Pipes(Briar Or Meer) You Bought For Smoking Properties?

[cigrmaster]

I may be an odd duck here but I have bought pipes strictly for their smoking properties even though I did not care for the looks. For example this first Rad Davis pipe has some lousy shaping( it is a 2006 model), and the blast is nothing to write home about. It has a conical shaped bowl and is a flake smoking machine. I bought it knowing I didn't like the look of it because I guessed(and guessed right) it would smoke great. It is also a butt ugly color of orange.

In this second example we have a Pre Transition Barling Quaint. To my eye is looks like some old ugly cheap pipe that I wouldn't take a second look at( and I hate Pots). My friend Jesse( Barling expert extraordinaire) however told me that this Barling is actually a rarer Barling than some and that his smoke incredibly well. So I bought it on his recommendation and he was right, great smoker.

I have other examples of this in my collection but for now these will do. So who here has also bought pipes they didn't like the looks of, but for whatever reason ended up buying them because you believed them to be great smokers?

 

[jpmcwjr]

I've got some very plain lookers that I knew would smoke well, but nothing as ugly as the above.

 

[cigrmaster]

jp, I know, butt freaking ugly. :lol:

 

[jpmcwjr]

Heh. I do overstate sometimes! The Davis could be improved by re-staining, and the Barling----- well, it is a Barling! But question- is that not a replacement stem?

 

[tschiraldi]

Yep. All of them!

 

[cigrmaster]

jp, the stem on that Barling is original. It is very faint but is readable. Jesse wouldn't let me buy one without an original stem.

 

[ashdigger]

I have two Ryan Alden pipes that, for me, are just ugly (sorry Ryan), but they smoke fantastic and clench well.

 

[cigrmaster]

ash, let's see some pictures. I own 2 of Ryans pipes and both are very nice looking, and smoke extremely well.

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

I bought my first Savinelli 320 only because I had heard or read time and time again how great they smoked. Honestly I thought the 320 an ugly shaped pipe, so finding one I could live with was quite a chore. I settled on a Marte. It turns out, when I finally had the pipe in hand, I found it quite a lovely shape. Apparently, in my opinion anyway, the 320 just isn't a very photogenic shaped pipe, ugly in photos, but lovely in person. Of course, the fact that the pipe did indeed smoke fantastic right from the first bowl solidified my new love for these pipes.

 

[jaytex1969]

Well, Mr. Harris, I happen to dig that Rad Davis. I was admiring it in another post. (you know what they say about taste)
I recently bought one of the $20 Stanwell brown pipes, a shape 185, because the 185 I already had is a great smoker.

 

[sablebrush52]

Harris, I wouldn't want you to suffer with that Barling Quaint eyesore, so I'll be happy to dispose of it for you at no charge! :mrgreen:
I can't remember buying an unknown pipe that I thought was an eyesore, with the hope that it would be a great smoker. I have bought some really odd looking pipes (Paul tatum, Trever Talbert, Tony Fillenwarth for example) from makers who enjoyed good reputations. If they were good smokers, I bought more. If they weren't, I sold them off and wrote that maker off.
My first Barling was a very worn, beat up Canadian and after smoking it I became a believer and my Dunhills went in the drawer. Now I have a goodly number of Barlings, many of them beaters, all of them good smokers.
The closest I've come to what you describe was when I purchased two pipes, an Ehrlich and a Brebbia Avanti, in a single purchase for $3 on eBay. Both turned out to be great smokers and I've added several more Avantis to the collection. The Brebbias all smoke wonderfully well.
Other than that, all of my purchases have been informed by research prior to buying. Once I've found a make that is consistently good I'll look for more and the aesthetics of the particular pipe can become secondary. I don't buy just based on looks, good or bad.

 

[ashdigger]

Harris, I'll photo them and post them. I own around 20 of his pipes and they all smoke fantastic. Just 2 are ugly. At least to me, but since they're burners I'll keep them.

 

[metalheadycigarguy]

All of my pipes were purchased for their looks, in hopes that they would be great smokers. I've struck out on several, but I've sold them on ebay and replaced them with new pipes. If the pipe is not a good smoker it doesn't matter how good it looks, so in those cases I've moved them on to someone else. I've only bought one pipe that I didn't care for the looks, and that was a caviler meerschaum which was to help out a friend. I've yet to smoke it, so I couldn't tell you if its a good smoker or not.

 

[luigi]

I have bought that way a Stanwell Featherweight 242. Needed another pipe with thick walls and small chamber for strong tobaccos. I like pots though and also like its look but it has been bought only for what it's made for: burn a tobacco.

 

[hawky454]

I'm not really into pipes like a lot of you folks are. I buy mainly for the smoking qualities. If I have good luck with a maker, I tend to stick with them. I put all of my thought and care into my tobacco purchases and that's where all my money goes, with maybe one or two exceptions where I purchased a high end pipe here and there.
A good example would be, those butt ugly Brushed Stanwell's that are on sale for 20 bucks a pipe. I had already owned 7 Stanwell's, all in which are excellent smokers so I decided to buy 4 more of these ugly Brushed pipes and after drilling them out to Rick Newcombe's specs they smoke like a dream. I like to say, I Newcomed them. ::
To be honest though, I like the look of that Rad Davis you pictured, yeah, the stain leaves much to be desired but I'd still smoke it in public. ha.

 

[cigrmaster]

After reading all these posts it seems like many of you have the same ideas I do about smoking properties being more important than looks at times. It is hard to go away from an artisan or a brand that we have good luck with.
Jesse, I think I will hold on to that Quaint for a while. After all you told me it would go up in value every year I hold on to it.

 

[menuhin]

It inspires me of another question, but I try to be gender equal here:
"Will you choose (not saying buy here...) a woman (or a man) strictly for their performance (define it as you wish :wink: )?" - with an implication of not for their appearance.
Going back to Cigrmaster's question:

I may buy a pipe solely because of its smoking properties, but if it does not look appealing or special enough, I may not want to caress it when I enjoy my sip and I won't stare at it with affection, and I may even want to smoke it in a room dimmed down. 8)
For me I don't have any pipe that is particularly ugly but smokes really good; I do have pipes that are look good in my eyes but end up they do not smoke so well. Well, it's about time to sell them if it is no due to my rusty smoking skills.

 

[cortezattic]

The only one I bought solely on the expectation of being a good smoker is a bulldog Ardor. It's my favorite shape overall, but on this one, the rustication / faux sandblast isn't too attractive. But the price (estate/unsmoked) was too good to pass on, and it does smoke very nicely.

 

[cigrmaster]

Cortez, the only Ardor I owned was a great smoker. I dumped it because of the acrylic stem. I like the shape of that pipe and the faux blast could be worse. I am happy that your leap of faith paid off for you.

 

[cortezattic]

Well Harris, that bulldog smoked so well I popped for an Ardor bent egg. Neither of them disappoint.