Perfect Pipe Collection. Less than 20 pipes.

[Manawydan]

@Manawydan I had a Jamestowne clay but it got broken:-(

Sorry to hear that! They do seem fragile.

 

[Skippy Piper]

I've mostly forsaken my collection for Falcons.
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I'm certainly getting there too. I've concluded that couple Falcon stems with half a dozen bowls for different blend types and my Country Gentleman cobs for when I want to take a pipe out in weather conditions that I wouldn't want to expose my Falcons to is really all I need. My pipe chase is pretty much done at this point, I just need to get around to selling the briars I'm no longer using.

 

[WirelessSmoke]

Been enjoying pipes for a little over a year now, but I'm not quite at 20 pipes yet. Though that seems like a good number to shoot for, I think 20 is just going to be a waypoint for me to some yet to be determined number. Rather than thinking of it as collecting, I prefer to think of it as keeping the wheels of industry turning.

 

[JackOrion]

I refuse to count

 

[Lumbridge]

I have about the same number and it's more than enough for me. I had PAD for a while, but then I realized I wasn't going to smoke most of them and sold the majority off.

The whole reason I bought my first pipe, a Legend cob, was to smoke it, not to collect pipes. I stopped seeing them as collectibles and started looking at them as something that allows me to enjoy tobacco. After that, culling the herd was easy. It's nice when the ones you didn't like much are gone and all of those you have left are favorites.

 

[metalheadycigarguy]

Going on 14 years now as a pipe smoker, and over that time I've owned about 80 pipes, and the most at one time was about 50. Which was way to many for me. The last few years I've culled the collection. Some I got rid of because I just didn't smoke them, or they were bad smokers for me. Others I got rid of to allow me to purchase a different pipe.

Currently I have 34 pipes, 20 meers, 11 briars, 3 cobs in my collection. I'm pretty comfortable with my collection at the moment. I'm sure at some point I'll either get rid of a pipe or two that doesn't get picked up to often or just add a new pipe if something catches my eye, but at the moment I'm not looking.

 

[DalKC]

I have not reached my 1 year anniversary with this adventure and I currently sit at a collection of 13 pipes. I know I would like to purchase a Falcon pipe and a Meerschaum to round out my collection. I would like to say the number 15-20 pipes sounds like a good collection size. However; with being not yet a year in and almost to 15 pipes. I might be a bit of a pipe hoarder.. lol .

 

[Arkansas Paul]

While I have some pipes that I bought when new to the hobby that rarely get smoked and are ones I wouldn't miss if they were gone, there are also dozens more that I drool over and want.
I am of the personality that when I dive into a hobby, whether it be guns, fountain pens, or pipes, I don't exercise restraint but go all out. So I don't think having 20 would be the way for me.
To make it make sense in my mind, I just call myself a "collector". lol

 

[OzPiper]

I've got somewhere between 200 and 300 boxed up in a storage building. No idea why I ever thought I needed that many. Makes me wish I'd have discovered Falcons decades ago.

Dwayne (@Chasing Embers)

Good to know it took 200-300 pipes for you to settle on your favourite

Me - I’m still quite some way off 300.
I reckon I’ll keep on looking

 

[Chasing Embers]

Dwayne (@Chasing Embers)

Good to know it took 200-300 pipes for you to settle on your favourite

Me - I’m still quite some way off 300.
I reckon I’ll keep on looking

Nearly 35 years of shopping to end where I should've started.

 

[OzPiper]

Nearly 35 years of shopping to end where I should've started.

It’s the journey, not the destination

 

[Chasing Embers]

It’s the journey, not the destination

Not at all, it was disappointing gullibility chasing the notion that one pipe smoked any differently than another.

 

[ssjones]

My collection has shrunk from over 100 to now 60, but really, only about 20-couple get smoked with any regularity.

 

[BriarBrook]

I have around 100 pipes and only smoked maybe 10 of them. I'm as much of a collector as I am a smoker. I would never cull unless absolutely necessary.

 

[BurleyVonPuffington]

Not sure if this will help, but: I collect Stanwell model 52 pipes. Currently have 23 of them and while always looking for more I am now at a point where I am very selective. I do not need any more pipes for the sake of smoking. 23 is plenty. So now I am focusing my “ search” on the models I do not have: Silver Mount, Flora Danica, Brazilian Sandblast, Sterling Silver. If I find any of those, yes I will be interested, otherwise I am fine where I am. And yes, other than a birth year Dunhill and a gift of a Castello billiard, those are the only pipes I smoke.

