Pipe Values

[fjc623]

Good evening to all wanted to share a trend that i have been seeing over the past several months and wanted to ask other members here if similar experiences when watching or bidding on estate pipes. In my opinion the prices these pipes are selling for are about 25-30 percent higher then normal.
Not sure if it's due to the current stay at home we are facing or just new pipe smokers going after these brand names which in a way is a good thing as strong sales will keep this industry alive. In any event i figure what other product can you purchase and enjoy for several years and if you decide to sell you may recover the full amount or perhaps a bit more then you paid.

Welcome any takes on this. Thanks

 

[lraisch]

Agreed. I too have noticed a sharp increase in the prices estate pipes are fetching.

 

[fjc623]

Agreed. I too have noticed a sharp increase in the prices estate pipes are fetching.

I have to believe that more money is being spent on goods and not services . As we see no spending on vacations or dinning out and other events. The is across all goods including our pipes.

 

[Cotton1]

The first estate purchase I have made arrived today. It is a 141 Stanwell Amber that has been enjoyed but in excellent condition.
I paid $65 for it. Not sure what it was worth a few weeks\months ago but thought it was worth a try at that price vs a new pipe.

I'm not unhappy at all with my purchase. This is my first Stanwell but I was mostly drawn to the beautiful grain on it. After a few bowls I must say I like it and am very happy with the open draw.

 

[PipeIT]

I have to believe that more money is being spent on goods and not services . As we see no spending on vacations

Vacations! Did someone say Vacations? LOL
Nope, none of you tourists are coming this way!



Aloha! ?

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I'm not sure what percentage it is but unquestionably, what pipe prices have been higher for about 9 months.

 

[Chasing Embers]

It's an ongoing constant. My first Grabow on '91 was $10 and my first Savinelli in 2002 was $25.

 

[fjc623]

I'm not sure what percentage it is but unquestionably, what pipe prices have been higher for about 9 months.

I'm not sure what percentage it is but unquestionably, what pipe prices have been higher for about 9 months.

Hoosier I've seen big spikes in Ferndowns, Dunhills, and other high end carvers this is just my opinion here as i stated.

 

[sablebrush52]

I think it depends on what up for sale and who's bidding. In 2018 and 2019 prices on Britwood were down about 20 to 30% from where they had been a few years before. Prices have gone sup, but not uniformly. Really mint condition pipes get good prices, but the prices fall off fairly steeply. On the other hand, deals can be found. I bought another Barling Magnum from 1910 for about $240, which is insanely low, even in less than perfect condition.

 

[jerseysam]

Fjc623, utterly unscientific and navel-gazing response on my part....but it *seems* just from the usual pipe forum(s) that there have been a lot more pipe newbies getting into the game in the last year or so. Similar to the tobacco thread the SP gents chimed in on....it's a relatively small market with a zero-sum supply...add just a couple dedicates dozen hunters to the mix and you got yourself rising prices.

Ment with zero criticism/bitching implied....there is a decent velocity (relative) of new pipe smokers popping up here and other tobacco boards I haunt. What are the first posts? Well:

1. SO WHAT ARE THE BLENDS I NEED TO CELLAR?

2. SO BUYING AND CLEANING ESTATES IS FUN? BARLING, COMOY, DUNHILL YOU SAY?

Even some of the carvers I buy from, where they've been say typically at the $300-$400 level, are telling me now that they have growing backlogs and folks tossing double their usual pricing at them (which is great for them!).

Maybe it's a passing blip, I dunno'. Maybe it's coincidence and tying unrelated events together. But it does seem to me that a pick-up in posting (in a lot of different venues) is corresponding with increasing demand in 'higher-end' tobacco and estates. Just the other day my whisky/cigar searching took me to some of the more active hipster/younger posting haunts....and for the first time ever in years of browsing I saw threads holding forth on the glories of Comoy, Gawith tobacco, how to pack a pipe, etc. Just a few threads in a sea of cigar hipster....but that was some of the first surfacing of pipe-talk outside of venues that aren't pipe-specifc rabbit holes that I've seen.

 

[fjc623]

Fjc623, utterly unscientific and navel-gazing response on my part....but it *seems* just from the usual pipe forum(s) that there have been a lot more pipe newbies getting into the game in the last year or so. Similar to the tobacco thread the SP gents chimed in on....it's a relatively small market with a zero-sum supply...add just a couple dedicates dozen hunters to the mix and you got yourself rising prices.

Ment with zero criticism/bitching implied....there is a decent velocity (relative) of new pipe smokers popping up here and other tobacco boards I haunt. What are the first posts? Well:

1. SO WHAT ARE THE BLENDS I NEED TO CELLAR?

2. SO BUYING AND CLEANING ESTATES IS FUN? BARLING, COMOY, DUNHILL YOU SAY?

Even some of the carvers I buy from, where they've been say typically at the $300-$400 level, are telling me now that they have growing backlogs and folks tossing double their usual pricing at them (which is great for them!).

