Smokingpipes.com had this little known Plymouth brand straight smooth saddle stem billiard on its estate site, unsmoked, for a year or two. It is a very trim version of a billiard, light weight, but with a sufficient bowl. I kept looking at it and going on with my browsing. I must have looked at it about fifty times. As I recall, it was noted only for some nicks on the bowl. Finally, during one of their pipe sales, I went ahead and pulled the trigger. When it arrived, I expected it to be quite plain Jane, nicked and rather meagre. Instead, it was bright and snappy looking, and the "nicks" were almost invisible. I think the Vulcanite stem might actually be acrylic, but either is fine with me. After an initial smoke, when I went in with a pipe cleaner, I realized it had a stinger, which I removed, labeled and saved, and it smokes well without it. It's shaping up as a fine open-drawing smoker, light and with plenty of bowl. This is what you hope for when you buy an estate pipe. A real keeper.
