if you didn't act it would basically be lost to you.
That one yes, but Kenan regularly makes skulls. I actually put that one off for a couple of weeks and my wife ended up buying it because she got sick of me talking about it.?
 

anotherbob

Lifer
Mar 30, 2019
15,675
29,392
45
In the semi-rural NorthEastern USA
That one yes, but Kenan regularly makes skulls. I actually put that one off for a couple of weeks and my wife ended up buying it because she got sick of me talking about it.?
yeah my girlfriend made me buy my meer. Pretty similar story too. She was like look you clearly want it so spoil yourself once in a while. She knows that nicotine isn't a luxury for me but necessary. She also knows my cellar is going to increase when that ship finally comes in. :)
 
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ChuckMijo

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 26, 2020
775
2,348
It’s a really great pipe .100% not me The fact that others don’t understand it’s price point , well .. that’s what separates many. The more I read about her the more I’d love one. I don’t believe it would be a bad investment at all. Her pipes seem to go up in value.
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,621
44,833
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
I've admired Manduela's work for a while. Her design sense is of a very high standard. And I will be happy to continue to admire them. I won't spend that kind of money on them.

The pipe referenced in this thread is beautifully made, but I just don't think it works well as design, and I don't find the graining really of that high a quality. As a working artist I'm not surprised to hear that Manduela holds this particular piece in high regard. Personal artistic evaluations are always subjective. Over the decades that I've worked as an professional artist I've seen time and time again that a piece of work that I think is especially good doesn't get noticed, while another piece that I think is merely OK inexplicably garners a lot of praise from others. I'll never understand that, and that's OK.

Pipe collecting is nothing if not subjective. One person's treasure is another person's tragedy or farce. Someone thought highly enough of this pipe to buy it at the asking price.

I'm very happy with the pipes I've acquired. They smoke well, please my eye and/or my interest in historical examples, and fit my budget. I've been pretty fortunate. I don't own any duds.

And while I've seen pipes that I wish I owned, I've never experienced the feeling that what I have is somehow "less than". I know better.
 
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