Pipe Pricing

[jpmcwjr]

I doesn't look like a pipe to me! Well crafted, no doubt, but I see a cello or bass viol. And, yes, I can see it could be smoked.

 

[Waning Embers]

I doesn't look like a pipe to me!

Of course you don't look like a pipe.

And, yes, I can see it could be smoked.

If I ever catch one available, it certainly will be.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I think you reach a point of diminishing returns around $500. If you're looking for functional smoking performance, you can find it in a $10 cob and certainly in many $100 briars. From there you pay mostly for aesthetics and name. Them you pay for customization and rarity. So it depends on your wallet, priorities and taste on how much your willing to spend.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I wonder how often, and in how many ways, this topic has surfaced over the last ten years.....

 

[anotherbob]

Yes, I love art pieces but why can't a pipe just look like a pipe
It's unfortunate because years ago like in the 1920's and 30's during the modern and art deco movements pipes were becoming very fashionable and still looked like pipes - Nowadays all these exotic pipes look like post-modern Outsider-Art - or you can get just same old boring Canadian. Rattrays new Devil Cut's are nice and interesting pipes.

of course it has to go that way. With high fashion you have to stand out. And if there are already enough great but normal looking pipes you have to go weird. Thankfully these things are cyclical in nature so at some point classic done well will be the expensive pipes for those who already have hundreds of pipes in their collection.

 

[mso489]

If I was going to invest heavily in elevated wood carving artistry, I think I would just go with sculpture. I do stop to appreciate my pipes as I smoke them or relight or pack them, but there comes a point when I personally would rather just have the sculpture to appreciate and smoke my handsome but less artistic pipes.

 

[sablebrush52]

If your alpha and omega is function, then a $10 cob does the job. From a purely functional perspective, all pipes are created equal.

If you want more than functionality, the price goes up. How far up depends on what matters to you. For lovers of extreme exclusivity, forking over $15,000 for a Bo Nordh or a Teddy Knudsen is part of the deal. BTW, I paid $144 for my Teddy Knudsen. The seller, a tobacconist, didn't know what he had, but I did.

There are plenty of destinations in between. Some of us love the style and history of vintage Britwood and find great satisfaction in the range of less than $100 for a GBD or Comoy up to several thousand for a mint condition 1920's era Dunhill magnum.

Others like the work of a particular carver, especially his stem and bit work, and will pay in the four figures for a pipe.

Keep in mind that part of the price equation is labor, part of the equation is perfectionism, and part of the equation is romance.

With a high end carver, you're not just paying for the pipe you bought, but for all the costs attendant to getting to that pipe, including all of the pipes that failed to make the grade along the way.

BTW, for advanced collector/smokers, stem work, including button shaping, is as important as grain, bowl shaping, or any other aspect of pipe making. The stem work is often more involved than the stummel work.

Welcome to the universe of pipes.