Point of Diminishing Returns

[ocpsdan]

Some really good points raised here. Worth it to read the entire thread before posting!
I would like to add that it also depends on your involvement and passion in the hobby. Someone who likes pipes and smokes them occasionally will think twice before buying a pipe that he considers to be too expensive. The occasional smoker will factor in things like how it will affect a monthly budget, is the price intrinsic of the value, etc. On the other hand, someone who is highly interested and passionate will look beyond the price and factor in how much he anticipates to smoke it, if it will be a part of his regular rotation or not, or if he'll leave it unsmoked for collections sake, the workmanship, tobacco commitments, etc.. I think the highly passionate pipe smoker will leave the dollar sign as the very last part of the decision process, and the least important.

If a pipe really clicks with me, I don't worry about the price- even if it leaves me a little shy of fun money for a while. I'm not worried about diminishing returns all that much.

 

[12pups]

+1 to those who believe there is no "diminishing return" for them and their hobby. Maybe rmbittner said it best and earliest on.
I will admit to diminishing spending. At first I was in a race to find what I did or didn't like, try this or that. As I became more and more discriminating, I needed to purchase fewer pipes, less tobacco.
There's no price point where I would say, "I have to be content now, because it's too expensive not to be for this money."
I have the pipes I want, and each time I bought one, it was worth to *me* what I paid for it. Though I *could* buy a $300 pipe, I haven't seen one I felt I needed. And the couple that *other* people might think I paid too much for, I don't agree: they were worth their cost to me. Like, for instance, the one I just sent to the company to get a new stem. Probably should have just bought a new pipe, given this one's condition. But I wanted "this" one. If they weren't valued by me, I wouldn't have paid for them.
At what price does value become a diminishing return? In the final analysis, I either bought it or I didn't. No dilemma. And no easy "price line" to it. $500 pipe? $300 pipe? $200 pipe? ... Well, I don't know. If I saw something about it I wanted, I'd sure put the money down for it. Just... I'm not in the market for more pipes right now. It would have to jump up and slap me before I looked at it, then beg me to buy it.
Different mindsets, I guess.

 

[12pups]

There are other things that add value to pipe smoking by the way. One that comes to mind is an original Winton tamper.
Priceless!
(Winton: the purple heartwood goes with my oval-bowled, pocket-pipe Piccadilly perfectly. For all else, it's the spalted wood, my favorite. You were right, my friend: the tamper I keep tucked under my ring finger while I smoke definitely enriches the experience).

 

[ssjones]

But owning a pipe can often involve much more than what can be quantified and measured.
Bob

I'm with Bob. For myself, there are so many intangibles of a particular pipe that don't have much correlation to the purchase price. I tend to place a greater sentiment on older pipes, irregardless of the cost, particularly so if I did the restoration work myself. Last week I had the good fortune to smoke a $40 British Sasieni estate and a new North American Carver, and the most costly pipe in my collection. Both smoked equally well. Is $40 the point of diminishing returns? Probably not, and it varies pipe to pipe.

 

[ssjones]

We always focus on the money, and that's the least important factor, and one that has nothing to do with how good a pipe is.

Well said.

 

[lawmax3]

I believe what cakeanddottle said is very valid.

I have several older pipes that smoke wonderfully. Many of the old estate pipes have been seasoned and are made from excellent briar. I really enjoy smoking a an estate that I paid next to nothing for and having it deliver a superb smoke, but that is just me. I also have a few very nice Dunhills that cost quite a bit. I enjoy "collecting" the Dunhills more than the estates. However, both fully fit their purpose.

 

[shutterbugg]

I don't know about diminishing returns, but my personal limit on cost of a pipe is $200, and my limit of total pipes is 36. Arbitrary I know, but I have other hobbies and set arbitrary limits there too, otherwise the spendinc can get out of hand.

 

[pipinho]

IMHO it's a matter of what you want and can afford.

 

[yazamitaz]

This is such a great thread since beauty (and price/utility) is truly in the eye of the pipe holder. I ask the same question about watches. My $80 TAG is pretty accurate on time, just as much as my $3,000 Rolex. I own both but I won the Rolex in a Sales Leader of the Year competition. I love the Rolex, but never in a million years would I have shelled out $3,000 to own one. Too me it's a watch and it tells time, and when I need to get dressed to the nines or want to impress a client I throw it on. Otherwise it sits in its box, deep in my drawer where no one (or myself)can mess it up.
Conversely, if I owned a truly high end pipe, I would want to smoke the hell out of that thing on a weekly basis. I wouldn't show it off to anyone but me. It would be my special pipe for when I knew I had an hour or so to puff uninterrupted.
The most I have ever spent on a pipe is $145, and it just happened this week at Morley's Pipe Club. A member brought in a Winslow D grade half bent brandy/apple that was love at first sight. I have been looking for this style, grain, and band contrast for a while and when I saw this I knew I had to have it (apologies to lestrout, samcoffeeman, decigar, or 7ach if I jumped over any of you to get to this piece). Maybe in two years I will see a $800 pipe that I HAVE to have and will get it. I am sure I have belabored the point, but I like spending money on things that bring me joy and happiness, yet don't spend money on things that do not, yet others will. Rant over.

