Smoking Pipes Dwindling New And Estate pipes

[Terry Lennox]

It is great for the hobby that the estate market is healthy. I do miss the days of old made in Denmark "new-old-stock" Stanwell's being easy to find. Half my collection is finding stuff like that. I understand those prices have gone up considerably. Still, the speed with which stuff sells is amazing.

 

[canucklehead]

Shane, while we got you on here please have Truett and yourself update the SPC merch for us guys under 40. Do a collaboration with Rogue Territory or Iron Heart.

I'm 41 so I had to Google what those are.

 

[irishearl]

I'm 41 so I had to Google what those are.

I'm 69+ but had heard of Iron Heart. But only because I've always been a bit of a clothes horse as the old saying goes.

 

[trouttimes]

These guys do an outstanding job with all the challenges involved with an estate pipe. When you buy one of their estate pipes, you can do so with confidence that it is what they say it is and is in smoking shape. I have bought many pipes from them over the years.

 

[shaneireland]

Shane, while we got you on here please have Truett and yourself update the SPC merch for us guys under 40. Do a collaboration with Rogue Territory or Iron Heart.

Oh man, we would love that! For me personally it would be Indigofera though

 

[shaneireland]

I don't see how 10,000 new pipes translates as a pipe shortage. Having only 700 estate pipe creates a problem for some. The estate marker is really hot right now (just like used cars) so they get them in, but they go right out as well as others.

There were legitimate shortages of both new and estate pipe inventory during the pandemic, mostly due to demand going way, way up (well beyond what anyone could have anticipated and this happened in many industries) in the case of estates specifically, because people had extra cash to burn and therefore didn't need to trade-up to fund new purchases, and anecdotally because people had more time to take the time to sell their own pipes over eBay and also likely Instagram, Facebook groups, etc.

At this point the "reset" of the industry is still much bigger (sustainable growth) compared to pre-pandemic levels and we're all still working toward the new normal. This means hiring and training on our side and an increase in people wanting to sell/trade all the extra stuff they bought during the lockdown and period following. We see this with factory production, too. It takes a long time to sort-out supply chain stuff that's been more or less holding firm for years, then all of a sudden slammed with demand.

Estates in particular have continued to turn very quickly for us. I've said it here before when this has been raised, but I'm the one who selects every estate pipe for each of the two weekly updates--we're putting up more and selling more now than we have historically. The perception that supply is down on the website has everything to do with the turn being better/faster these days. The figures Sykes mentioned are the inventory levels of stuff that's already on the website, not the things in the wings that are in various stages of being made available to our customers. We have a lot of inventory being valued, cleaned, and photo'd.

Keep your eyes peeled if you're looking for something, you'll need to act fast!

 

[georged]

Less frequently, but more interestingly, we once spray painted a few hundred broken pipes and they now hang from the ceiling in a hallway of our main building.

Pics or it didn't happen

 

[swilford]

Pics or it didn't happen

There was a video from ten years ago when we first put them up in our old building; I'm trying to track it down.

Here's a photo someone took and posted online awhile back of where they are now:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/p/AF1QipPPLtn1WhWlHPHvMUfGiXrMT4gOZbmBzd8aoRWU=s1360-w1360-h1020

(It's right outside my office so I'd normally just take a couple of pictures, but I'm inconveniently working from home today.)

 

[georged]

Holy shit!

Kidding, you were not...

MOMA has been notified. They'll doubtless send a team to SC to document everything.

Prepare to be famous, SP'ers. (for more than pipes & tobacco)

Oh yeah... and rich.

 

[Alejo R.]

Maybe we need a thread devoted to yard and estate sales??? It might be interesting to see what pipes and other stuff is being found.

I made a post one day looking for estate pipes. Little has been found lately.

 

[Alejo R.]

Twenty years ago I was in contact with many more pipe smokers than today. Because I went to Pipe Club meetings twice a month. From a club that had 100 members and at the meetings we were always between 35 and 40. At that time, in Argentina, in that club those of us who bought estate pipes were 4 or 5 younger ones who had a limited budget. And they looked at us like weirdos. Club Moguls displayed fine English or Italian pipes or Peterson's bought new at B&Ms. At that time the number of pipes I could buy was limited by the amount of money I could spend, which wasn't much. But I almost always brought a newly acquired pipe to each meeting. Today, not only are there more pipe smokers, but many more are buying estate pipes.

 

[OverMountain]

Only once did I ever try to trade in some pipes which were some decent, higher grade Petes. Well used but in what I thought was good condition. After quite the wait they told me they wouldn't give me a plugged nickel for them but I could donate them to them so they'd have some pipes to learn their restoring skills on. Said no thanks and just send them back to me.

You are better off selling them on this forum to someone who can appreciate and enjoy them directly. Being lowballed or sent to the back of the line is not a good return on your investment.

Donated? Is this a one way charity or a business?

 

[renfield]

Here's a photo someone took and posted online awhile back of where they are now:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/p/AF1QipPPLtn1WhWlHPHvMUfGiXrMT4gOZbmBzd8aoRWU=s1360-w1360-h1020

I love Moe Howard in the mural in the background. Pipes are pretty cool too.

 

[AroEnglish]

There was a video from ten years ago when we first put them up in our old building; I'm trying to track it down.

