Right now not too much. I have 186 pipes and do not need more. The one temptation would be a Dunhill 4303 Bruyere, new, from a country that is on Euros. I could use 2-3 of these. They probably would cost about $550.
What's the Most You Would Ever Spend on a Pipe?
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Pipes are like pump shotguns. A Browning is a Mossberg is a Remington is a Stevens........ they all make smoke! It's just a matter of how much your willing to starve yourself to afford one.
lochinvar, I agree on the Purdy's price being inadequate. BUT I once bought a mint Win. model 21 for less than 2 large. No it wasn't hot It was from a widow and she set the price.
hoo
hoo
Well I spent $2500 for piece of AAA Exhibition Grade Circassian Walnut to be used for the stock for a custom muzzle loader/shotgun combination I was having made for me. I already own pipes by Sixten Ivarsson, Teddy Knudsen, Jess Chonowitsch and Anne Julie so if a Bo Nordh of my liking were to rear itself when I had the $'s for it I'd snatch it in a NY minute. We're here for so little time that it's a shame to not have some sort of indulgence that gives you pleasure either visually for is beauty or excellence by smoking it. A Yugo will get you to the restaurant for lunch but so will a Maserati, how many Yugo's do you still see on the road?
banjo
banjo
I am surrounded by walnut trees! But that's an exceptionally fine piece you've shown.
BTW, I never fire up the Maserati for lunch time. I have Jeeves bring round the Rolls and drive me there.
BTW, I never fire up the Maserati for lunch time. I have Jeeves bring round the Rolls and drive me there.
My true life long passion has been hot rodding; but in the sense that I've always wanted to build, drive and have fun. When you start approaching a dollar threshold that turns fun into a trailer queen, I personally draw the line. Like MSO above, if I have the discretionary money after church, charities and bills, then I consider car parts; I've never sacrificed any of the other three for car parts - some times you just do without.
I appreciate the workmanship in a fine high-dollar pipe, but I wouldn't spend the money unless I was going to fire it up. And since I prefer to fire it up, I'd say $250 would be my upper limit. If something happened to the pipe (e.g. lost/stolen), I'd be able to "swallow" that loss easier than I would a $4k pipe. So, I'd probably be the dude using the collectable stamp on a post card. 8O
I appreciate the workmanship in a fine high-dollar pipe, but I wouldn't spend the money unless I was going to fire it up. And since I prefer to fire it up, I'd say $250 would be my upper limit. If something happened to the pipe (e.g. lost/stolen), I'd be able to "swallow" that loss easier than I would a $4k pipe. So, I'd probably be the dude using the collectable stamp on a post card. 8O
If money was no object then of course I'd drop $4K on a pipe I really liked.
As I see it now my budget will probably never break $500 for a single pipe.
As I see it now my budget will probably never break $500 for a single pipe.
"I probably wouldn't go much higher than the cost of a Glock."
I would not go much higher than the cost of a Hi-Point
I would not go much higher than the cost of a Hi-Point
I have less than 30, not including the MMs as they disappear rather quickly. I do not need more. If I am in a town which has a pipe shop I'll go looking. It's not a matter of need, it's a matter of finding what I want. Three years ago I stumbled onto a Millville I had to own. Last pipe I've purchased. Still looking though.
The most I have spent on a pipe is a little over $100. I am still pretty new at this as I only have 8 pipes after a year and a half of smoking. I doubt i would ever go over 300. I might not even get near that amount. I sure enjoying looking for and at pipes at all price ranges.
I think it lives on in the Fiat minis I see jetting around the cities. Same idea, better marketing
I came to pipes late, but I applied a lesson that I learned via other expensive hobbies (musical instruments, firearms, etc.) - find the price point at which you get the best quality for the least money at a level that will let you enjoy the hobby instead of carping about your crappy equipment. A cheap musical instrument may save you some money up front, but if the fit/finish affects the sound or the ergonomics, it's going to be less fun to play. A cheap gun may be less accurate if there's too much slop in the fit, and may have a detrimental impact on training your hand/eye coordination. A cheap bicycle may get you where you want to go, but it's amazing just how much of a difference a few millimeters of adjustment can make in getting maximum mechanical advantage out of a relatively simple mechanism.
