If you can only choose one brand, which one would be?

[cortezattic]

Rinaldo: good pipes, yet affordable ::

 

[dochudson]

a collection of the Pete's Sherlock Holmes would be awesome.
for the same money as a lot of production pipes you could get a nice collection of Tinsky's.

 

[dochudson]

a collection of the Pete's Sherlock Holmes would be awesome.
for the same money as a lot of production pipes you could get a nice collection of Tinsky's.

 

[crpntr1]

For me it would be Petes too...I've actually considered transferring my collection to all Petes lately..still may go for it too

 

[boilermakerandy]

I've smoked a lot of pipes over the years and for me the most consistently good smokers have been Petersons.

 

[thewalrus21]

I love the peterson flakes, so I'd go with peterson. In pipes I'd say Chacom. Cheap, beautiful and great smokers.

 

[thewalrus21]

Chacom is highly underrated if you were to ask me.

 

[griffonwing]

thewalrus21... Are Chacom pipes highly underrated?

 

[toby67]

I don't think they are under rated. It is well known of their history and family ties with Comoy's, below is an excerpt from a website about them. The "CC" marking on Comoy Pipes signify "Chapius and Comoy" to maintain the family bond.

The brand name Chacom is a combination of the family names Chapuis and Comoy. The factory was founded in Avignon, France in 1825, when the Comoy family started producing pipes there. Henry Comoy moved the production to London and from 1879 onwards he used his family name as a brand for his briar pipes. In 1922 the factory merged with one of his nephews Louis and Charles Chapuis. In the following period the production moved from London to Saint-Claude and several changes in names and ownership took place. The mark La Bruyère became the most important of the factory, since changes in names caused confusion.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Bruce Weaver. Only have three so far, but plan on buying many more from him.

 

[toby67]

Wow, they are very interesting pipes chasing do they smoke as nice as they look?

 

[toby67]

Your pic was there but now it's gone?

 

[Chasing Embers]

Okay, there they are. Can't seem to get the image to appear though. But yes, they are amazing smokers. The volcano was my first one that I asked him to carve for me, from that point I was hooked! :D

 

[saltedplug]

I cruise the artisan pipes sites, Quality Briar, smokingpipes (they have plenty of inexpensive pipes but perhaps the largest US artisan offering), Scandinavian Pipes and Al Pascia, regularly. As such I see many high-end brands. There's no way I could I could choose just one. Favorites are Anne Julie, Eltang, Former, J. T. Cooke, Bruce Weaver, J. Alan, Maigurs Knets, Rolando Negoita, Dunhill, Alex Florov, Jorn Micke, etc., etc.
I like classical shapes with enough variation to make them interesting. I have enough pipes but buy more anyway as I love buying them, and I love them. I just got an Edwards Algerian Briar, 7" Smooth Canadian for $65.00; except for the length, it's nothing unusual. When I can get quality for that price it tickles me. But not so fast. The draft hole was small, about the size of an Upshall, which looked unusual, but I smoked a half-dozen bowls to see if the draft would work as is. It didn't. At about the half-way mark it produced less smoke and was also hard to keep lit. I got out my teeny files and opened it up some; and although the draft still looks small, it seems to be sufficient now.
I don't mind having problems such as this that are easy to diagnose and fix.

 

[toby67]

I also like the Italian pipes as they have many great artesian's who produce great pipes. I'm thinking of buying one new in January, it will be either a Spanu or a Maestro De Paja. If I do its narrowed down to these two pipes.
Spanu

Maestro De Paja

So far I'm leaning more toward the Spanu. I've been offered 25% of whichever I purchase with a cheap shipping fee including tracking and insurance