Slimming Down -- Culling the Collection

[macaroni]

Making room for Danes. and just making room.

Dunhills just don't do a lot for me--leta 620 and a 1920's double patent go recently--the stems just didn't compare to the Dane Masters.

Love the Castellos too much and had to hang on to half of 'em! Wider and thicker stem profiles than I prefer and falling in love with the Danes (Jess, Former, Tom, and I'll add Smio since it fits that genre, plus some Stanwells).

Habit of doing household stuff, chores & yard work with the flowers and vegatables (tobacco doesn't take much work since I'm growing it sooooo poorly! LOL) and puffing a bent big Pete (XL's and bigger-Pubs--fit perfectly if the nic hit is low, or else I get the "spins" when walking behind the mower LOL; saving the bent Pete House is good for a long soak in the bath with a big glass of booze LOL)!

Sent off almost a gross to SP US estates (getting well used one back but most were good to go) in the culling game. Glad to do it. And they treated me right. Highly recommend SP US estate folks to get rid of pipes in need of new love (no affiliation).

What's your plan or past experience on culling - paring down?
kindly
mike
ps--for me, the cost of this is part of the fun from "live and learn" or "you gotta pay to play" LOL

 

[Chasing Embers]

What's your plan or past experience on culling - paring down?

When they can't pass a pipe cleaner or become clutter......

 

[kcghost]

I didn't have that many to start with (70) so culling was fairly simple.

 

[RookieGuy]

I'm almost ready to start culling. My plans are to donate any of the better ones to newer pipe smokers. The rest will be offered to Vulcan.

 

[bullet08]

Curling? Like that popular Canadian "sport"? Send the pipe down the ice while swiping the ice? It's about as exciting as golf. Hot dog speed eating, now that's exciting!

I can't imagine giving up any of my Peterson. Too painful to chuck 'em like caber toss.

 

[mso489]

I have culled about four times. I still have the first pipe I ever bought, and I still smoke it, and it looks great and smokes well. I've never thrown a pipe in the trash. I gave four or five pipes to a friend who'd quit a decades old Lucky Strike habit, just for decor and old time sake. I've sent a batch of five or six to active duty service members in Afghanistan. And I have sent in several batches for store credit to SP -- not a huge return, but resulted in pipes I preferred. My criteria is how much I smoke a pipe. Most that I have left do get smoked. I'm way too cheap/thrifty to throw a pipe in the trash -- maybe if I were really pissed with it, but mostly not. I don't miss any of the pipes I've culled, no regrets. I'm glad someone else might get some use out of them. I am amused that one pipe I returned for shop credit has gone from the $40 I paid for it to $140 new. It was a straight churchwarden I just didn't smoke.

 

[sablebrush52]

Yeah, that's something I need to do, not because I have a lot of pipes, but because I need less of them.

 

[mso489]

The only trouble with sending pipes to newbies is that buying pipes is almost a hobby in itself and an important skill to develop. Figuring out filters alone is a study. Brands, finishes, estate versus new, size specifications. It's both fun (and a bad habit) and useful. For the same price, you can get a lifetime pipe or a piece of junk or simply a pipe that is not your "thing," even if it is fine for what it is. I think one pipe is a generosity, but a few might be a burden. I do recommend buying only one pipe at a time, to focus on it. Oddly, most of my gift pipes have worked out incredibly well. My wife bought me my first churchwarden and my only Oom-Paul/Hungarian, and both have worked out well.

 

[cigrmaster]

I have been selling off a number of pipes and just concentrating on my American artisan collection. For my tastes my American pipes have superior stems compared to any of the Danes, Italians and all the other pipes I have owned in the past. I once owned 6 Formers and none had stems and none smoked as well as my American pipes. I sold off my Barbi's, Matzhold's, Balleby's. All my Castello's are now gone. The last to go was a Castello Occhio di Perrnice that I had wanted for years. I finally got one wicked cheap and it smoked fine, except the stem was crap. The Danes also had shank dimensions that were too tight for my tastes. I like a 4.0 mm minimum shank dimension but prefer a 4.5 the best. The pipe basically smokes it self which I like.

I am at a point where 50 pipes or so are enough and if I don't love smoking a pipe, I am getting rid of it. I recently have been loading up on Jack Howell pipes as they smoke great, the stems are very comfy and I like Jack and I enjoy supporting him. I have a dozen commissions so far in my rack with more in the works. I sold off 41 pipes and have another 15 or so to go. I did much better selling than I thought I would. This will be the third or 4th re doing of my collection. I enjoy it as I get to put new pipes in my collection.

I have always wanted a Tom Eltang Dublin as he makes one of the prettiest out there behind Jess. I have asked a number of people I trust if I would like smoking an Eltang and they all said the same thing, I wouldn't like it as they don't smoke as good as what I have now. I would rather have 3 Howells over 1 Eltang so I will trust my guys and stick to my my American guys. Since Rad Davis retired, I have only added one that was like new and it is a hell of a smoker.

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Curling? Like that popular Canadian "sport"? Send the pipe down the ice while swiping the ice? It's about as exciting as golf. Hot dog speed eating, now that's exciting!

I can't imagine giving up any of my Peterson. Too painful to chuck 'em like caber toss.

Culling, not curling...LOL!!

I once thought the same about golf until I learned to play. Very much fun. A game traditional honor.

 

[boston]

Like sablebrush I don't need more pipes. I have well over a dozen... maybe 2 dozen I never even smoked. Yeah talk about privilege...I know it and recognize I was fortunate to have the $ to buy them. And I acknowledge also a periodic lack of good judgement (pad)!

