She is merely designing the pipes. You are mostly paying for the name. They are French factory made pipes, with comparable other French pipes being much cheaper. But, if you want the name on a pipe, then go for it. But, if you are just wanting a great smoker, you might look into other factory made pipes that don't have a famous last name. FWIW
Here we go again. My response last time this came up is still applicable (http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/how-much-will-you-pay-for-a-fraized-pipe). This assertion simply is not true.
I have literally watched Sara Eltang pipes being made. I'm intimately familiar with the processes involved. I've spent, cumulatively, somewhere around three weeks in and around Tom Eltang's workshop in the past decade, a couple of days per year. Add Shane Ireland, Ted Swearingen and other Smokingpipes.com people to that total, and we've probably spent months collectively with Tom in and about his workshop.
I don't know who these mythical 'people in the biz' who have pretense to knowledge, but are both sufficiently uninformed to spread incorrect information and sufficiently malicious to to just run around and say nasty things about good people, but, seriously, they should just stop doing such things. It isn't nice. And it isn't true. Clearly, this 'person in the biz' or 'person in the know' failed all of the important lessons in preschool.
Specifically to Sara Eltang, they are fraized (see previous post on commentary about fraizing) by Tom (or helpers from his workshop) at Former's workshop because Tom and Former share the copy fraizer and Former has, at present, more space for it. They're finished in Tom's shop, mostly by Tom (some steps others can do; some steps only Tom does).
Sara's involvement was the design of the logo. That's it. She's a clothing designer. Tom, Pia, Sara, Smokingpipes.com, no one claims that Sara designs them. He used her name for the project and she thought it a cool idea. End of story on Sara.
So, seriously, can we please put this to bed? What's next? Faked moon landings?
Sykes