The Quality and Value of Pipes Costing Below $96

[brass]

And if if your'e interested in estates, checkout Mike at briarblues.com and Dave at mkelaw.com. Both are easy to deal with and you'll come away a much more informed pipe consumer.

 

[toby67]

Poor, poor Medico. No love here for one of the more affordable pipes I've seen.

When I started my piping last May, I took to the 'bay' and picked up some 'values' for my rotation. Some of them arrived in unsmoked condition. I haven't smoked 9 Medicos I got for less than $50.00. I plan to use them as bait for a higher end pipe, eventually.

Poor Medico's indeed, I have one Medico that I picked up amongst the first handful of pipes, it was brand new and cost me $30. To be honest it has always been one of my favourite smokers, it draws excellent, hardly clogs and sits comfortably when clenching. Last night I decided to make a churchwarden stem for it and it has mad it even better. I love it especially now I have a standard and a churchwarden stem to suit the bowl.
After that success, I have a length of nice bamboo and a selection of shorter churchwarden stems that I am considering spicing up some old bowls I have without stems (broken or lost).

 

[toadshade]

I got a Stanwell Brushed Black Bent Apple and a Savinelli Tevere a year ago when I restarted by pipe hobby. Both cost 50 dollars and both smoke great. I really haven't wanted another pipe besides the Meerschaum I just gott. I may get a cob since I've never smoked one and they're so cheap.

 

[mso489]

Since $96 is a price point mentioned in the initial post, it is useful to mention that you can get well above the entry level pipe with $96 in a Savenelli. Then consider what you can do with your $96 in a ten, forty, or fifty percent off sale. And at smokingpipes.com estate pipes with your $96. So $96 doesn't have to be a entry-level baseline. Also look at French pipes, which were the models for most of the expensive English pipes. They're high quality and cost a fraction of the price. I'm all for the $800 pipe, or the $3,700 pipe, if that's your discretionary spending profile. However, many $96 pipes can delivery everything possible out of a good blend.

 

[mvmadore]

A well built and designed pipe will/should smoke well regardless of cost.

I'm a newbie to the hobby and my most costly pipe is a Hilson that retailed for just under a hundred...but I got it on a nice sale. It smokes great to me...but the Kaywoodie and no name pipe I bought on ebay as estate pipes for under ten bucks also smoke very well.

I'd guess if the pipe is well designed and built it will smoke well...after that you start paying a premium for higher quality briar, whether it is part of a manufacturing run rather than a "one of" or part of a small run by an artisan, etc...these things run up the cost as does the name...

It is all part of the hobby just as in all other hobbies.

 

[ben88]

I'm new to this enormous world of pipe smoking. And I am a cheapo)))

At this point my best smokers(and they are really good) a cob, vauen (estate $30 on fleebay) and a fleamarket find - Dr Tomas special. They smoke like a dream, but I use filters. Today I useda raw filter in cob and it was great

 

[settersbrace]

Here's what I think is a good example of finding a diamond in the rough. A couple weeks ago we took delivery on roughly 200 pipes for our shops inventory and the lot retails from $30 to over $450.00 and also range from factory made Czech, Italian pieces to handmade London and Italian artisan makers. We decided to clearence some old stock and I found this rusticated billiard, bare naked, no bowl coating, no finish whatsoever, if it would have made it to the basket it would've retailed out at $25. I began the break in carefully and have now about 10 bowls through it, it smokes like a dream! The vulcanite stem of course needed some buffing from sitting around so long but it's got a comfy bit and someone took a little time to work a needle file in the button. I'm somewhat amazed by my dumb luck discovery on one hand but not so much that I'd let myself believe there aren't a few more similar in that basket of cheap pipes. I looked it over good before buying it and it is drilled very well, has thick walls and it's briar, obviously some decent briar that probably had some grain issues hence the total rustication.

The moral? They can be had folks, just keep a sharp eye out and finds like this are more likely to found by visiting a B&M since you can really give it a good inspection. Happy Hunting!

