Pipe Purchase Regret?

[mso489]

Did you ever regret buying a pipe right after you bought it? I don't mean when something went

wrong; I just mean, when it turns out to not be what you wanted. I can only remember one incident,

and it was a Savenelli bulldog, no less. Just wasn't nicely shaped and a little too textured and lumpy,

and not immediately that great a smoker. I kept it for about a year, and then traded it in. All my other

Savs are favorites.

 

[txbeerboy]

I paid $125.00 for a lorenzo and then discovered it was drilled horribly

 

[tbradsim1]

Bought a Castello KK Shape 55, paid over 450$ and Damn it was a tiny thing, good pipe but man it would have been small even for a midget.

 

[phred]

My Bjarne Viking Classic churchwarden was much smaller than I expected, not having read the size information carefully enough... Still a decent pipe, but it's honestly the one I smoke the least often.

 

[cmdrmcbragg]

Luckily none of my more expensive pipes have been regretful, but I have a no name estate I bought for $25 that I don't care for at all. Sure, it smokes ok, but the finish is ugly (to me), and the draft hole was drilled way off center and ends in the middle of the bowl bottom.
It's one of my at work pipes. Glad it didn't cost me too much.

 

[misterlowercase]

A Savinelli Autograph,

like my 3rd pipe when I was still looking for what I liked.

It was an odd long oval shanked Canadian Dublin hybrid type

'o deal that looked really cool in the pictures, but was

awkward in action, and the bowl was canted too forward too.

It was a beautiful pipe and it actually smoked great,

but it just didn't fit me...
...I made a lot of mistakes early on, picking out some odd ducks,

I was a sucker for "cool" design, but now I've settled into a

"function before fashion" mindset.

 

[oldredbeard]

I bought a really beautiful Nording High Grade, and it turned out to be so big and heavy I just never smoke it. It is a beautiful pipe though.

 

[phil67]

Thankfully nothing expensive. It was my fault for not paying attention to the bowl size and the pipe size on the Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn MM cobs. The price was so cheap I purchased 2 of each and the Tom Sawyer pipe is a total joke. The damn thing is so small its laughable! I can barely stick the tip of my pinky finger in the bowl much less trying to place tobacco in the thimble sized bowl. By the time you could manage to torch this little sucker up the tobacco would be gone! lol The Huck Finn has the same size bowl except with a longer stem. Cute... but useless in my opinion.

 

[misterlowercase]

Luckily there weren't any big ticket items but it all added up to exsanguination.

Same here,

bloody hell!
Had to learn somehow, and all them smalls did add up to a pretty big ticket,

it was fun and educational though!

:puffpipe:

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I have a Savinelli Clark that as soon as I got it unpacked realized it was too long to ever clench and too short to hold comfortably, like you would a warden. I was also still looking for a tasty aromatic, so I smoked a lot of goops through it. So now, since I don't smoke many aromatics anymore, it's pretty much decoration for my pipe rack. I keep it because it is a classy looking pipe, and I keep thinking that it'll make a great social pipe for smoking crowd-pleasers in. But, it's too long to put in a pocket or a case, and too awkward to really smoke in public.

 

[newbroom]

I purchased 2 of each and the Tom Sawyer pipe is a total joke

Can you compare these to the "Pony" MM sells?

I regret having purchased a Yello bole and a The Pipe from the auction site. I've had great luck there though, especially as a newcomer to the pipe world.

I've managed to acquire enough cobs, briars, and a meerschaum that didn't cost much and rotate nicely.

 

[dread]

My early pipe purchases were all over the map and though many are decent, I just don't smoke them because they are not my style. And then there is the drinking while EBay shopping, which often correlates to regret - either in a "what was I thinking" sort of way from me, or a "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING" sort of way from my wife. The former I regret, the latter almost always results in an excellent pipe with a short stint in the doghouse..

 

[sablebrush52]

The one that springs to mind was an early eBay purchase. It was a 1910 Calabash that looked to be in good shape with really beautiful sterling fitments. The maker was a woman, which I also thought interesting. I bought the dingus for $60. This was a no refund auction, which is why I now NEVER bid on no refund auctions. When the pipe showed up, wrapped in a plastic bag, it looked beautiful. I opened the bag and damned near passed out! The putrid stench was the worst thing I've smelled in memory. I sealed it up as quickly as I could. It's still in the bag, well, several bags, years later, where I can see it. Good reminder about prudence.

 

[elpfeife]

@sable - I take it you and Prudence didn't get along well. Nonetheless, you should be more discreet in your remembrances.

 

[cortezattic]

I have racks of pipes in the under $100 range. They were mostly impulse purchases.

I would be better off if I had waited, and used the accumulated cash to buy fewer,

but better pipes. I'm talkin' like in the $250 - $400 range.
My lower end pipes are OK, and I smoke them all the time; but the few high grade pipes

that I do possess have proven to be much, much better.

 

[warren]

Never! But, then again, I would never purchase a pipe unseen or that I haven't physically examined. First, it has to fit my eye and then my fist. Then the fit and finish must be right.
I had a good mentor when I started smoking the pipe 50 some years ago. He taught me to be discerning and very critical. His most cogent observation was that: "You want a pipe that will do you service for many years, so a certain amount of consideration should go into the purchase."
I've had pipes that I enjoyed more than others, but never a pipe I regretted purchasing.

 

[mso489]

Two especially good points so far. However much you spend, a pipe is a longterm purchase so whether

you are buying a $30 pipe or an $800 pipe, you'll be looking at it for a long time. And after you get

a complete rotation -- say eight or ten pipes -- then you might consider buying fewer pipes at a higher

price point. I'm saying this as a guy with mostly low and mid-level pipes, but it is something to think

about if you are just starting out. You can get great smoking pipes at the low end, but it's a choice to

be made. There are probably a number of other good points, but those grabbed me especially.

 

[daimyo]

I regret not purchasing more pipes... but I'm working on that.
My first pipe was a junky church warden but since then, I have been pretty lucky/careful.

 

[charlespe]

I tried to make my own metal pipe and spent a bit more than I wanted and recently I've heard home made metal pipes aren't good for health.

 

[tuold]

A picture is worth.......