If nobody in my family wants them at some time in the future I'll gift a few to friends and sell the rest.

 

[OzPiper]

Tastes change. As we gather more experience and start to appreciate nuances more, we become more critical. We care less for some of the things we were passionate about previously.

I have built up, and disposed of several cellars of wine in the 45+ years I've been lucky to enjoy wine. Sometimes because of financial reasons eg wife insisting on a major home renovation. Or the wine having appreciated to a ridiculous price eg the bottle of Scotch I bought for $200 and was offered $7000 cash for ! Sadly not too many of those.
But more often because I no longer enjoyed drinking those styles of wine.

Like Harris and his collections of pipes, I am keeping only those bottles that I know I'm going to enjoy each and every time I pull the cork.

I've only returned to smoking pipes in the past 3 years, so I haven't had the time to regret too many pipe purchases yet. I have gifted a few pipes that weren't seeing too much use to friends, but the rest are like kids that are "not quite old enough to leave the nest".

Like many, I've become more selective and considered in my purchases. As for culling - all kids have to leave the nest at some stage. So yes, I'll be letting them go - to someone who will continue to appreciate them and show them love. But not just yet.
I'd like to enjoy them all for a few more years.

 

[AKinser79]

What's your plan or past experience on culling - paring down?

As someone who smokes mostly corncob pipes I usually cull them when the bowl, or shank starts to fail and they no longer function.

 

[Servant King]

I have the best strategy for avoiding the need to cull: I have two pipes. ?

 

[americaman]

Yeah, that's something I need to do, not because I have a lot of pipes, but because I need less of them.

Call me

 

[saltedplug]

My collecting featured watching Marty Pulver's site and jumping on those pipes I liked selling for $50-$70.

You guys who repeatedly redo your collection at a cost of thousands because your taste has changed or the stem did not meet your expectations, off by a half a millimeter, are out of my league, something to write about in a short story.

I very much disagree with the guy who praised SP for pipes he sold/traded them, as my experience is that this is a great way to lose money, which is not to say that SP procedure is in any way faulty.

 

[hauntedmyst]

Lately I’ve been culling my collection. After over 40 years of pipe smoking, I’ve gotten down to the point of where while I still appreciate craftsmanship and aesthetics, I’m just not really excited about most new pipes. I think it’s more that I just don’t need new pipes the way I used to. I enjoy pipes and pipe smoking as much as I ever did. I think some of the joy of having to have a collection is gone. And that’s neither a good thing or a bad thing. I recently had Chance at great estate pipes sell off almost all of my Dunhill 6103‘s.He does a tremendous job, and even when you take out his cut, he gets more than I would on eBay. Until my mood changes or my tastes change, I’ll probably continue culling until I’m down to about 20 pipes.

 

[chopper]

Tastes change. As we gather more experience and start to appreciate nuances more, we become more critical. We care less for some of the things we were passionate about previously.

I have built up, and disposed of several cellars of wine in the 45+ years I've been lucky to enjoy wine. Sometimes because of financial reasons eg wife insisting on a major home renovation. Or the wine having appreciated to a ridiculous price eg the bottle of Scotch I bought for $200 and was offered $7000 cash for ! Sadly not too many of those.
But more often because I no longer enjoyed drinking those styles of wine.

Like Harris and his collections of pipes, I am keeping only those bottles that I know I'm going to enjoy each and every time I pull the cork.

I've only returned to smoking pipes in the past 3 years, so I haven't had the time to regret too many pipe purchases yet. I have gifted a few pipes that weren't seeing too much use to friends, but the rest are like kids that are "not quite old enough to leave the nest".

Like many, I've become more selective and considered in my purchases. As for culling - all kids have to leave the nest at some stage. So yes, I'll be letting them go - to someone who will continue to appreciate them and show them love. But not just yet.
I'd like to enjoy them all for a few more years.

Back in the 90s I occasionally enjoyed a bottle of Henshke Hill of Grace and gifted a bottle to good friends for special occasions.
Recently a 2004 bottle went for $3,500. Ironically I encouraged collectors to stock up on that one when it was $45 a bottle.

Then there was the five rare bourbons in a little wooden rack [around 100-150ml bottles]
Lovely stuff. Really enjoyed each and every one until a collector told me that little rack of unopened bottles were going for $1,500. [Over 20 years ago]

As for pipes. Since an MM cob smokes just as well as any fancy briar, AFAIC, I don't see the point in spending big on a pipe on a limited income.
My favourite smokers are 80s NOS Venini's that I paid around $35aud each.

After a bit of a buying spree on ebay a few years back, snapping up NOS bargains, I'm now selling those that didn't make the rotation on consignment at my local tobacconist.

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

There is more to culling than just getting rid of pipes. It is good to give some away, but to throw away money spent says to me that we've overdone it and getting rid of them makes us feel better.

I rememner ordering products mail order in the early 1980's from Runner's World back page ads and L.L. Bean. You had to complete an order form and mail it in or call an 800 numnber. For me it was less impulsive.


I also think having lots of discretionary money can lead to indulgences, or it has for me at times.

 

[ssjones]

I've been doing the same. I was up around 100 pieces, some sought after for many years. But, I just couldn't smoke all of them, so I let some go, now down to about 50, which is still 20 too many. I can't bear another cull at the moment, but we'll see. I still buy pipes, particularly favored British marques and shapes, I enjoy restoring them, but they get sold ...most of the time.