As much as I abhor that word, you succinctly summed up what I was trying to express in typing my post
What's More Enjoyable for You, the Hunt or the Capture?
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Either. I recently acquired a few pipes -- a big deal, since I've been out of PAD mode for quite a while. The joy was in the unwrapping and first lighting.
In another case, the joy was in the hunt as I sought out my birth year Dunhill. I'm old, so it took a while. I finally stumbled across a Shell Briar Friendly in my year that was surprisingly affordable. I clicked the buy button with trembling fingers. It took the better part of a year for the "just right" pipe to come my way at last.
In another case, the joy was in the hunt as I sought out my birth year Dunhill. I'm old, so it took a while. I finally stumbled across a Shell Briar Friendly in my year that was surprisingly affordable. I clicked the buy button with trembling fingers. It took the better part of a year for the "just right" pipe to come my way at last.
For a while, both activities are on hold.
In the past, it was the acquisition that was most pleasing, esp. the first bowl.
In the past, it was the acquisition that was most pleasing, esp. the first bowl.
I think it's just like what you described. If it's a great smoker the capture. If it's an o.k. smoker the hunt. But I do seem to have a knack for sensing which pipes are going to agree the most with me. As in the few pipes I've had that don't smoke great I somehow knew they'd not perform as well.
But what I like the most is the getting to know the pipe. Learning the ins and outs of how to get the most joy out of it.
I honestly must just have no connection between buying pipes and dopamine. Hell, I still will get boxes delivered from smokingpipes and other places that I don't even remember buying, sometime not even opening the boxes for a month or two. Yeh, I mean, I do like a new pipe from time to time, but I get way more excited new vinyl albums coming in the mail.
When I first returned to smoking a pipe I was a fiend.
I purchased a boat load of pipes and blends before I really knew what I wanted.
Now, as years go by I find myself continuously paring down both.
I no longer have that fear of missing out or the need to have every “special edition”.
In fact I feel less of a burden when reaching for a smoke without the dilemma of which pipe and which tobacco.
I am content with my comforting “go-to’s”.
I guess I have found my happy place and it is a 180 degrees from where I thought I would be when I began again.
M
I purchased a boat load of pipes and blends before I really knew what I wanted.
Now, as years go by I find myself continuously paring down both.
I no longer have that fear of missing out or the need to have every “special edition”.
In fact I feel less of a burden when reaching for a smoke without the dilemma of which pipe and which tobacco.
I am content with my comforting “go-to’s”.
I guess I have found my happy place and it is a 180 degrees from where I thought I would be when I began again.
M
when I used to be 'el cheapo' I'd make it my daily routine to peruse ebay and later on etsy for any deals on pipes that looked to be in great smoking shape by appearance - nothing that required too much work- and found my fair share of great smokers that way - it was all about 'the find' so I'd find like a group of 4 or 5 relatively new pipes for around$25 -
as time progressed I just started buying nicely restored estate pipes at whatever they were priced at -
not a collector so names and makes never got me going
looking back though as long as the pipe is clean and can be filled I'm winning
as time progressed I just started buying nicely restored estate pipes at whatever they were priced at -
not a collector so names and makes never got me going
looking back though as long as the pipe is clean and can be filled I'm winning
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From my own collecting experience, whether it be pipes, rare books, LPs & CDs, movie posters, or what have you, the hunt and capture/acquisition have tiered levels of satisfaction, and I enjoy both to varying degrees. The hunt itself can be a lot of fun—sometimes the search is loosely formed and you’re kind of just looking for something without a clear idea of what you want, but will probably know it when you see it; other times, you’re looking for something incredibly specific and it can take years to track it down—the hunt can be very frustrating when that thing doesn’t turn up. The hunt can be very little fun in that regard.
There’s a thrill when you first catch a glimpse of that thing you’ve been hunting. It can produce a frisson—that goosebump moment when possibilty could become a reality. But, it’s not guaranteed that you’ll get it. You may not have won the auction, or you paid for the item, but it is still in transit, could get potentially lost in the mail, and never arrive.
There’s nothing quite like the moment of actually having the object in your hand, in your physical possession. Prior to that, it’s still all theoretical. Because of this, the moment of actual capture may be the pinnacle, the height of the high.
That moment can last awhile, while your mind becomes acclimated to the fact that this thing is finally in your grubby, little mitts, that you’ve checked that empty box on your want list that has plagued or haunted you for years.
I have been amazingly lucky when it comes to collecting—one-of-a-kind things that I didn’t know were even available or extant, came across my path and were presented to me like it was destiny and I was meant to become the caretaker of this rarity because the collecting gods deemed it so. I continue to hunt for new things, but I still marvel at some of these highlights and am grateful for my good fortune.
There’s a thrill when you first catch a glimpse of that thing you’ve been hunting. It can produce a frisson—that goosebump moment when possibilty could become a reality. But, it’s not guaranteed that you’ll get it. You may not have won the auction, or you paid for the item, but it is still in transit, could get potentially lost in the mail, and never arrive.
There’s nothing quite like the moment of actually having the object in your hand, in your physical possession. Prior to that, it’s still all theoretical. Because of this, the moment of actual capture may be the pinnacle, the height of the high.
That moment can last awhile, while your mind becomes acclimated to the fact that this thing is finally in your grubby, little mitts, that you’ve checked that empty box on your want list that has plagued or haunted you for years.
