Why are estate pipes ok?

[Alejo R.]

Bacterias and viruses die in a few hours or days when exposed to air anyway without any need of sterilization.
The fear of used objects is only a mental think.

Im with you.

 

[HeadMisfit]

Im with you.

Yeah go tell that to the drug needle behind the flop house

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

Apart from the Dunhill White spot pipes there are few factories who still do classic British shapes

 

[Alejo R.]

Yeah go tell that to the drug needle behind the flop house

Yes, well, maybe that straw man fallacy tactic works for you elsewhere, but not with me. We're not talking about needles or flop houses. We're talking about pipes, and the truth is that the germs, bacteria, and viruses that live in the human mouth have a pretty short lifespan outside the mouth. For example, in a pipe. That's a verifiable scientific fact.

 

[petes03]

I personally am completely fine with estate pipes. I’ve brought quite a few hard smoked pipes back from the dead! It’s a real pain, but a great joy to see what lies beneath layers of grime, cake, oxidation and years of neglect and abuse.
Lots of scrubbing, alcohol, salt, reaming etc. can really yield a great pipe that will once again serve a purpose and last for many years to come.

 

[petes03]

Here’s an example of one of the harder ones I had to bring back from the grave. An old Ascorti.

 

[petes03]

 

[petes03]

 

[KingPiper]

This pipe cost $20 and was made from ancient, oil cured, aged Pre 54 Algerian briar.

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In the classic pipe era, say the thirty years between WW1 and the Korean War, France made 50 million pipes a year, British 20 million, and America 30 million. Roughly 100 million pipes a year total. Today it’s less than 1% of that.

The vast majority of pipes from 1919 to 1950 were smoked up and tossed. But if only 1% survive that’s about a thirty year supply at current rates of production.

After an Everclear bath, a high condition old pipe is more sanitary as the one you bought new a month ago.

Beautiful pipe

 

[GKChesterton]

Isn't any worse than communion.

 

[starship]

Serious question and something I've never understood about the pipe community. And I understand the whole "90% of everything is crap" idea behind estate pipes being more reliable.

That said, when I purchase something I'm going to be regularly placing in my mouth, someone else having already regularly placed it in their mouth immediately ends that deal.

I'm sure a good toothbrush can be rebristled and sold for 70% of the original price, but who in their right mind would buy such a thing?

That said, I just never understood it, but many pipe smokers much wiser and more experienced than me certainly have a different opinion, so just curious why estate pipes are popular.

A very nice "Estate" pipe just like I wanted. I know food science and believe I can properly sanitize an estate pipe.

 

[tartanphantom]

Approximately 60% of the pipes I own are estate pieces. They provided a reasonable gateway to understanding the ins and outs of pipe restoration and maintenance for me. Most of the ones I have were refurbished by myself. I’m also a lover of old things from before my time, cursed/blessed with an archivist mentality.

In the process, I’ve ended up as the caretaker of some very nice pieces that would have otherwise ultimately ended up in the trash heap of someone’s unappreciative grandchildren.

Besides, there’s not much out there in the way of microbes that can withstand the onslaught of uncut 180 proof corn moonshine, which is what I use as a disinfecting and sweetening agent.

 

[Briarcutter]

I can properly sanitize an estate pipe.

I'm sure you can! It's not the rocket science some make it out to be. IMO, some alcohol, some pipe cleaners,paper towel and you're good to go.

 

[tartanphantom]

I personally am completely fine with estate pipes. I’ve brought quite a few hard smoked pipes back from the dead! It’s a real pain, but a great joy to see what lies beneath layers of grime, cake, oxidation and years of neglect and abuse.
Lots of scrubbing, alcohol, salt, reaming etc. can really yield a great pipe that will once again serve a purpose and last for many years to come.

I concur with your approach, and great job on resurrecting that Ascorti!

For those on this thread who are averse to estate pipes for one reason or another, I can respect that too, and I don’t look down on any such preference. In my view, that just leaves more opportunities for those like myself.

 

[anotherbob]

Are you speaking from personal experience ?

They're probably just mad people figured it out. They seem to have an obsession with scams that boards on professional.

 

[starship]

I'm sure you can! It's not the rocket science some make it out to be. IMO, some alcohol, some pipe cleaners,paper towel and you're good to go.

Yes sir!

 

[Dixie Piper]

If your making me chose between an old Danish Stanwell or a new STG produced Italian Stanwell I know what I'm going with!

 

[Kirklands]

I buy, restore, sell, and smoke estate pipes because often they are beautiful objects in their own way and I like to think I am keeping a small bit of beauty (and, at times, history) out of the trash can.

 

[wyfbane]

Dunno. Price a new handmade pipe with this quality of Briar... i will take this estate pipe all day (and I did. Lol)

 

[pappymac]

I started making my own mead a few years ago and discovered Starsan which is used to sanitize my equipment and bottles. It's a no-rinse, acid based sanitizer that has been used in the food service industry for a long time.

I haven't tried it on vulcanite but it seems to work well on the acrylic stems I've cleaned. I use a 1/2 ounce of Starsan diluted in 2.5 gallons of water.