The Advantages of "Too Many" Pipes (Or "Too Few")

[saltedplug]

It's really simple... I don't care one iotta what someone else think about how many pipes I have. The goal is not to be envied, but to have more pipes than anyone else before you die. It's the rules, sorry, not gonna bend.

Well-stated. Non-sensical and the sensical not attempted. I think you hit on a theme: When I asked Tarek Manadily about pipe prices he said that they are unjustified and unjustifiable. I was within the first years of smoking, and when I saw a smooth Don Carlos on Synjeco for $350.00 I had just about had an MI.

In the same way the number of pipes in a collection and which pipes are included is unjustified and unjustifiable. There may be a focus or there may not. All in all one collects another pipe because of a mixture of his fascination with them and an impulse governed by "it seemed a good idea at the time."

Do we have any real need for another pipe? Not really. Do we love getting the pipe? Definitely.

 

[saltedplug]

If you don't have a boatload of pipes you probably haven't been around long enough to get them. A collection can be methodical at the start, but just hang around places like this and you will find that your collection has become based on caprice rather than focus.

 

[mso489]

For most of us, buying a pipe is a feel good experience, and some of pipe buying is based on just having the feeling more than a piercing need for that particular pipe, though that is often how it feels. I think.

 

[renfield]

mso, you’ve hit the nail on the head. The hunt for the next pipe is at least equal to possessing it. When I was building my 7 day set of Willmer Bel Airs it was all about the quest.

An interesting personal litmus test is,

if you could have only one of the pipes in your collection, would you still enjoy the hobby?

Conversely, only one tobacco, but as many pipes as you’d like.

 

[Chasing Embers]

if you could have only one of the pipes in your collection, would you still enjoy the hobby?

Conversely, only one tobacco, but as many pipes as you’d like.

Never been a hobbyist and have found that I can really enjoy one pipe and one tobacco.

 

[renfield]

Never been a hobbyist and have found that I can really enjoy one pipe and one tobacco.

Yep. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Sometimes a plethora of choices is really just a distraction.

 

[BeachBumBri]

As long as there’s wood and tools around I will not be without a pipe -

Gots to have me my pipes and bowls.

View attachment 74709

Those are some neat looking pipes. Did you make all of those? How do you do the shanks? And how did you do the finish on the green one?

On the main topic, I have a regular rotation of 8 briars, some cobs I smoke occasionally...I have one artisan pipe and a meerschaum I smoke rarely.

Harmonicas are a different story...

 

[carolinasmokes]

I'm definitely going to be the odd man out here as I can easily get by with 2 pipes in rotation every other day. I do not see the need to have dozens of pipes to smoke a few different tobaccos. When I started smoking cobs. I did build up a small stockpile of fresh cobs thinking they would not last as long as briar, boy was I wrong, I'm still smoking the same two cobs I started with a couple of years ago. But that will change shortly when I get those new Vauen pipes I ordered and move from cobs back to briar. The cobs have served me well but it is time for change.

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

I am discriminating. I have a preference which limits my collections. Short, fat, and vintage it what gets my attention and at time with wish it wasn’t so.

 

[trouttimes]

I like variety in all things. I wouldn’t like one or two tobaccos only, one or two only wines, one or two fly rods, etc. you get the drift. Life is very short. Why limit yourself. In the big scheme, pipes and tobacco are cheap, especially when you look at the enjoyment. I vary between 65 and 85 pipes at any given time. They bring me pleasure. Just like fly rods or shotguns, I can only use one at a time but that doesn’t stop me from having more than one. Relax, live a little. Buy a new pipe.

 

[carolinasmokes]

Relax, live a little. Buy a new pipe.

I did, as a matter of fact, I bought two!

 

[bullet08]

30 some pipes and they all get smoked. I like them. That's why I bought them, but they are pipes to be smoked. And they all do their job. I guess I could just pick one of them and smoke for however long. But, that would be boring. That would be like drinking bud light to rest of my life.

 

[DangerStranger]

My Doctor thought I had a case of crabs once, but she only counted “twenty three”of em.

They call that a hooker's dozen.

 

[JKoD]

I’m finding it’s more about how much tobacco you have vs pipes. I can’t bring myself to spend what some pipes cost... If I smurf it up, ok, no harm no foul. But, living on 16 pipes at the moment. I’ve found a few sub-$100 pipes that smoke wonderfully and I’d rather have 5-10 of those vs 1 granddaddy pipe. Quantity of pipes is seemingly more wealth/time relative while quality tobacco is more taste/realistic relative, just my opinion. At 20 pipes - I’m going all tobacco from there on. A few workhorses that can grind it out daily, a few semi weekly smokers and a few semi monthly smokers. Easier to replace workhorses. But, have a couple prizes in the stable as well.

 

[saltedplug]

When buying that next pipe there is nothing more irrelevant than the number you own or the number you need. These are prudent questions, and buying that next pipe has nothing to do with prudence.

Buy 'em by the gross! I say.

 

[cigrmaster]

Never been a hobbyist and have found that I can really enjoy one pipe and one tobacco.

I collected Willmer AAA Straight Grains and ended up wit about 15. I have sold them all off and while they were great smokers but all their stems were not hand made and I found them to be lacking. When it came to wood, their wood was second to none.

 

[cigrmaster]

Those are some neat looking pipes. Did you make all of those? How do you do the shanks? And how did you do the finish on the green one?

On the main topic, I have a regular rotation of 8 briars, some cobs I smoke occasionally...I have one artisan pipe and a meerschaum I smoke rarely.

Harmonicas are a different story...

The stems of the Willmers were just not nearly as good as an artisans hand made stems and I couldn't live with their stems that were totally hand made.