When I started to build a rotation of pipes, I bought two estate pipes that looked to be in reasonable condition judging by the pics.
Both were a waste of money.
Lesson learnt. Since then I will only buy lightly used estate pipes that have been professionally cleaned.
Fortunately I found two professional German ebay sellers that held regular auctions [the postage from Germany is much cheaper than from the U.S.] and now have some rather nice pipes.
Most of the estate pipes that I bought from these sellers I won at reasonable cost, around the same price or cheaper than the two dud estate pipes.
Here's one example that I won on ebay;