Pricey Pipes.
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this is true for sure. Just like modifications to a car or tattoos... some people will never understand spending the money. To the people spending it: worth every cent. So it is certainly very subjective.
If I could afford to blow 25 grand on a pipe... yeah, I'd totally do it. And then I'd log in to Pipesmagazine.com and totally brag about the pipe I just purchased. I mean, hey, I do that now even with a 100 dollar pipe (probably drives other members nuts!). 25 grand pipe? "Oh Yeah! Look at me! Anthony the great one! Just bought a 25 thousand dollar pipe because I can. I'm the man! I'm the man!" It would go something like that. And then I'd spend hours just waiting for all the replies to come in about how AWESOME my 25000 dollar pipe is. Shoot, I'd probably spend that money on ANY pipe. "Hey, Chasingembers, I love that Bruce Weaver Blowfish will you sell it?" No? Can't blame you, I probably wouldn't sell it either.... but hey, what if I gave you 25,000 bucks for it????" I'd finish with a big Texas Yeeeeehaaaaawwww" Embers would agree and be 25000 dollars richer.... or maybe he wouldn't, I don't know, but dangit I can dream. I can truly dream!
No amount of money, my buddy made that one right in front of me. Awesome memories. Maybe one of my Holms thought.?
Well, money can't buy everything, right? About those Preben Holms, though! Hahaha!
It seems the more I try the less I'm able to come up with a good analogy for pipes unless they are thought of in terms of art.
Does a Bugatti outperform a Honda? Of course it does. Is 1938 Vintage Macallan better than Johnnie Walker red? Of course it is. Are either worth the extra money? That depends on who you ask.
Pipes on the other hand don't outperform others based on price. Sure better pieces of wood can be selected and then an artisan can put many hours into a hand carved pipe, both of which factor into the price, but the pipe won't necessarily outperform many other pipes that cost a fraction of the price.
Expensive without a clearly quantifiable quality but instead an aesthetic quality is hard to figure out. But that's art for you.
Does a Bugatti outperform a Honda? Of course it does. Is 1938 Vintage Macallan better than Johnnie Walker red? Of course it is. Are either worth the extra money? That depends on who you ask.
Pipes on the other hand don't outperform others based on price. Sure better pieces of wood can be selected and then an artisan can put many hours into a hand carved pipe, both of which factor into the price, but the pipe won't necessarily outperform many other pipes that cost a fraction of the price.
Expensive without a clearly quantifiable quality but instead an aesthetic quality is hard to figure out. But that's art for you.
I suppose it also depends if you limit the measure by which you define 'outperform'
If top speed is your measure for comparing the price of two cars then the Bugatti wins... but what if being outperformed is measured as the mpg, the Honda wins by miles (literally)
Does a photograph outperform a painting of the same subject, again it depends on the measure, these are both art. In one environment it may be the painting, in another the kodak wins
Does an artisan or dunhill outperform a cob, depends on the measure, if its just to burn & smoke tobacco they are not the same but reasonably close, but just like the honda getting knocked out the door at one a minute or the bugatti at one a week (guesses) their production costs & worth will inevitably vary wildly
At the end of the day there will always be someone who'll still stick their Honda on ebay and try and flog it as if it were a bugatti
as I say, if 'how they smoke' is the measure, they can be close (being exactly the same is probably an exception/fluke or simply that the differences are less noticeable)
Nope. Two lights and burns straight to the bottom on all of them. One blend tastes the same in all four as well.
How can you say so? The 2018 Special Edition cob looks UNsmoked! ?
Your statement “These smoke exactly the same” is too much of a generalisation
Are we to take it that in any environment, wind, moisture level or temperature, indoor or out and regardless of user experience/skills… “These smoke exactly the same” taken as a measure, is always true?
Is it even possible that regardless of price, one pipe can outperform another simply in the measure of the 'awesome memories' it has compared to another
A few thoughts...hopefully somewhat on target. I've spent a fair amount more on pipes made by carvers I know and knew...more than I've spent on ... for example...a Peterson I enjoy quite a bit. My Peter Heeschen pipes do smoke better than some others, partly because his stem work was very good, and partly because I think of him and our friendship. May sound silly to some, but that does make the pipes worth more to me. Same for the one Roush I own, and the pipes I purchased from Rolando Negoita. And...you know these carvers are not (and we're not) financially rich people. It takes quite some time, not to mention materials and overhead to make a very good pipe. They're earning their money...and generally not making a killing. Not even close for most of them.
Anthony,
Your $25,000 pipe would be totally worth it. For one thing, it would confound the law of diminishing returns. Just imagine how much merriment we would all derive from busting your balls over that purchase. We could easily get 100 times the amusement over a $250 pipe.
As far as factory VS artisan pipes, I have not experienced any edge regarding one over the other. I enjoy both equally. Then again, most of my "factory" pipes are Barlings, Comoys, and Sasienis, well crafted and made from good wood. The Von Ercks and Piersels, to name just two of the makes of artisan pipes I collect, are well crafted with good wood. Both provide equal smoking pleasure.
That photo was taken prior to smoking it. Originally it was a size comparison photo.
With good drilling, I've never seen one pipe outperform another.Your statement “These smoke exactly the same” is too much of a generalisation
Are we to take it that in any environment, wind, moisture level or temperature, indoor or out and regardless of user experience/skills… “These smoke exactly the same” taken as a measure, is always true?
Is it even possible that regardless of price, one pipe can outperform another simply in the measure of the 'awesome memories' it has compared to another
Not at all. With well drilled pipes it's less about the equipment and more about the technique. The best made pipe on the planet isn't going to smoke well for someone with bad smoking practices.
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