My Calabash Has Ruined My Life

[jrtaster]

my comments on the baki were focused on the price, not the unquestioned quality. tho it's impossible to compare precisely my baki gourd calabash with the one pictured, roughly speaking the newer bakis appear to be priced about ONE-THIRD higher than the one i purchased about 2 or less years ago....i think that's a HUGE increase.

meanwhile the austrian calabash ( it's a strambach... apparently a very well regarded manufacturer)easily smokes at least as well as my baki, tho it is admittedly far simpler in design. it's a large bowl model and cost me just about $200, with free shipping.

look, i have a castello and dunhill group 4 which cost twice the average of most of my other pipes. neither smokes twice as well as the others but they are beautifully carved and "prestigious" additions to my limited collection.if spending $300+ for a baki lifts your skirt, go for it. bakis do hold their value very well and as an investment can't be beat; certainly their smoking quality is fantastic, so anyone who purchases a baki undoubtedly owns the finest of gourd meerschaums...no arguement there!

 

[thesmokindragon]

BC makes a nice Bash (seen over at P&C) for under $200. Think

My PAD beast is start'in to howl again....oh boy.....

 

[uberam3rica]

Think My PAD beast is start'in to howl again....oh boy.....

Mine too. If I could afford it I'd smoke calabashes almost exclusively. I'd have Like 8 of them. I'm not buying anymore briars for awhile, unless the are really interesting. Any pipes I add to the herd will be meers. I have enough briars for now, and I've found i prefer meers

 

[thesmokindragon]

+1 on the Meers...do you have any clays yet? They are fantastic smokers,

smoke my PennValley Dutch Gouda almost every morning, you can

get two of them for like $19.x plus shipping

 

[uberam3rica]

do you have any clays yet?

No, but I want one.

 

[clanobucklin]

Nice pictures guys. I don't have the traditional "Sherlock's Holmes" Calabash - but several calabash shaped pipes. I may have to pick one up at some point (although I am on a very lonngggg Pipe Acquisition Hiatus - and I ain't kidding folks!) -- as they seem to be fun to smoke.

 

[arinbjorn]

I actually have an estate calabash I have been thinking of putting up for sale. It's definetly larger than a normal pipe, but not huge by any means. Solid meerschaum bowl, real African ghourd body. Bought it a few years ago from Marty Pulvers, from the estate of a man with the last name Enberg (apparently he had a penchant for calabashes, and put new stems on them with his name engraved in the stem.)
If there is any interest in it, I could start a proper post on it. Or feel free to PM me. I'd let it go pretty cheap... havn't smoked it in over a year. Not doing much for me sitting around and not being smoked regularly.

 

[docwatson]

I've got a handful of gourd Calabash pipes that range from small to large bowls and they all smoke wonderfully. Personally I think Baki's are quite expensive and IMO won't smoke any better than other gourd Calabash pipes. But I've always been under the impression that Straumbach Meerschaum bowl Gourd Calabash pipes are the finest.