If I go by the brands that I have multiples of it would be Stanwell and Moonshine Pipes. Both are really well made. There are cheaper pipes on the market but these typically do not appeal to me aesthetically.
A marketing ploy to get people to up-grade their purchase -I agree. ?
They are too close in price to their nicer grades.
Well they got me!!A marketing ploy to get people to up-grade their purchase -
"for $xx more you can get this with a genuine silver band, rather than nickel"
If you ever want one of those filtered, they're Molina seconds.Chris Morgan Bones line of pipes.
Take your fancy pipes back to the billabong mate.3 pipes : 1st from St Claude costing $35
2nd an amber-stemmed with silver band but no date-marks. It has an orific bit, and that with the Amber stem would date it to pre-1920s
3rd an Ashton (Jimmy Craig)
The French pipe despite its lowly price smokes as well as the other 2.
Good value ? I'd say so
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"Fancy" - but of course. After all they are named for that man of style Edward Abert Christian George ?Take your fancy pipes back to the billabong mate.
Yeah. I had/have this thing about wanting the silver over the nickel. In reality, since I'm not a jeweler, or planning on scrapping the pipe, it shouldn't really make much difference to me. If it wasn't for the hallmarks, or just knowing a certain line has silver, I bet I couldn't even tell the difference.Well they got me!!