Pipe Shapes You Don't Get...

[hauntedmyst]

I was sitting outside just now smoking some 1Q laced with Syrian Latakia from an old McCrainies pipe I have. It's a large panel billiard I bought years ago as a part of a clearance pair (the other was a beautiful apple that burnt out). I got it for $25 marketed down from $100 at the shop I worked at. It was in the clearance wall for the 10 years I worked there and I talked the own into giving me them 2 for 1. I bought it because I liked the apple and was thinking if it smoked well, it would be a good walking around pipe - in other words, not something I'd care if I dropped. Years later, I am glad I spent the money on it but...
In other hands, it might actually be considered beautiful since it is sandblasted and without any staining and it has colored up just beautifully. As much as I love the way this pipe smokes, every time I smoke it and see the panel billiard, I can't help but thinking "I wish they had finished making this pipe." I just don't get panel billiards. They seem like the one shape of pipe that the pipe maker started to make and then just abandoned it. I can't think of another shape that fits that description. I just don't get it.

 

[marmal4de]

I like panel billiards, they show off more wood! I can't wrap my head around freehands (or churchwardens for that matter), they are ugly as sin, with 5 or 6 I've seen striking me as awesome. I just don't get 'em.

 

[misterrogers]

As much as I admire the beauty of a large free hand, I can never fathom smoking one. I just imagine hiring someone to hold it for you because it weighs too much. Same goes for a Calabash, unless of course you smoke it in a study, and it never leaves the room.
Like I said, I think they are amazing pipes to look at. But would I get in the habit of smoking them? I doubt it.

 

[maduroman]

i have the same problem with almost all straits...

 

[jankomatic]

I don't have a bowl shape that I don't care for, but I don't like straight pipes. They just don't appeal to me at all. I have seen a few I thought I wanted because the bowl was so nice, but then I look at the straight shank and bit a little longer and say no thanks.

 

[hippie]

See and I don't like bent pipes

 

[zunismoke]

I own probably 3 to 1 Bent to straight pipes. What straight pipes I own are mostly under 40g. The bents vary in weight, but if I buy a bent it has to be capable of hanging from my teeth and resting against my chin. My dream pipe is a large bowled Sandlast full bent that weighs 28g. I used to love large freehands. I still love the unique beautiful ones but dislike having to keep my hand on them at all times while smoking.

See and I don't like bent pipes
hippie, you may find over the years that your taste in pipes may change(tobacco too).

 

[marmal4de]

See and I don't like bent pipes

This! My dream pipe collection would contain a 264 from every Peterson lineup and nothing else, save for my custom UncleArthur Canadian.

 

[lonestar]

Myst, I agree with you on panel pipes. Some of them are very classy looking, but I never have liked blocky looking shapes

 

[digitalshave]

When I bought my first pipe probably 8-10 years ago, at that time ,I was dead set against the idea

of owning a straight pipe. They just didn't interest me. At that time I didn't know there where any B&M tobacco shops in my area, so my only source was the drugstore and Wal-mart. As I finally worked up the courage to approach the counter and ask for the pipe I was shocked to find they only had straight pipes. I went ahead and bought it against my better judgement, It would be years before I was able to work up the courage to buy my first tobacco. Since then I have added 2 bent pipes and have found that my straight is easier to light and keep lit and gives better smokes than either of my bents. The moral here is to keep an open mind, because sometimes the thing you least expected can be the most fulfilling.

 

[tslex]

I'm with misterrogers: I can appreciate the really dramatic free hands on some strictly aesthetic level, but I don't want to smoke them.
Add to that, I have about four four straight pipes (one was my Dad's and must be 70 years old by now)and I cannot imagine that I'll want to ever buy another. I just don't like smoking them as much as something with at least a 1/4 bend.

 

[bigvan]

I don't get blowfish pipes. Nothing about that shape says "blowfish" to me.

 

[unclearthur]

I "don't get" some of the extreme "art pipes" I buy pipes to smoke.

 

[punkpiper]

Echoing something here. Straight pipes I dont get more because they need me to use my hands more, to compensate for them being a bit of a strain on the teeth for me, what with my crap dental hygiene in my younger teens having a bad impact. As for the actual shapes of pipes.... hawkbills, pokers and zulus. Personally I love the look of freehands and I am more than willing to buy one when possible

 

[hauntedmyst]

I "don't get" some of the extreme "art pipes" I buy pipes to smoke.

Now those I get. I like it when a pipe maker makes something not only practical, but extraordinarily beautiful as well. I can't afford them, but I am glad some one is out there pushing the boundaries of what a pipe can be. Just because a pipes purpose is basic doesn't mean it has to be in execution.

 

[mlaug]

WOW!!!
What is the name of that pipe carver, Haunted?

 

[hauntedmyst]

Michael Parks

 

[tslex]

Good heavens, Haunted, that is amazing.
Maker? I do hope someone will smoke the thing.
(Never been a fan of pipes only for display, or "safe queen" firearms.)

 

[bootlegbonvivant]

Wow, that's an amazing pipe! I would buy that (if I could afford it) and guarantee it would be smoked.
I'm not a fan of billiards and most straight stemmed pipes. I know that they're proven good smokers, but just seems so dull and so I don't get most of the appeal.

 

[ejames]

OOM Pauls. Haven't seen one yet I like.