In Buying Pipes, are You a Quick Sale or Otherwise?

[jewman22]

Well if I love the look, I buy, that is if it's an author. Just impulse bought a Rattray's.
Early on I did impulse buy a lot of pipes that I no longer use, most were cheap. If it's under 40$USD I just buy it if it appeals to me even in the slightest, regardless of shape.

I only have 2, of what I would call pricey pipes, and they fell into the category of looking at the same pipe daily, for over a month before pulling the trigger, a lot of you would laugh if you knew how low I consider to be expensive.

 

[stogie37]

I’m pretty much operating under a sell one to buy one protocol these last few years. After 30 years of collecting my “rotation” doesn’t have any dogs in it, so only a couple new additions every year. I’m about to sell off a trio of meerschaum pipes that I’m just not smoking (2 are unsmoked actually), so I’ve begun the perusal stage of things I might like to take their place. By the time the sell-off takes place I’ll probably be ready to pull the trigger within a day or two of the funds hitting the account. No hurry tho - it’s got to be exactly what I want!

 

[JOHN72]

At the moment the budget consists of increasing the amount of tobacco in the wardrobe (cellar). Which gives me the advantage of choosing the future pipes that I want to buy. I already know for sure the brands of pipe that I will buy in the not too distant future. I thank this great forum for the valuable information...........

 

[magicpiper]

For now quick draw, but I somehow hardly buy a pipe, I rather spend my money on tobacco.

That’s the best way to sum up my pipe acquisitions. I’d much rather spend the money on tobacco now. Pipes, hopefully, won’t be hard to buy in the foreseeable future. Tobacco, well, that’s another discussion.

 

[anotherbob]

honestly I usually know what I am looking for and then find it. I don't usually see a pipe and go oh I need that. For example when I bought my Vauen I knew what that I needed a bent pipe like the ones I've owned before and put all the right stuff in the search bar and went through until I found the right one. That's how pretty much all but two of my pipes got purchased. The two that didn't go like that where both my first and only two estates (both unsmoked, well when I bought them )

 

[mingc]

The time I take to decide whether to buy is directly related to the price. The cheaper it is, the quicker I decide.

 

[lawdawg]

Most times I think of buying a new pipe, I reason to myself that it would probably make more sense to buy some tobacco instead, so that's what I do. At some point, I will buy some more pipes. I'm at a point where I have a basic rotation and only want to buy pipes that I am confident I will keep permanently. I'm starting to think of an artisan pipe, old Britwood, or perhaps a nice meer for my next pipe.

 

[LimestoneCowboy]

I buy whatever has the most bids at online auctions. If it's popular it's probably a good choice. If I don't like it, I am can sell it back. I use my gut instinct to decide, and it hasn't let me down yet.

 

[LimestoneCowboy]

I buy whatever has the most bids at online auctions. If it's popular it's probably a good choice. If I don't like it, I am can sell it back. I use my gut instinct to decide, and it hasn't let me down yet.

Gut instinct + number of bids, I mean. I am new to pipes, so mix intuition with popularity. I currently am focused on unique, one-of-a-kind pieces that speak to me (and others!).

 

[That Guy]

I never buy pipes new anymore. Everything I get now is estate sale lots. My favorite and best smoking pipes are ones I got in estate sale lots that equaled out to be $10 or less per pipe while my pipes that I paid over $100 for just sit on the rack. Sure they might need a little work and TLC but it's fun to bring them back to life and give them purpose again. Right now I'm smoking a beautiful Chacom Manet 856 that was unsmoked that cost me $8. More money for tobacco ?

 

[tobefrank]

I have bought pipes quick, but almost always regretted that. Most of the pipes I hold onto now are ones I took weeks, sometimes months, to decide on. Luckily for me some of my favourite artisan pipes didn’t get bought by someone’s before I finally pulled the trigger.

 

[didimauw]

I tend to impulse buy a lot of times. However I've honed my ideas of what I need in a pipe, and don't veer far from that.

This whole meerschaum life, has got me seriously thinking about changing some of my direct deposit paychecks to go straight to PayPal. Pipe and tobacco account.

 

[karam]

I am what Greeks would call “expensive with the chaff, cheap with the wheat”. It doesn’t translate well, basically means a person who will stress and haggle for something cheap/worthless and drop money without a thought on something expensive.

Case in point, I’ve wanted a Savinelli 904 for years, browsing ebay, SP.eu, Savinelli’s shop for ages. Missed some nice pipes due to arbitrary factors i put on myself (like the whole transaction being less than $50 for example for second hand), yet on a whim on Thursday i dropped $100 on a new one from Sav’s own website in 30 seconds. Of course the amounts are not big, but i have the same “issue” eg in the supermarket, debate over a carton of milk for 1.39 vs 1.49 and then blindly drop 15.90 on washing powder.

 

[Bengel]

I thank this great forum for the valuable enabling...........

corrected that for you?

 

[JOHN72]

corrected that for you?

why enabling..........???

 

[Stummel&Stem]

Generally, I'm a brooder. Like that with almost every purchase, not just pipes. I research, compare prices, watch, repeat until I make a decision.
Sometimes, though, all bets are off. If I'm scrolling through listings on the eBay and I see something that might not wait for me to go through my process-- unusual shapes or makers, a discontinued finish on an estate piece, a price too good to refuse...
I often find that those impulse buys are the most rewarding, too. Not giving myself the chance to look something over and research the devil out of it makes for more surprises when it arrives, and that's almost always a good thing.

 

[AroEnglish]

Always agonize and rarely buy. I’ve bought a few off of SP only to send them back later.

 

[Bengel]

why enabling..........???

Getting motivated to buy pipes?