What Pipes Do You Wish You Had?

[HeavyLeadBelly]

Well I wanted to get another bent bulldog for my collection and was eying up a Brebbia for a while. SP has a sale on pipes right now and I tried really, really, hard to not put more money on my credit card but I succumbed to PAD and made the buy. America should be proud of my consumerism :D

But my true wish list pipes would be a birth year Dunhill and a Sea Rock rusticated Castillo. I abuse my pipes too much to feel okay with spending that kind of money but maybe I’ll keep an eye out on Pipes2smoke.com like @Chasing Embers noted, but who knows if I’ll get either.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I think sea rock briar is beautiful.

Always took a second to Savinelli's Capri for me. The Sea Rock always looked unfinished somehow. If you get one and need to trim down the button a bit, a nail file is invaluable.

 

[Brad H]

To me its the rough unfinished look I liked about them.
Don't get me wrong, pipes that look finished are great as well, especially a Castello flame.

 

[username]

Some day I'll get a Castello sea rock.

 

[driftedshank1]

Currently, I wish I had:

1. 1926/7 Dunhill LC with curved drilling
2. Grenci long shank bulldog

LCs show up from time to time but I haven't seen one from the late twenties with curved drillin for some time. John Loring had several. I wonder what happened to them after he died? Even if I found one, I could never afford it.

Allegedly, Grenci uses Calabrian briar that has been dried for 20 years or more. Although I've read that shelf aged briar that is 20 years old won't smoke better on average than briar aged for five years, or even less, I've had very good luck with very aged briar in the past, e.g., Castello and some artisan brands. Grenci's pipes are expensive and I think he uses pre-molded stems. For that kinda dough, I'd expect a hand made stem.

BTW, I have nothing against decent pre-molded stems. However, in my experience, they often have to be opened to improve the draw and reduce turbulence. And some pipe makers say that working withvery aged briar can be difficult ; something to the effect that it becomes too hard?

 

[FLDRD]

I wanted a smooth as well. My blast is decent enough, so no complaints here. After seeing a couple of recent smooth Natural Peterson Pipes of the Year with pits, I don’t have much faith in getting a flawless smooth Peterson anymore.

I have one of those beautiful finishes... with several small pits filled in. Overall it's a beautiful pipe but it was disappointing to see. I'm conjecturing here, but it does seem like the older smooth briar they put out had less fills, and was more "interesting". And in my very limited opinion, I seem to see less beautiful smooth bowls coming from Peterson these days. I've not looked at other brands to compare if it's a trend that affects others.