So too with a pipe. Witness the perceived difference between Chinese-manufactured cobs and a Missouri Meerschaum. Then look at the reputation certain "basket pipes" have vs. lower-end factory pipes vs. artisan pipes. Do the more expensive pipes "smoke better"? In some cases, definitely - in others, not enough to make several hundred $ worth of difference to most people. I started with about a $50 price point and did some research here, and eventually found that bumping that up to about $65 got me a better grade of pipe (still had to drill out the draft hole). My most expensive pipes have been between $100-150 so far, and that price point still has a lot of great value options for me personally (I don't have a Savinelli yet, for example, and just the one Stanwell).
I'm starting to look for my next PAD acquisition, and there are pipes from $90 to $250 (and a couple that break $300) that are the shape I'm leaning toward (somewhere along the continuum from a bent bulldog to a bent Dublin to a bent Acorn), so I just need to see what characteristics are most important to me, and whether breaking the $150 barrier is going to be worth it. I'm new enough to smoking that it's entirely possible that the smoking characteristics of a better grade of pipe would be lost on me, so going into the artisan/high-grade world would be a waste of their talent and my money, given the sorry state of my palate and technique currently. But in a couple of years, who knows? Maybe I'll make the same discovery that Fred Hanna did when he bought his first Castello... :D
So too with a pipe. Witness the perceived difference between Chinese-manufactured cobs and a Missouri Meerschaum. Then look at the reputation certain "basket pipes" have vs. lower-end factory pipes vs. artisan pipes. Do the more expensive pipes "smoke better"? In some cases, definitely - in others, not enough to make several hundred $ worth of difference to most people. I started with about a $50 price point and did some research here, and eventually found that bumping that up to about $65 got me a better grade of pipe (still had to drill out the draft hole). My most expensive pipes have been between $100-150 so far, and that price point still has a lot of great value options for me personally (I don't have a Savinelli yet, for example, and just the one Stanwell).
I'm starting to look for my next PAD acquisition, and there are pipes from $90 to $250 (and a couple that break $300) that are the shape I'm leaning toward (somewhere along the continuum from a bent bulldog to a bent Dublin to a bent Acorn), so I just need to see what characteristics are most important to me, and whether breaking the $150 barrier is going to be worth it. I'm new enough to smoking that it's entirely possible that the smoking characteristics of a better grade of pipe would be lost on me, so going into the artisan/high-grade world would be a waste of their talent and my money, given the sorry state of my palate and technique currently. But in a couple of years, who knows? Maybe I'll make the same discovery that Fred Hanna did when he bought his first Castello... :D
Whoa, fishbanjo! That gun stock is going to be amazing. Money well spent if you ask me. I do hope you post photos of the finished product.
I'd say 120$. My reason being I've had a pair of 250$ and 280$ pipes given to me in the past for a few months, yet my 120 euro Chacom Neptune completely out smoked them.
By all means they were not bad pipes, and my Chacom is kind of a unicorn pipe to me, however that was the moment I realized the extra cost did not translate directly into a better smoke once I passed the 120$ price point.
I returned those pipes to the gracious lender, and the Chacom is still my favorite, beyond the Savinellis and Peterson, all of which I like and use.
By all means they were not bad pipes, and my Chacom is kind of a unicorn pipe to me, however that was the moment I realized the extra cost did not translate directly into a better smoke once I passed the 120$ price point.
I returned those pipes to the gracious lender, and the Chacom is still my favorite, beyond the Savinellis and Peterson, all of which I like and use.
"Chacom is still my favorite"
I have a few Chacoms, and I agree, what great smoking pipes. Pound for Pound, Dollar for Dollar they are right there with any other briar, regardless of cost, function-wise.
I have a few Chacoms, and I agree, what great smoking pipes. Pound for Pound, Dollar for Dollar they are right there with any other briar, regardless of cost, function-wise.
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