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Dec 15, 2023
6
21
Washintgon State
Hello! New to the forum, but have been lurking for a couple months and coming to the forums to seek advice. Relatively new to pipe smoking. I spent 25 years as a cigarette smoker and quit a few months ago. I managed to quit cold turkey for several weeks, but there have been times I've missed the "ritual" of smoking during certain relaxation activities. So I was looking to replace cigarettes with something that I didn't inhale, and didn't necessarily have to do all day, take breaks from work, etc.

I had fond memories of visiting my great grandfather's house, and he was a pipe tobacco smoker, and I enjoyed the smell of his home. I don't recall what he smoked. It came in pouches is all I remember. Probably some codger blend or something.

So anyhow, I started out by taking a trip to my local smoke shop, buying a dirt cheap plastic pipe with a metal bowl inside it, and buying a pound of cheap, bulk vanilla blend that is super wet and goopy.(This was all before my first visit to these forums)

The tongue bite on that plastic pipe with goopy vanilla aro was insane. I've since looked much more into proper methods of pipe smoking, and have got to the point where I can mostly keep a bowl lit almost all the way through without relighting, and without developing tongue bite, even with my goopy aro.

All that said, I'm planning on investing in a good briar pipe soon, and was hoping someone on the forums here could help a new guy out with a recommendation. I like the look of the smooth, glossy briars more than the textured pipes, and prefer a deep bowl that will hold a decent amount of tobacco, and a curved pipe rather than straight. Looking for something that could stand up to being an every day smoker. I'm working on a limited budget, and hoping to spend around $50 and not have to buy another pipe for quite awhile.

Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
 
Dec 15, 2023
6
21
Washintgon State
I believe Molina pipes are great for the price.

Thank you for this! I'm currently looking over a selection of Molina pipes, and they have several that are both aesthetically my style and roughly within the price range I was looking for! :)

Unfortunately, the site that I'm looking on is out of stock for the ones that I'd be most interested in. I like the bent apple shaped pipes, preferably in the darker wood shades, but not black. More like dark finished. The one pictured here in my attachment isn't bad, but I'm unsure of the light-colored stem. I feel like it may suffer from an unsightly yellowing with time.

Does anyone here have experience with light colored stems and whether or not they would yellow with use?
 

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Oct 3, 2021
1,141
5,373
Southeastern PA
Welcome from PA. In terms of $50 price range of pipes, if you want new, take a look at Rossi pipes. If memory serves, I think they are part of Savinelli. Otherwise, take a look at estate pipes for Savinelli and Peterson.

and hoping to spend around $50 and not have to buy another pipe for quite awhile.

8 months later and now "part of the furniture" SophisticatedSquirrel looks at the 50 pipes in his collection and decides "no more...I gotta stop"... but all it took was an email from Smoking Pipes regarding the annual Savinelli and Peterson Christmas pipes and out comes the credit card, while trying to convince himself, "ok, THIS is the last time... this year."
 
Dec 15, 2023
6
21
Washintgon State
Welcome from PA. In terms of $50 price range of pipes, if you want new, take a look at Rossi pipes. If memory serves, I think they are part of Savinelli. Otherwise, take a look at estate pipes for Savinelli and Peterson.

I'm not opposed to looking into estate pipes. I did some browsing on ebay for estate pipes in the past, but a lot of them looked dirty and not particularly well cared for. Where would you suggest to look for estate pipes?

8 months later and now "part of the furniture" SophisticatedSquirrel looks at the 50 pipes in his collection and decides "no more...I gotta stop"... but all it took was an email from Smoking Pipes regarding the annual Savinelli and Peterson Christmas pipes and out comes the credit card, while trying to convince himself, "ok, THIS is the last time... this year."

This may not end up being far from the truth. After looking at some of the Rossi pipes, I'm already considering increasing my original budget by around 35% to grab this one...

Can anyone speak to the quality comparison between a Rossi pipe and a Molina pipe? Are they of similar quality?
 

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tobakenist

Lifer
Jun 16, 2011
1,837
1,774
69
Middle England
Hi and welcome from Northamptonshire England, plastic pipes with metal inserts ? never heard of then in the UK, my best advice is get a descent Briar pipe and descent tobacco and you will never look back. puffy
 
Oct 3, 2021
1,141
5,373
Southeastern PA
I'm not opposed to looking into estate pipes. I did some browsing on ebay for estate pipes in the past, but a lot of them looked dirty and not particularly well cared for. Where would you suggest to look for estate pipes?



This may not end up being far from the truth. After looking at some of the Rossi pipes, I'm already considering increasing my original budget by around 35% to grab this one...

Can anyone speak to the quality comparison between a Rossi pipe and a Molina pipe? Are they of similar quality?
I wouldn't worry TOO much about getting a dirty pipe. They are made to take a beating and there are a number of youtube videos and posts on here explaining the ways to deep clean a pipe. That said, I might suggest NOT doing that right out of the gate. On Ebay you'll find some good deals, but if you don't know what you are looking for, you won't know how good of a deal you're getting (if you are even getting one). I would keep an eye on Smoking Pipes estate pages. They sorta clean them up before they sell them. If you ever go that route, you'll still want to do a deeper cleaning on them. For your 1st briar pipe though, I'd check out Rossi, Savinelli, and Peterson. You'll be able to find something in the $50-75 range.

Oh, another pipe you could consider is Falcon. You can buy the metal stem for something like $25 and then buy a few different briar or meerschaum bowls for anywhere in the $25-$80 range. If you aren't familar with Falcon, their bowls screw onto the metal stems. So you could...(pricing out 1 now), you could get a stem and briar bowl for $48 total...$24 for each, the stem and bowl (I have a few of these).

1000001568.jpg
 
Dec 9, 2023
1,088
12,084
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
If you can spend a few dollars more both Ropp and Rossi make great biar pipes you can get new. You can find them as estate pipes on SmokingPipes and other places as well. I second Molina, though I do not have one myself.
 

RobNYC

Lifer
Dec 10, 2021
2,351
35,412
56
Queens, N.Y.
Welcome from New York City!

A white or light-colored acrylic stem like that should not yellow over time. I've not had this problem with any light-colored stems over the years.