Uber Pipe Prices

[jpmcwjr]

If you had ten times, or a hundred times, perhaps even a thousand times the income and net worth you currently have (assuming it's positive), would not your horizon shift as to what's expensive and what's not? For most folks, it would.
And while the commercialization of Christmas can be seen as deplorable, what others do need have no bearing on the meaning of the day for you. Same with all holidays for all religions. You can keep them—or not!— as you see fit, at least in most of the countries represented by our membership.
I am delighted there are pipes that command steep prices. There are more than enough modestly priced smokers for you and me.

 

[huntertrw]

"Uber Pipe Prices"
Now they are into pipe-sharing? Not for me, brother!

 

[cigrmaster]

I could afford to spend way more than I do on my pipes but I would not get any more pleasure than I do with the pipes I currently own. When I first began collecting pipes I was able to buy pipes from guys like Former,Reiner Barbi, and Balleby for one half the wholesale price(it was a Cuban cigar deal I had going). So if a pipe was 900.00 brand new, I was paying 225.00 brand new for that pipe. Now these pipes that retailed for 900 or so back in 2000 would be going for 1300-3500 in today's market. None of those pipes I used to own, smoked better than my Rad Davis, Brian Ruthenbergs, Pre Trans Barlings

or any of the other No American artisan pipes I own today, and most did not smoke as good.
The stem work on my Rad's are superior to the stems on a guy considered a master Hans " Former" Neilsen. Here is a Former that would go for around 3000.00 today. The grain was incredible and 360 degrees on this one, but the pipe did not smoke as good as my Rad's and others.

Here is another Former that out of the 6 I owned was the best smoker, but again not better than my Rad's.

That Todd Johnson pipe for 3400 and change is to my eye, a total rip off. That crap about not finishing the top of the pipe and leaving some plateau makes me think he wanted to save the grain on the sides instead of just chucking the entire block because it was defective. I don't care what anyone says, there is no way his pipes are going to smoke better than my Rad's. I will keep my 400.00 Rads and (if here were still carving) buy 8 of his to one of those, oh yeah I did do that.

 

[fishnbanjo]

Well I have several makers pipes that would be Uber and one super Uber, but I don’t buy a pipe because I want to be stylish or stand out in any way, I buy pipes that speak to me or as has been the case trad3d for pipes that have spoken to me. I get enjoyment from the pipes I do own, smoking wise, joy of ownership and sometimes just looking at it and getting lost in the Grain, the shape or simply the beautiful lines. I make no apologies for what I do own since I smoke everything I own and am not pretentious in any way I just enjoy owning and smoking pipes I like.

banjo

 

[warren]

Same here! I don't buy names, I buy pipes to smoke. Cost is irrelevant. You all know my pipe buying drill by now. I don't tell what I paid, neither do I ask what others what they paid. It's like, "Who got the best price on their new car?" Who cares! "Value/worth" can be a rather nebulous term. It's purely a personal observation.

 

[lordofthepiperings]

Saw the title and was all, "Since when did Uber start selling pipes?" lol.
When I started out, to me pipes in the $350-$500 range I considered "uber pricey". Now that my collection has ballooned out to 40 some pipes, I'm seeing that number is a bit high for me in my rotation, so I'm looking to shrink it down a bit by getting rid of about six pipes and replacing those with one pipe in the $250-$350 range. Instead of buying 3-4 $100-$150 Peterson's or Savinellis a year I'm shifting to buying 1-2 artisan carved pipes in the $250-$350 range a year.
Those high end Todd Johnson or Brad Pohlman pipes obviously are made with high quality briar. They're drilled and shaped exceptionally. Todd uses bakelite a lot in his stems which is a more expensive medium and is more difficult to shape from what I've heard. There's usually a good amount of time spent on carving these pipes, focusing on the minute details. Also part of it is who they apprenticed under and how many pipes they're carving a year and how long they've been carving.
I don't find disdain for those who own/buy these high end pipes or think the buyer is crazy for spending the money on it or the carver is crazy for asking the price for it. America is all about free market capitalism. If you can afford it why not buy it? What I do have disdain for is those who turn their nose up to someone enjoying a bowl in a Dr. Grabow. Those who think one should only smoke high end artisan pipes and nothing else. I'm very much of the school of smoke what you like and like what you smoke.

 

[sablebrush52]

I agree with much of what has been said above. Most of us would agree with the proposition that it isn't NECESSARY to spend 4 or 5 figures on a pipe to get a great pipe. The few who think it IS necessary to spend 4 to 5 figures to get a great pipe are more weighted to the pleasures and importance of exclusivity and conspicuous consumption as part of the experience. This is more of a "what I own defines me" view of life.
As for pipe "snobbery", really? Within this fringy activity there are people who think that there is a class system wherein their high end burner makes them somehow superior? How delusional is that?
As far as pipes and tobacco, I'm more than happy with the pipes that I own, and I'm fortunate to have some really fine tobacco to smoke. Really, what more do I need?

