What Kind of Pipes do you Like and Why?

[PipeIT]

I like anyone who’s making a good pipe, and if we love pipes, how could we ever say, we don’t like pipes from a particular country, like Italy as you mentioned?

Not to pick on your or anything, but do you believe you’ve seen every Italian pipe carver out there?

Factory brands are one thing, but the amount of individual carvers out there in the world is just mind boggling.

 

[huckleberry]

I have quite a few Basket pipes and Cobs that I acquired over the years with the Drug Store pipes I started with.

Now I am drawn to the slightly Bent Dublins and the Bulldogs. I have been buying Peterson and Savinelli, (and various pipes that strike my fancy), for the last few years, (maybe 2 to 5) a year, and hopefully below my budget of $100).

I have been admiring Barling (smooth 1821 & 1819) and Brigham ( Smooth Acadian)

I have 2 Barlings, and 1 Brigham, and they are really good smokers.

I really like the "birdseye" grain, but my taste in size and shape can very greatly.

If its looks are appealing to me, and it meets the quality I look for, at a price I'm willing to pay..I'll bring it home!

 

[denholrl]

For the past thirty years my focus has been on Connoisseurs, designed by Ed Burak, who admired the classic English shapes and also produced exquisite freehands. Ed used properly-aged Grecian, Algerian and, occasionally, Calabrian briar and his pipes smoked well from the first bowl, requiring very little breaking in.

As to shape preference . . . oddly enough, I look to Peterson for my favorite shape: the 9bc. There's just something about that perfect bend, the short bit, the beautifully-shaped bowl, and the stout shank that does it for me. I've been able to snare a half dozen of them over the years (the "real" ones, not the recent POY) plus a 56 which is the identical shape but is labeled 56 for a reason that I once knew but subsequently have forgotten.

 

[AroEnglish]

For the past thirty years my focus has been on Connoisseurs, designed by Ed Burak, who admired the classic English shapes and also produced exquisite freehands. Ed used properly-aged Grecian, Algerian and, occasionally, Calabrian briar and his pipes smoked well from the first bowl, requiring very little breaking in.

As to shape preference . . . oddly enough, I look to Peterson for my favorite shape: the 9bc. There's just something about that perfect bend, the short bit, the beautifully-shaped bowl, and the stout shank that does it for me. I've been able to snare a half dozen of them over the years (the "real" ones, not the recent POY) plus a 56 which is the identical shape but is labeled 56 for a reason that I once knew but subsequently have forgotten.

9BC is the perfect bent billiard from what I can tell in photos. I hope to confirm that in person some day.

Do you have photos of your 9BCs?

I also don't like the recent 2020 POTY as much as the older ones but apparently it was modeled after the oldest models of the 9BC.

 

[denholrl]

I'm not even at 6 months yet, but right now I like bent apples and bent bulldogs. At the moment I choose pipes based on their visual appeal. I'm sure in time I'll have a more refined reason to choose the pipes I choose, but for now I'm letting the eyeballs drive.

I'd bet that choosing a pipe based on visual appeal is the way most of us started.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I'd bet that choosing a pipe based on visual appeal is the way most of us started.

Still a top priority for me.

 

[sablebrush52]

I like pipes that I like because I like them.
This shapeless philosophy has resulted in a motley pile of pipes, Britwood, mostly family era Barlings, about 100 of them, ranging from the early 1880’s thru 1962, Corporate Era after 1962, Sasienis, 8 and 4 dots, Comoys, Leeds era Ben Wades, etc.
Besides the Britwood, there are pipes made by Scottie Piersel, Trever Talbert, Paul Tatum, Lee Von Erck, Tony Fillenwarth, Jack Howell and other American pipe makers, pipes by Nording, Bjarne, Ken Barnes, pre war Kaywoodies, Castello Occhio di Pernice, a shapeless pile of some of the finest smoking pipes ever made.
Not a huge collection by some standards, stupidly enormous by others.
The one thing they have in common is that they appealed to me, and they are excellent smoking implements.

 

[JTld]

I like classic shapes. Started of with a bent billiard. I prefer the look of bents but like straight pipes too as I find them easier to clean. Everytime I look at briars online I tend to look at the longer shank pipes like canadians but I notice I don't have one yet, haha. I love the feel of a good sandblast in my hand (my castello old amtiquari 55), but love smooth finishes to look at the grain (straight/ birdseye). I do have cobs too as I find some designs cool but for me I find they smoke hot. I love meers for how cool they smoke and the way they change as you smoke them. Overall I prefer medium sized chamber pipes as I don't smoke that much each time.