 

[jackswilling]

For me, the new $100 pipe club includes Chacom, Savinelli, Stanwell, Comoy, and Peterson. Very happy with any of these.

 

[cajunplume]

i personally have not yet spent over 100 on any pipe, and have enjoyed the hobby very much for 4 years now.

 

[lifeon2]

My collection is creeping up on 700 now I might be able to fill a 6 pipe rack with pipes I paid over $96 for. If you are OK with estates there are literally hundreds of top quality good smoking lines out there that have gone out of business or just been forgotten over time and most of these can be had for 40 or less learn a bit and look around you wont be disappointed. A great example are the heritage pipes, they can be had for less than 50 most days and are absolute top quality pipes.

 

[marcel]

I agree with Fred Hanna that pipes come down to how they taste. If they properly engineered, it's really about how they taste. Very expensive pipes can taste terrible so it's a crap shoot when you buy a pipe because no pipe that I know of comes with a money back guarantee once it is smoked. For this reason I tend to avoid the estate market and generally stick to the mid priced factory pipes. If I get the occasional stinker it isn't as bad as having paid $500 plus for something I can't stand to smoke.
I just had a stellar smoking experience in a Missouri Meerschaum Country Gentleman combining what was left of Solani Aged Burley Flake and Mac Baren HH Old Dark Fired after putting each in mason jars.

 

[mranglophile]

I mainly buy estate pipes but when I first started smoking I bought a new Chacom ($75). I still reach for that pipe more than most....it has an amazing stem, lite weight and good drilling. From what I see Chacom's are a bit cheaper than there Italian and Irish counterparts.

 

[mso489]

I really like settersbrace's post. I think the chance aspect, the fact that you have to pursue the hunt for a long time but wondrous pipes will emerge. I do way more shopping than buying, and sometimes pick up extraordinary pipes, in terms of smoking, for basket prices. You have to look twice, but there they are. It's like they're waiting for you.

 

[tarak]

I do not have any artisan pipes, so I cannot really know if they truly smoke better.
I do have several factory pipes worth $100 or less- I'd say, on the whole, pipes worth at least $100 tend to be good smokers for me, I've only had one dud.
I have to pipes that are worth $200-250 new, as estates one was $115, and the other I absolutely stole off ebay for $75. Both are awesome smokers. Better than the $100 jobs....I'd say yeah. No earth shattering...but its enough of a difference that for my $100, I tend to try to find great condition estates rather than buy new.

 

[jiujitsubowl]

I dont mean to sound brash but IMO if it get the smoke to your lips and you like the flavor/feel/experience of whatever pipe your smoking then thats value. I dont think we have room for to many pipe snobs who believe there 500 dollar babylonian briar churchwarden smokes better then my 30 dollar Dr. Grabow Duke haha. Just saying.......but seriously, gotta find some of that babylonian briar lol.

 

[seacaptain]

Well, I'm about to find out. I just bought a Chacom for $80.

 

[settersbrace]

Marcel, I too follow alng the lines if the Dr. Fred Hanna school of thought, it took me a while to really "get" what all he was talking about but after I really started tasting the briar, things started to click for me.
Mso489, almost every pipe I've ever purchased save for a dozen or so estates I've bought in B&M's. Our city had 5 really good shops around when I first got into the hobby and now there's like 2 but I'm a hands on type of consumer, I also still read books and magazines (although I sometimes try to zoom pictures with my fingers) but I'm sure that all has something to do with my age. In the low budget range your going to end up with some clunkers but all in all if you know what your looking for you can get some very serviceable pipes for under $75. I put cobs in that group as well in spite of those who shun the lowly corn cob, I've enjoyed many a fine smoke in my mm cobs.

It's all about what you enjoy and I'll say it over and over, buy the best pipe you can comfortably afford at that time in your life. There's been times when I could easily drop $3-$400 on an artisan piece and have and then there's been those times when I felt fortunate to have got a decent smoking $80 pipe because that was all I could afford. It makes for quite the eclectic collection.