The Good, the Favorite and the Everyday

[pipestud]

First of all, Barleycorn, if you have 30 pipes then you are most certainly a collector.

My collecting motif is American hand made tanblasts. My categories are simply great smokers, good smokers, so-so smokers and how did I get suckered into to buying this one smokers.

 

[sablebrush52]

If it smokes well, I keep it. Regardless of price, all of my pipes are good smokers and a few are outstanding smokers. The outstanding smokers range in price from $2 up to several hundred times that amount.

 

[jerry]

My meerschaum collection has been in flux for more than 40 years. It has stabilized to 16 pipes that I smoke, mostly by Baki and Bekler. At age 67, I’ve pretty much stopped acquiring. The ones I’ve kept are the best ones for me. Of course, that could change ?

 

[weezell]

My meerschaum collection has been in flux

I'm fluxed because I keep getting them! It's a sickness I tell you...

 

[BROBS]

@weezell just likes that old man mustiness. ?

 

[Parsimonious Piper]

I don’t buy over the $50-75 range, and my average pipe cost is <$40. The three exceptions to my price limit are a Pete and a couple estate artisans—I never smoke them anymore, so I’m considering parting with them to make more display room for the 30+ estates I do smoke regularly. So, no, I don’t really have good/better/best. My “best” pipes don’t get smoked, while my inexpensive 1940s-50s era estates are all “favorites” and get used.

 

[BROBS]

I take all my pipes almost anywhere. However I am usually mindful when mowing or some other such work to use one of my least valuable range pipes. However not always.

 

[weezell]

@weezell just likes that old man mustiness. ?

 

[verporchting]

I have to laugh. While I do have some very nice pipes and a slew of $100 pipes, there are two that I smoke the wheels off of. One is ugly as sin and I paid $11 dollars new off eBay, and the other I paid a whopping $8.95 for at a junk shop and it was my first attempt to strip, refinish and ream. Filthy job but I’m happy with the results.

Over and over I find those two are the ones I reach for and take with me in the truck, outside, traveling or whatever. Both have been reamed several times, which is crazy because I don’t build cake intentionally and some pipes I’ve smoked for 30 years have not been reamed ever.

 

[radrick96]

So far i have 3 pipes. I’d like 7 pipes total, but someone earlier mentioned having a 7 day set of matching pipes...I think I’d want a 7 set of vintage matching pipes since i finally finished my vintage 7 straight razor set...which makes my total 14?
I’ve been on here for only a short time and I’m already doubling my goal!

 

[Jaylotw]

I’m definitely not a pipe collector, yet. After 12 years of pursuing the hobby seriously, I have only a modest clutch of daily users.

I have 8 pipes that I smoke regularly, and a couple others that stay in drawers mostly. I have an old church warden that I’ve smoked once.

I have a Savinelli that, to me, is my expensive pipe. It was $100 when I bought it, and it’s travelled just as much as the others. It has not been dropped into a river, unlike several of the others, and I do tend to take better care of it. The rest are 50-80 dollar pieces, $30 dollar basket no-names, or $10 dollar cobs.

While I really do appreciate the craftsmanship and beauty of the nicer artisan pipes, I’ve always viewed the pipe as a tool that’s gonna get used and abused to a degree and always figured that whatever extra funds I have are better spent on the cellar than the pipes. One day, though, I’d like to replace my poorer smoking basket pipes.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I've read of a fellow or two who dropped their pipes into a lake, river, ocean, and panicked and then binned them. Outrageous!

Water does no harm to a pipe, and often a lot of good. Not that this is a good practice but twice I dunked a hot pipe in a swimming pool while horsing around in the water. Apart from ruining the tobacco, no harm.

 

[Casual]

So far i have 3 pipes. I’d like 7 pipes total, but someone earlier mentioned having a 7 day set of matching pipes...I think I’d want a 7 set of vintage matching pipes since i finally finished my vintage 7 straight razor set...which makes my total 14?
I’ve been on here for only a short time and I’m already doubling my goal!

It’s my conjecture that one doesn’t get up to a 7 pipe set. One blows way past that figuring out preferences and determining a budget. Then one gets back down to a 7 pipe set.

 

[condorlover1]

Same as Weezell. In fact we enable each other which makes it even worse. He is the only other person I know who shares my taste in pipes and tobacco. I have often wondered if he is some long lost relative of mine! As for pipes I really need to stop buying the damned things. Do you know that 'cutty' is a real bargain .............

 

[Mr.Mike]

I just counted, and I have:
- 7 nice pipes that get smoked all the time, which include Boswell, Dunhill, Stanwell, 2 Savenilli, Bjorne Viking, and a little Servi meer.

- 3 nice pipes that are smoked once in a blue moon, mostly because of size or shape that include Nording freehand, Butz Choquin, and Peterson.

- A bunch of basket and cobs that never get smoked anymore because they just don't taste good. Most smoke well, but the shitty vulcanite stems taste horrid and/or I can't stand the cob taste anymore.

I never considered at low quality stems can effect flavor. Maybe that's why try as I might, some of my low end estates just don't taste good no matter what. Is it a majority opinion that stem quality effects flavor? This topic interests me.

 

[mso489]

I think I'm as attached to some of the least of my pipes, in terms of price, as I am to my treasures. You like them for different reasons. It's comfortable to not feel you are risking an investment to take a pipe on a walk or a trip, for example. Unless stems have an oxidation problem, I don't have trouble with them imparting bad flavor. Some people are highly sensitive to the cut of stems, and I can understand that, but am glad I am not.

 

[Misanthrope]

I don’t really categorize my pipes. My thought process tends to be:

1. See cute/quirky/appealing pipe
2. Waffle on the purchase for a few days
3. Mention cute pipe and associated waffling here
4. Everyone here is a horrible enabler
5. Buy pipe in question
6. Kiss, hug, squeeze, smoke pipe and call it George
7. Reflect contemplatively upon the fact that with 12 (soon to be 14 and then 18) pipes, calling them all “George” gets a little ambiguous, but at least they all know they’re loved and cherished just the same

My tastes are pretty basic, so I usually don’t spend more than $100-$150. I’ll sometimes go closer to $200 with extra waffling. No desk/shelf queens in my collection, either, everything gets used—this rule probably does more to keep me firmly within a per-pipe budget than anything else.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I never considered at low quality stems can effect flavor. Maybe that's why try as I might, some of my low end estates just don't taste good no matter what. Is it a majority opinion that stem quality effects flavor? This topic interests me.

Mike- Try this: Flush the chamber and out the stem with very hot tap water for 20-30 seconds. Scrub the stem with a sponge's abrasive side. Dry. Light - very light- coating stem with mineral oil. Rub in and off. I think you'll find your low-ends taste better.

 

[Mr.Mike]

Thanks will def give it a go!

Mike- Try this: Flush the chamber and out the stem with very hot tap water for 20-30 seconds. Scrub the stem with a sponge's abrasive side. Dry. Light - very light- coating stem with mineral oil. Rub in and off. I think you'll find your low-ends taste better.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I never considered at low quality stems can effect flavor. Maybe that's why try as I might, some of my low end estates just don't taste good no matter what. Is it a majority opinion that stem quality effects flavor? This topic interests me.

The airway in the stems may be oxidized.