Here's a photo someone took and posted online awhile back of where they are now:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/p/AF1QipPPLtn1WhWlHPHvMUfGiXrMT4gOZbmBzd8aoRWU=s1360-w1360-h1020

(It's right outside my office so I'd normally just take a couple of pictures, but I'm inconveniently working from home today.)

I’d love to visit this office some day.

 

[swilford]

Holy shit!

Kidding, you were not...

MOMA has been notified. They'll doubtless send a team to SC to document everything.

Prepare to be famous, SP'ers. (for more than pipes & tobacco)

Oh yeah... and rich.

Little did we know!

It was my wife's idea. We brought home a few hundred broken pipes and she bought metallic spray paint. But we did it in summer on our side porch at home and they took forever to dry; an exercise in precision craft it was not and while they look ok on the ceiling, they look pretty rough up close, between the paint runs and the wretched state of the pipes.

 

[shaneireland]

You are better off selling them on this forum to someone who can appreciate and enjoy them directly. Being lowballed or sent to the back of the line is not a good return on your investment.

Donated? Is this a one way charity or a business?

We receive many pipes that are unsellable and most fall into one of three buckets:

1. Condition is so poor that the pipes have no value (burnouts, broken stems, completely missing stems, etc.)
2. The pipes did not have much value when new, therefore little-to-no value once used. Think basket pipes. We have a fixed cost associated with refurbishing and merchandizing/photographing each pipe, so too low a value and it just doesn't make sense for us.
3. Perfectly fine pipes--maybe even unused--that again don't make sense for us to resell; the best examples would be corn cobs, clays, Dr. Grabow and things like that.

Our offers always specify that we'll send any rejected pipes back to the customer on our dime, but that we're also happy to dispose of them (the ones that are missing stems or literally smoked to the point of being rubble), or that they can be donated.

In the case that the pipes are damaged/unsellable but maybe they actually have their stem intact, we can use them for training purposes for evaluators and restorers. These pipes don't get sold and we do not profit from them. Sometimes they end up being painted and hung from our ceiling... This would count as being donated to science.

Occasionally, when we do receive something nice that doesn't make sense to resell, we will actually facilitate donating those to friends of ours who have programs that make good use of such things, like the folks over at The Pipery.

Last year we had a large batch from a widow who didn't want anything sent back to her. We paid the customer for all of the briar pipes but the batch included quite a few unsmoked Missouri Meerschaum, even some of the more expensive models with nicer stems, etc. Perfectly fine pipes, but not something we could make an offer on or sell ourselves. We asked the customer if they were comfortable donating just those pieces to a good cause and the customer agreed. We shipped them on our dime to The Pipery and those pipes ended up being included in a care package that was sent to troops overseas. It's a really cool thing these guys do for the troops with their Free Pipe Project.

So we are a business, but we have friends who do good charity work. When it makes sense we're happy to give our customers the option to make a donation and to cover any shipping costs ourselves.

 

[trouttimes]

You guys are a standup company. Thank you for giving us the details and being so transparent. It is refreshing in this world today.

 

[AppalachianPipe92]

We receive many pipes that are unsellable and most fall into one of three buckets:

1. Condition is so poor that the pipes have no value (burnouts, broken stems, completely missing stems, etc.)
2. The pipes did not have much value when new, therefore little-to-no value once used. Think basket pipes. We have a fixed cost associated with refurbishing and merchandizing/photographing each pipe, so too low a value and it just doesn't make sense for us.
3. Perfectly fine pipes--maybe even unused--that again don't make sense for us to resell; the best examples would be corn cobs, clays, Dr. Grabow and things like that.

Our offers always specify that we'll send any rejected pipes back to the customer on our dime, but that we're also happy to dispose of them (the ones that are missing stems or literally smoked to the point of being rubble), or that they can be donated.

In the case that the pipes are damaged/unsellable but maybe they actually have their stem intact, we can use them for training purposes for evaluators and restorers. These pipes don't get sold and we do not profit from them. Sometimes they end up being painted and hung from our ceiling... This would count as being donated to science.

Occasionally, when we do receive something nice that doesn't make sense to resell, we will actually facilitate donating those to friends of ours who have programs that make good use of such things, like the folks over at The Pipery.

Last year we had a large batch from a widow who didn't want anything sent back to her. We paid the customer for all of the briar pipes but the batch included quite a few unsmoked Missouri Meerschaum, even some of the more expensive models with nicer stems, etc. Perfectly fine pipes, but not something we could make an offer on or sell ourselves. We asked the customer if they were comfortable donating just those pieces to a good cause and the customer agreed. We shipped them on our dime to The Pipery and those pipes ended up being included in a care package that was sent to troops overseas. It's a really cool thing these guys do for the troops with their Free Pipe Project.

So we are a business, but we have friends who do good charity work. When it makes sense we're happy to give our customers the option to make a donation and to cover any shipping costs ourselves.

Dave is the man and the project is really a great thing. I wasn't aware yall were involved. That's really cool.

 

[Merton]

I would be very remiss indeed if I failed to post the following: Shane Ireland is a consummate gentleman and a man who goes even beyond his word to address issues which arise, even when his company is not at fault. We are very fortunate to have him in our community and Smoking Pipes is a company which is really a stand up business. SYkes is a good guy and he is lucky to have Shane as the most frequent face of his business.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

Anyone sent estates in to SPc in the last couple weeks?
What's the wait been like between the "pipes received" email and the actual offer?