Maybe it's a passing blip, I dunno'. Maybe it's coincidence and tying unrelated events together. But it does seem to me that a pick-up in posting (in a lot of different venues) is corresponding with increasing demand in 'higher-end' tobacco and estates. Just the other day my whisky/cigar searching took me to some of the more active hipster/younger posting haunts....and for the first time ever in years of browsing I saw threads holding forth on the glories of Comoy, Gawith tobacco, how to pack a pipe, etc. Just a few threads in a sea of cigar hipster....but that was some of the first surfacing of pipe-talk outside of venues that aren't pipe-specifc rabbit holes that I've seen.

I feel your spot on here with all your observations.

 

[tschiraldi]

I have seen this, but I think it depends on the maker. Some have gone up, but not all. I have noticed with certain makes, more and more Chinese buyers have been driving up prices, at least on Ebay.

 

[jrharrigan]

I wasn't about to smoke my pipes for a couple of years. when i was finally able to break them out, I started looking at pipes, new and used, and tobacco blends.

I was shocked to see the prices on pipes. Boswells are far and away my favorites, and the prices on those were about twice what they were just a few years ago. Tobacco, on the other hand, was pretty much what I expected in terms of cost.

Except for those Frog, Grand Oriental, and Dunhill tins. Turns out stocking up on them might have been the right mov after all.

 

[americaman]

I thought I was noticing the opposite. I did a search for what pipes sold for on eBay from a certain carver, and then watched an auction, and it sold for 20% less than the last pipe had a few months earlier, in the same shape and finish. It also sold for less than all of his other sold pipes that were showing up.

Last summer I got an EXEXEL Barling pot (almost a magnum size) for around $115. I sent it to George Dibos and he basically said it’s a museum-level piece. My point is that it was a really low price. Two or three months ago I also got an excellent condition Bill Taylor Ashton XXX billiard for around the same price. Not as significant of a deal, but still a good price, especially considering that one was from Pipestud; a seller many people watch on eBay.

However, a lot of it comes down to who’s bidding. You can get some great deals on eBay.

 

[jrharrigan]

I thought I was noticing the opposite. I did a search for what pipes sold for on eBay from a certain carver, and then watched an auction, and it sold for 20% less than the last pipe had a few months earlier, in the same shape and finish. It also sold for less than all of his other sold pipes that were showing up.

Last summer I got an EXEXEL Barling pot (almost a magnum size) for around $115. I sent it to George Dibos and he basically said it’s a museum-level piece. My point is that it was a really low price. Two or three months ago I also got an excellent condition Bill Taylor Ashton XXX billiard for around the same price. Not as significant of a deal, but still a good price, especially considering that one was from Pipestud; a seller many people watch on eBay.

However, a lot of it comes down to who’s bidding. You can get some great deals on eBay.

I hope I can stumble into a pipe or two on eBay. I've been looking, but absent a screaming hot deal I'll keep stocking up on tobacco.

 

[americaman]

I hope I can stumble into a pipe or two on eBay. I've been looking, but absent a screaming hot deal I'll keep stocking up on tobacco.

Tobacco is definitely more important than buying pipes, as tobacco prices will only keep going up, and pipe prices will go down.

 

[ChuckMijo]

I agree with everything said above. The only thing I can add, and being somewhat in the game, building a collection, most of your really high end pieces never see the light of eBay or other e-commerce sites. They are traded, bought and sold privately. You be completely amazed of what’s really out there.

 

[sablebrush52]

I agree with everything said above. The only thing I can add, and being somewhat in the game, building a collection, most of your really high end pieces never see the light of eBay or other e-commerce sites. They are traded, bought and sold privately. You be completely amazed of what’s really out there.

The best stuff, in the sense of top quality vintage Britwood, for the most part doesn't show up on eBay. Absolutely true that. But every once in a whie a really amazing piece does show up because no one circuit controls the board. I could tell you about some of the items I've been shown, but I would have to kill you.

 

[cigrmaster]

I must have been high as a kite as one day last week or so I saw prices so high I couldn't believe my eyes. I saw prices for 1400-3000. I had to look like 3 times to believe what I was seeing. Prices were insane and I was completely amazed at how high they were. Was I totally high or what?

 

[ofafeather]

Hoosier I've seen big spikes in Ferndowns, Dunhills, and other high end carvers this is just my opinion here as i stated.

Ferndowns are crazy! I wish I never sold the few that I had. I got them at good prices from James Barber years ago when the $ was strong against the pound.