 

[brightleaf]

saltedplug "Money spent to get such pipes is silly money. Or is it money not well spent and in that regard silly. Or is the boy silly who has such money and spends it?"
1.Our money system is made of silly money, little different from the money in my board game of Monopoly.
2.Well spent? The way I see it is that the seller/carver put on a good magic show. He found the right clientele with whom to make the money go from their pockets to his. He didn't steal, he convinced them to hand it over. It takes a measure of skill to pull off. So, whether it was well spent depends on the magic used to convince the buyer whether they are happy with the deal or not.
3.We are all silly. Hopefully we learn from our mistakes, either that or else we get trapped in a vicious cycle of the same silliness, a cycle which soon stops being so funny.

 

[deathmetal]

Rich people exist to buy nice stuff so that it can exist. I am happy with this arrangement.

Our money system is made of silly money, little different from the money in my board game of Monopol

I see you understand demand-based economic theory. I think it will change soon. BitCoin was the peak.

 

[brian64]

Our money system is made of silly money, little different from the money in my board game of Monopoly.

Yes, and it's about 95% sillier now than it was in 1913.

 

[brightleaf]

It started going downhill with the coinage act of 1853. At least we can get tins of tobacco with our money. I like seeing tangible results from something completely imaginary.

deathmetal I understand our debt-based economy, our paper notes that cannot be redeemed for anything when turned in at the bank, except more promissory notes, notes which are really debts held by the private banks of the Federal Reserve, debts paid with our income tax. The rule for banks is that they can multiply the IOUs deposited by a factor of 5. That is why they require a 20% deposit to secure a loan for you. They never have to hold anything but what you bring, then can give you 5 times it's value. In other words the way money is created is by creating debt. This why it is impossible for everyone to have enough money, no matter how hard we all work. Money only comes into existence through someone else's debt. No loans, means no money. Oh the tangled web we weave.

 

[warren]

One can easily have enough money by living within a prudent budget. What a person cannot have is too much money. Not to forget, all of us here apparently have money to burn Some here not only have money to burn, they have money to lend, interest free, to the government every year. Then on top of that they are happy when they get some moneys, worth less at face value, returned. And then, and then ... they celebrate getting the refund! It's like they think they out foxed the Government. I do not comprehend.
More power to them if that excites them.

 

[brightleaf]

But the "money" isn't really money. It is a IOU from the U.S. Government to the Federal Reserve. The promise is filled by our income tax, which goes directly to the Federal Reserve, not the Federal Government. Our income tax pays the debt, not the social services or military our government provides. The real mind trip comes into play when you think about ownership. For example, I could loan you my car and get an IOU from you for it's return. If you then bought something with my car as payment, then in reality I would be the true owner of what you bought, as it was bought with my property/credit. We use notes of the Federal Reserve to pay for things, that is why we really own nothing. Our land isn't ours, nor is anything else bought with their fiat empowered notes, it all belongs to the Federal Reserve. Stop (working for them) paying property tax with their phony money and see how long you own it, enforcers with guns will be there soon enough. When interest is charged on money created from debt it creates a never ending game of musical chairs. We are given enough money to keep us working to stay alive, but we can never escape our financial slavery or become Men with God given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness while under this financial slavery. You either submit and vie for the limited resources or live free under the radar.

 

[warren]

Call it what you will! I am able to buy things with it, put the kid through college, etc with it. It works for me just fine.

 

[alan73]

Bright leaf: you would enjoy the book “creature from jekyl island”

 

[brightleaf]

I've been meaning to read that book alan73, I don't have a copy yet. Books are where my spending money went before I started buying tobacco. I really can't have both hobbies going at the same time. The good thing is I have enough books cellared to last a lifetime of reading already.

 

[deathmetal]

The thing about Rothko, not that I'm defending the prices, is that you don't get the effect in a photograph. In person, his layering of color sets off a very strong visual vibration, almost like they're radiating energy, that simply doesn't come across in a photograph.

I have to second this. It's not art, but interior decorating, more like those brain-wave albums that people make to help you chill out and stop wanting to murder most of the rest of your species. At least, this is my impression of the Rothko Chapel, which is a favorite place to stop for me. They allow smoking outside, or at least did last time I was there (no arrest = must be legal).

 

[brightleaf]

Do you mean binaural meditation or is there something set to alpha waves?
I do consider the effects of art in my environment. It is hard to want to expand your consciousness in bleak surroundings. Investing in expensive modifications of our bodies is common practice in medicine, the pipe is an extension of our body in a sense. For some it is almost a permanent fixture.