Brad:
With all due respect to Mikephillips, I like the design of this pipe very much. However, my concern is that it seems a bit pricey for a second. I realize it's new and I especially loved the owner's remark, "(has been in a non-smoking home)"
Really?
I ran across the following at the pipes.org forum. (Spelling, syntax, punctuation, etc. are not - repeat - not mine.)
"Friends,after 40 years of nosing around pipes,what I have gleened is this:Charatan sold its seconds under private lables and later aquired the English rights for Ben Wade for just this purpose.Mountbatten,on the other hand was not a "second"( in that there was some physical deformity in the pipe) but rather a first line production from Charatan's apprentice program.Each Charatan carver might have four or six apprentices at any one time of various skill levels.As they improved and started cutting pipes themselves,these pipes had to moved...thus the Mountbatten.These were made on Charatan tooling with Charatan materials and teaching.Bear in mind that there was a high attrition rate and ,perhapse,one apprentice in nine or ten made it to cutting thier own bowls much less a Charatan carver.This is why you see more Charatans than Mountbattens on the market.You're never going to put your kid through college by selling one but you've got a day to day workhorse of the first order.Good luck and happy puffing."
So, Brad, your second isn't really a second and just might be worth that 56 dollar bill.
On the other hand, Charatan made tons of blank pipes for B&Ms and one of my favorites is "The Tinder Box Unique." Find one of those, with the Made in England stamp, and you'll be putting a warhorse in your stable that will smoke well for the rest of your life. (They normally sell in the 20 to 30 buck range on the Bay.) It probably won't be the prettiest pipe you'll ever own - there will be a fill, nick, dent or ding somewhere and the shape just might be downright unappealing. But with a bit of care, it'll be a rock solid burner for the next century or so.
Cheers.
Fnord