My target is 200. I've overshot. =(

I am due for a cull, I think. The herd could use some trimming down.

I have PAD. I plateaued, and managed to stop at 50. I’ve been there for 4 years, but just can’t stop, and have several purchases planned within the next few months. I have a friend who said 200 was the number all the people he knows who collect something have to get to, at a bare minimum.

Well, I mean, if it’s a law, who am I to disagree?

 

[BurleyVonPuffington]

One advantage of a large collection of anything to those who are growing older: You can happily “re-acquire” things: “Hey, I forgot I had one of those! That’s cool!”

And all those re-acquisitions are free!

 

[wyfbane]

I have around 100 pipes and only smoked maybe 10 of them. I'm as much of a collector as I am a smoker. I would never cull unless absolutely necessary.

I think that is an important distinction between smoking pipes and collection pipes.

I took a liking early to older US pipes. I particularly like Linkman Grabows and Early Kaywoodies. I have probably 20 or so of each of those, so that blows my 20 pipe number out of the water. I then fell in love with stupid Savinelli Estella pipes. That rustication is bewitching to me. I think I am up to 20 of those in assorted shapes, as well. Then I found British pipes. I like Dunhills, but I REALLY like Charatans. One decision i have made is I have decided not to smoke my NIB/NOS pipes. I have so damn many smoked pipes it just seems I should hold off. This is why I ponder a cull. If I am likely not to use it maybe I sell some and get some tobacco.

I do think sometimes about what I could have bought instead of the probably 200+ eclectic pipes I own ( like more spendy danish stuff, a few more artisan pipes), but my collection has a little bit of a lot of stuff, and robust selections of things I fancy. Like I posted elsewhere, this is my one real collection (well, and tobacco) so I am happy with what I have.

 

[RPK]

I love a good chocolate pecan pie, or sugary and latticed cherry pie, or tall and bubbly apple pie. I think I’ll just call it good and never have another piece of pie.

From across the room, “Wake me when you’re done babbling nonsense.”

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A beautiful companion you have there !

 

[FLDRD]

I didn't set out to have a pipe collection per se, but just in the course of experimenting and learning what I liked I ended up with 29 pipes. Realizing there were clearly pipes of those I favored (and several I wasn't smoking) I sent seven off to SP.com for store credit. My current collection of 22 pipes seems like a good number for me. I still want to own a meerschaum and I'd like a Le Dune finish Castello some day but that's about it.

My collection now is in two parts: my Magnificent Seven -- the pipes I smoke regularly, and my Motley Crew -- the oddballs, one-offs, or special pipes that I smoke less frequently.

Magnificent Seven
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Savinelli Siena 673KS, LCS Briars commissioned bent Rhodesian, Peterson Dublin bulldog, Rattray's Beltane's Fire bent Rhodesian, Vauen Topas smooth paneled apple, LCS Briars bent billiard, and Ashton Pipes Pipe Club of London PotY '25 bent poker.

Motley Crew
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In reading order: Savinelli 606 alligator blue bent billiard (first pipe I bought), Peterson B42 system spigot, Peterson PotY '24 bent Rhodesian, Parker straight bulldog, Peterson Tavern Rhodesian, Vauen Auenland Eron bent egg, LCS Briars 5-star chrysalis, MM Diplomat cob, MM Jamestowne clay, Falcon Int't stem Plymouth, Falcon Shillelagh twisted blue bulldog bowl, Vauen Jucan #2 smooth brown travel pipe.

I rather like your Motley Crew myself...

 

[woodsroad]

I’ve achieved Nirvana. I no longer have PAD. After about 10 years, I’ve arrived at a collection of pipes under 20 that I feel will satisfy me for life. When I see videos or posts of smokers with a room full of pipes numbering over 100, I get anxiety. So I’m wondering who else has achieved complete satisfaction with a collection of 20 or fewer pipes. I’ve found that the ones I’ve kept are not necessarily the most expensive ones. I will post the details of my collection and why I like them within a couple weeks. Now I can simply spend money on vintage tins of Mclellands Virginia flake. Lol.

I have over 100 pipes. Just how many, I don’t know. But at any one stretch of time, I only smoke six or less. I should sell most of the rest.