I have been amazingly lucky when it comes to collecting—one-of-a-kind things that I didn’t know were even available or extant, came across my path and were presented to me like it was destiny and I was meant to become the caretaker of this rarity because the collecting gods deemed it so. I continue to hunt for new things, but I still marvel at some of these highlights and am grateful for my good fortune.
Cognitive dissonance is a bitch.
Hunt is enjoyable. capture is more painful with coins flying out of my pocket.
Got a new jazz album in the mail Friday - reissue of an old Jimmy Smith/Wes Montgomery collaboration - heard one of the tracks on the XM Jazz channel, snapped a pic of the screen in the wife's car while driving, lol, ordered it - not much of a hunt but sure enjoyed the first listen. Sealed up the purchase of a Winchester Model 94 Trapper - have longed for a .30-.30 lever action since I was a kid and have a really old 9422 that's always been enough until . . . resumed the hunt and happened on one that was a great deal and in great condition and it will be here in a couple of days - so a hunt off and on (not too hard) for a long, long time but felt right and got it done. I'm guessing the "hunt" will be the best part of it - it will be quite a while before I have a chance to shoot it and honestly won't be in a hurry to do so. With pipes, I'm not really a collector as such but have enjoyed hunting for a few older types - the closest parallel for me has been in being involved with a few commissions and both the process and the enjoyment when received have been great. I'll probably be struck down by lighting for saying this, but your post made me laugh - a new Pete showed up today and I tossed the box to the side - won't wait a month, but may not unveil for another couple of days. Too much on to enjoy it at the moment.
The hunt has always been the most consistently enjoyable part of my pipe collecting. Too often, captured pipes do not live up to one’s hopes. As long as that grail pipe is still “out there,” you can build it up in your mind to the limits of your imagination.
As I have continued collecting, though, I have learned to be more realistic and more willing to rehabilitate a pipe that has suffered abuse. That has brought capturing closer to parity with the hunt, but the hunt is still more fun than removing oxidation or plunging Everclear-soaked-cotton-swab number 20 into a gunky mortise.
Charred tobacco chamber walls still make my heart sink, too. You often cannot see those until well after the hunt.
As I have continued collecting, though, I have learned to be more realistic and more willing to rehabilitate a pipe that has suffered abuse. That has brought capturing closer to parity with the hunt, but the hunt is still more fun than removing oxidation or plunging Everclear-soaked-cotton-swab number 20 into a gunky mortise.
Charred tobacco chamber walls still make my heart sink, too. You often cannot see those until well after the hunt.
It’s often part of life, especially if you’re a collector of anything. But, having realistic expectations helps—knowing that something is super rare prepares you that you might only come across an example once every ten years (or longer); it doesn’t mean that item has to come off your want list or that you stop looking for it. I recently scored a record that I have been looking for (for over forty years); the record is not particularly rare, but in its original packaging, very few examples have survived intact. I came across one last year, but waited too long to purchase it, but another turned up recently and I was able to get it. I kept an eye out for many years with no luck, then two turned up within a year of each other. Go figure.
I think I too decidedly did not embrace the word - until I did. It is so much easier to say Lunting, then to say and describe the actual act of walking around while smoking with the emphasis being on smoking the pipe while walking.As much as I abhor that word, you succinctly summed up what I was trying to express in typing my post
One is not necessarily "lunting" if the pipe smoking is accidental and secondary to the walk. That would be more akin to smoking while doing a chore.
The hunt, I’m often left unsatisfied upon capture.
Good question! I always thought it was the capture but it's almost always the hunt. Realizing that has helped me to curtail my PAD quite a bit..
I love the hunt, but particularly if it's a bargain. The £20 job lot with Dunhills, or the £10 cased pipe that might be an old BBB. It's not about the value per se, it's just that those listings with dodgy photos on Facebook marketplace or eBay are my opportunities to test my knowledge, if you see what I mean. The thrill of spotting something that no one else has twigged.
I've had a few unicorns that I have hunted for specifically, but it's those random bargain gems that keep me looking.
Conversely, if I find something physically (i.e. at an antique shop or a car boot sale) - and this is often sealed tobacco tins rather than pipes - it's actually buying it that does it for me. And I will be thrilled for the rest of the day, taking it out when I get home, looking at it, finally cracking it and smoking it.
I suspect the difference is simply in the time spent waiting when you order something online.
I've had a few unicorns that I have hunted for specifically, but it's those random bargain gems that keep me looking.
Conversely, if I find something physically (i.e. at an antique shop or a car boot sale) - and this is often sealed tobacco tins rather than pipes - it's actually buying it that does it for me. And I will be thrilled for the rest of the day, taking it out when I get home, looking at it, finally cracking it and smoking it.
I suspect the difference is simply in the time spent waiting when you order something online.
it's not the kill...it's the thrill of the chase 
Some pipes that i have lusted upon..rests nicely and rarely smoked
Some pipes that i have lusted upon..rests nicely and rarely smoked
Both, especially if it is for someone else. Had allot of fun hunting down replacements for two of my Dad's pipes from the 60's. Honestly can't believe I was able to find them. One was a Kriswill Chief #43 and was unsmoked! Stem just needed a bit of love. Other was a Hilson Fantasy to replace a broken stem.
The hunting part would much more challenging if there was more to it than just typing in some prompts on a Google page. Seriously, if you had to actually drive to a dozen or so B&Ms and search the shelves, that would be exciting. So, running search engines pumps up more guys than actually getting a new pipe in hand? Let me turn you on to something that will blow your minds... the Library.