 

[tirefire]

. . . Early on, MM cobs and Rossi's were what I bought . . .

Same here, and being a pipe smoker for about five months, those are the pipes I have - two Rossis for Englishes/Balkans and three MM cobs for aros and Virginias, and an MM cob to compare English tobaccos vs same in the briars.

Had my sights on a Peterson and a Rattray but at this point I'm fine with the Rossis and MMs. Am finding that I like the shallower bowls (Rossi bent pot, MM bent apple, MM polished Morgan) and filling standard billiards about half full . . . Love that little MM Morgan and may have to consider a Rossi poker.

 

[vosBghos]

Same here, and being a pipe smoker for about five months, those are the pipes I have - two Rossis for Englishes/Balkans and three MM cobs for aros and Virginias, and an MM cob to compare English tobaccos vs same in the briars.

Had my sights on a Peterson and a Rattray but at this point I'm fine with the Rossis and MMs. Am finding that I like the shallower bowls (Rossi bent pot, MM bent apple, MM polished Morgan) and filling standard billiards about half full . . . Love that little MM Morgan and may have to consider a Rossi poker.

Throw some dark fired or any burley in a cob and it really sings

 

[JOHN72]

Antique or retro style, sandblasted, rustic. Billard, brandy, bent egg. I am very attracted to dublin, calabash.

 

[tirefire]

Throw some dark fired or any burley in a cob and it really sings

I hear ya . . . I have what I call a "garage blend" (C&D aromatice, not-great reviews, not complex) that has some DFK in it. The DFK sets it off . . . I just came in from the garage after smoking a couple bowls of it.

 

[haebar]

My tastes in pipes has changed over the years that I've been a pipe smoker, but currently I like British and Irish pipes, as well as American pipes (Dr. Grabow, Kaywoodie, Briarworks, etc.). I have a modest collection of Dunhills, a few Ashtons, and several mid-grade English pipes. I also have quite a few Peterson pipes, both old and new. The most common shape in my pipe collection is the billiard, followed by Canadians and bulldogs. Lately I've been interested in obtaining more Rhodesians for my collection.

 

[edger]

I’m a traditionalist. I have too many pipes at this stage, but I like pipes that were popular in the early twentieth century. Smallish bowls and tapered stems.
You didn’t ask but…… I don’t care for:
Freehands
Bamboo
Brushed finishes
Colorful stems (except tortoise)
Churchwardens ( unwieldy when reading)

 

[Chasing Embers]

Sometimes one catches my attention that goes against the norm but they have to be large enough for me to grip.

 

[condorlover1]

Mine are all predictably similar since I (a) have a limited number of teeth (b) very small hands (c) a creature of total habit.

 

[PipeIT]

I’m a traditionalist. I have too many pipes at this stage, but I like pipes that were popular in the early twentieth century. Smallish bowls and tapered stems.
You didn’t ask but…… I don’t care for:
Freehands
Bamboo
Brushed finishes
Colorful stems (except tortoise)
Churchwardens ( unwieldy when reading)

 

[mso489]

For the most part, I'm not a freehand guy, but I like the three or four I own. These are a fine big Johs with plateau on the brim and shank my wife gave me Christmas 2010; a Nording signature with plateau on the brim and an estate Thompson (Cigar) house pipe stamped West Germany, both given me by a couple who are friends; and a pocket pipe by Jerry Perry made of cocobolo. I like their one-of-a-kind shapes and generous chambers.

 

[milk]

I like anyone who’s making a good pipe, and if we love pipes, how could we ever say, we don’t like pipes from a particular country, like Italy as you mentioned?

Not to pick on your or anything, but do you believe you’ve seen every Italian pipe carver out there?

Factory brands are one thing, but the amount of individual carvers out there in the world is just mind boggling.

I still look at Italian pipes online. I’d buy a Paolo Becker if I had the money or one from his father. I’d probably buy other Italian ones too if I had lots of cash. I’m not into the “Italian aesthetic” anymore, as I was. There are lots of beautiful Italian pipes.

 

[milk]

I’d like to find someone who collects really bizarre pipes and see their collection. It’s opposite of what I’d like to collect but very interesting. I’d love to see a collection of THE weird. Is there a thread here, show us your weird pipes? I couldn’t start one because I don’t have any.