Thanks for all the comments gang. PAD certainly is an interesting phenomenon.
You do know that you're doomed, don't you.
Says the hierophant of collecting... at least I'm in good company!
What are some of the billiard pipes?
The three billiards (from left to right on the right hand rack) are:
1) A group 1 Dunhill Shellbriar from 1974 (birthyear)
2) A Sasieni patent fishtail 4 dot (pre-city stampings)
3) A Philip Trypis grade 5 billiard, group 2 equivalent
The bent pipe with a thick walled bowl is becoming my favorite kind of pipe. Bulldog, Rhodesian, Apple, Acorn, whatever...as long as it has a gracefully bent stem or stem and shank and thick walls, is made from a nice piece of briar...and of course, is properly constructed on its insides.
I see that that's been your progression as well.
Actually, I'm a little divergent... I love the chunky slightly bent Bulldog/Rhodesian and to a lesser degree the prince or apple. But I equally enjoy a long shanked Canadian or Lumberman. Most of my buying in the last while has been in the bent and chunky camp, but when I see a long shank that suits I snap it up. There's a 70's Castello Sea Rock with a red acrylic stem on the left hand rack which is the perfect example of that. Mike put it up for sale at Briar Blues and I had to snap it up. It is a sublime smoker.
Nice, about the same size collection as me except I simply buy estates in the 10-15$ range whereas you seem to have concentrated more on acquiring certain shapes etc... I really want some bulldogs though, nice pipes.
That's how I started too. Then I lucked into two purchases of NOS pipes that I was able to turn around and re-sell for a good profit. This bankrolled my investment in pipe refurbishing tools and equipment, and now I use my hobby to pay for itself. The pipes in my collection were all bought and paid for by the sale of other pipes. I've moved over 150 to end up with this collection.
The only pipes that I've purchased new were the artisan pipes, every other pipe in that collection was bought as an estate.
What's the rusticated rhodesian on the right side with the angular cut outs?
I think you are referring to the Sea Star bulldog from Yves at Ygrek Pipes. He`s a talented carver out of Basel. Here is a link to the thread on that pipe.
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/ygrek-pipes-sea-star-a-bulldog-commission
-- Pat