I am preparing another more Official thread about this project where there will be more rules that will hopefully clear up everything and this thread would then be like a suggestions box.
Let me address some of your concerns and questions so far:
1. Is smoking a pipe that has been passed around gross? - To be completely honest this one I did not expect, I assume that everyone will handle the pipe as any other estate pipe you get from ebay for example. No matter what the "seller" says he did to the pipe I am cleaning it up to my standards before putting it in my mouth. I get it if you were someone who only buys brand new pipes, but if you are that guy you shouldn't,t be interested in this project what so ever. I also liked
@Bbailey324's suggestion of using the tobacco in your pipe and just take a photo of the pipe. I like it because it includes people, who would otherwise opt ou, but it also defeats the purpose at the same time.
2. The pipe is coming to me but I am not home. - If that's your case, just message me or post a reply and I can bump you down a couple of position in the list so it fits you better. This shouldn't be a big issue because the pipe will already be in your country and at this point the exact order is not that important.
3. The 2-3 day turnover - At first I wanted it to be a week to accommodate for some unexpected issues people might face, but if we get a lot of people joining in, it would be quite annoying and a long with for people who are at the end of the list. The aim of this rule to prevent people from procrastinating unnecessary, but at the same time given a good reason a couple of extra days of delay should be completely fine.
4. Will a country's customs disappear the pipe? What if someone drops the ball and decides to take the pipe for himself - This might happen and we have no control over that. Worst case scenario I lose one pipe. This also why all shipments need to be tracked. I also just got the idea of putting an AirTag in the package along with the pipe - this could potentially help in a situation like this, or cost me an extra 25 euros if someone decides to take the package. If any of this happens then we could start again with another pipe or I send the new pipe to the person who was in line.
5. Whoever is the last domestic USA piper to smoke before sending the package across a national border is going to get hit with a non-trivial postage fee. - At first I thought about covering the extra cost myself, but then decided against that because this could turn in a very long project with some of the rules I am planning to add. Here in Germany if send a tracked and insured package with DHL domestically it would cost me 6,19 euros and the most expensive destinations, like the US, Japan or Australia for example would cost me 22,49. Although that's almost 4 times more expensive, it shouldn't be that big of an issue for anyone who is willing to participate. Still if that's the case I guess you could ask to switch your positions with someone else.
6. Might want to think about how to hold people accountable in case the package falls off the grid. - Now this one is a bit complicated. In a perfect world people should enjoy being part of this community project and have some honor, but I see the point of having some consequences if someone intentionally or out of neglect, ruins the other's experience. I might have a solution, but I will definitely need some moderator's support for it.
I was thinking of marketing the project outside of the forum(maybe on instagram) in order to get more people to join the project and the forum. This will be a members only event. We could put some requirements, similar to the sell post ones, to prevent people from just joining for the event. This also why I added the rule of the forum's hashtag too. If the moderators/admins see some value in this, then they could decide on a fitting consequence.
7. I'm not seeing the purpose of the experiment. Maybe just something to try because we can? I'll watch with interest though. -
@warren somewhat answered his own question here - it is something interesting in my opinion and following the pipes journey and the people it meets would be peak entertainment for me. But hey participation is not mandatory - if you don't get it or like it, you don't have to be part of it.
8. When will this project begin? - Once I figure out all of the rules and I am 100% sure they will not change - I will create the official thread and people will be able to join it. At that point I think we start once we have at least 50 participants and at least one participant from each continent. I need some feedback on this last sentence specifically.
9. Once started, would new people be allowed to join? - I am actually hoping for this to happen, even if it prolongs the whole event and lowers the chance of me getting my pipe back. The one issue I have is what happens if all of a sudden 70 extra people from the US join and whoever was next in line has to wait an extra year. At the end of the day this not for any kind of profit and it has no entry fee, so people shouldn't be that bummed out by having to wait a bit longer for their turn, but we need to have some rules for that scenario. We could decide on a specific number of new people who will be allowed to jump the line and the rest could be signed for a round two. This round two starts when I receive the pipe and will not include any people from round one. If there is so much interested we could send a second pipe on this adventure. I haven't figured it out yet, so any suggestions would be very helpfull.