 

[instymp]

yazamitaz, I didn't know they made a $3000.00 Rolex!

 

[yazamitaz]

Instymp,
Not sure if that was the price of it ( I have no clue about these things) but as the tax man cometh, this is the value that I had to report on my taxes.

 

[daimyo]

Rolex makes $33,000 watches and special ones have sold for over a million at auction.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

I missed this thread the first time around, but its nice to know that Yaz responds to his earlier posts 2 months after the fact. LOL

 

[mso489]

That was a nice terse post, so it can be considered at least two ways. The principle of diminishing returns says,

if you have only one shirt, it is your only shirt and without it you are half naked. But if you buy another, you can

be clothed and still have an extra shirt, so each shirt is only half as valuable as the one and only shirt. Related

to pipes, you can consider this in terms of how much you spend, or in terms of how many pipes you buy. If you

consider both simultaneously, it really gets complicated, so let's stick with just the two. I think you could buy a

$3K pipe and have less good smoking if that was your only pipe. I know, buy some cobs. If you bought five or

six pipes for your $3K, that could give you some fine pipes and a fair rotation. So maybe in this case, buying

more pipes at less exalted prices might actually give better returns. The interesting point to me is the other

question. We probably don't get an incremental gain in value when we buy pipe number 36 or pipe number 49,

as compared to when we buy pipe 4 or pipe 8, when we really need them to build a rotation. But psychologically,

why does each pipe feel so compelling and necessary. Probably there's some compulsion and magic thinking in

it; perhaps also, there is considerable imagination, to sustain the belief that each is significant, valuable, and

enticing, each and every pipe one buys. Psychologically, there don't seem to be diminishing returns, though that

is highly irrational. In a odd way, your 50th pipe is as fulfilling an experience as buying your 3rd or 5th. It's imagination

run wild. It's not shrewd or thrifty. But it is motivating. There might even be an addictive component to it. PAD.

 

[derfargin]

A Corvette for may be the greatest car for somebody but a Yugo might be somebody else's.

:rofl:
HHAHAHAA...Ok..be serious.

 

[cuchulain]

I look at pipes the way I look at boots. I'd love to be able to afford a pair of custom made Wesco Loggers, made exactly to my specs, but $700 is far too much for me. Just as I'd love to be able to buy an artisan made pipe. But it ain't happening.
For now I'll stick with my Red Wings, along with my sub $100 pipes. But you won't catch me buying a pair of Timberlands or a Rite-Aid Dr. Grabow.

 

[ssjones]

It is definitely addictive. I have more than enough pipes but I can't stop my Ebay searches and scanning all of those venues for the right pipe. Every once in a while one comes along that makes me take in a breath and I have to own it. (or at least give it a shot). Until that prize arrives and I can hold and smoke it, I'm on the same level as "pins & needles" as with my first pipe. I hope that never changes!

 

[ravkesef]

This turns out to be one of those discussions where everyone is right. Is there a price point beyond which one does not get additional value for money invested? Of course there is – and everyone who is chimed in on the subject has articulated a different price point, because it really is highly individualized. I own over 100 pipes, and my collection includes six Dunhills, some W. O Larsens, Beckers,, Connoisseurs, Charatans, some cobs, some basket pipes, etc., and the fact is I wouldn't keep a pipe if it didn't give me a good smoke. Sometimes I really had to stretch the budget to get the Pipe I wanted, and not necessarily because it smoked that much better, but because I want to Pipe by that maker. It is definitely not axiomatic that a $600 Pipe will smoke twice as good as a $300 price. In fact, it may not even smoke as good as the less expensive pipe, but one hopes that the craftsmanship will show through. Most pipe makers will guarantee their pipes against all sorts of flaws, indeed just about anything except taste. If you don't like the way it tastes you're stuck. Castello is a notable exception – if you're not happy with the taste, they'll replace it with another Castello. And please keep in mind that Castello makes it plain that all their pipes are equal in terms of their taste and smoking qualities, and the sole difference is in the externals. Castello doesn't make a bad pipe, nor do they make a bad smoking pipe. The least expensive Castello smokes just as good as the most expensive one, and the company is quick to tell you that.

These days, evenings will find me outside smoking McCranie's red ribbon in an old dominion cob, and I have yet to find anything that can match up with that. By all means spend your money if you've got it, but keep both feet on the ground, and your rear end in a comfortable chair as you read Mark Hanna's article about the myth of brand and maker… it tells the whole story right there.

 

[instymp]

Yaz.. ever tell you about the $300.00 Rolexes they make? :wink:

 

[unholy1]

The higher price is for labor. A $40 pipe could smoke just as well as a $500 one. You're paying for the artisans labor and for aesthetics . It depends on if such is important to you. For example, I just picked up a BC D'Argent for $150. It's absolutely gorgeous, but my $60 Sav smokes just as well. I paid th higher price for the aesthetics of it as a piece of functional art.
It seems to me that diminishing return is only a factor when your sole purpose for acquiring said pipe is to smoke tobacco. Clearly, that isn't the only factor for most people in the hobby.