A reminder...

[LL]

...that when it comes to pipes, how much a specimen costs doesn't matter. (With regard to anything but aesthetics, anyway.)

I've smoked a pipe for 35 years, owned hundreds of them from all price points, and probably burned well over a hundred pounds of tobacco.

Like every smoker, I keep a "top 5" list in the back of my mind as an ongoing thing. Occasionally a pipe will drop out or be added to the group, but not often. The most recent addition is worth noting. After two years the jury is in, and there's no doubt about it. The pipe belongs. It's absolutely an All Time Best specimen. Smokes like a little briar machine that reads my mind, and tastes great no matter how much it is rested or any of that "rotation" stuff.

What is it? An old Pete DeLuxe 999 that I paid $32 for. :twisted:

 

[jhuggett]

Wasn't your first Peterson, that you really liked, a gold mount that you bought about four or five years ago? For some reason I recall you being impressed with it.

I only have two Petersons now and neither are high end. I like them fine but have really been considering sending them to you to have them opened up or just have new stems made. Both are army mounts. I think I would really enjoy them then.

 

[bruins]

thanks LL. good to know when you can't afford the $$$ pipes.

 

[Anonymous]

Well said LL, one of my best smokers is a Pete Sys std I rescued secondhand for a song!!!!!!
Slowly I am beginning to love them alot. Have just got my hands on a Pete poy 2010. It is the fist one I paid big bucks for, hope it smokes as well as my 5 Arans!!

Thanks for sharing!
:cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

 

[LL]

Wasn't your first Peterson, that you really liked, a gold mount that you bought about four or five years ago? For some reason I recall you being impressed with it.

Yup. Another DeLuxe from the 80's bought unsmoked off Ebay. It was, and still is, a stellar performer. That's the one that started me on a minor Pete run. After that came a POY, an Army spigot, a vintage re-issue, and the 999. (All a fill-free specimens, but that's just a hang up I have.) Other than making fishtail stems for the couple that came with P-lips, and darkening the finish of the orange-y POY to a walnut color, they're all stock.

I'm still of the opinion that Peterson's emphasis on heavily filled economy models and odd finishes (emerald green? jet black? :shock: ) keeps their "firsts" out of the running in the minds of BritWood collectors. I know Barling and Dunhill guys who think Petes are almost gimmick pipes, and refuse to consider them.

That's too bad. Peterson's fill-free lines are excellent pipes in every respect. My five would be among the last to go if I had to shrink my collection for some reason.

 

[*camoham]

i like my pete standard system.

probably the first 'good' pipe ive ever owned. ive already abused it, but with care it does well. near $100 for it, im smokin' it, apologies given to any future 'estate' buyers!

camoham

 

[Puff Daddy]

I have a $43 Tsuge that smokes as well as anything, as well as an inexpensive Viprati. High prices are paid for name and aesthetics, construction varies across the board.

 

[MisterE]

I have an old Savinelli Oscar that didn't cost me more than $50 way back when. It is one of my favorites to this day- superb. Period!! :cheers:

 

[Tennessee Dave]

I love all 14 of my Petes. They are part of my regular rotation with a few high grades. For the most part the Petes smoke as well as any of my high grades with one exception.

 

[Muddler]

Recently Piet cleaned up & rusticated a couple of Italian seconds that I could use as fishing pipes. Well, these things smoke like kings, in spite of their heritage.

 

[MisterE]

Recently Piet cleaned up & rusticated a couple of Italian seconds that I could use as fishing pipes. Well, these things smoke like kings, in spite of their heritage.

Yes, fishing pipes are a MUST! I fell in TWICE this year but luckily both pipe and tobacco remained dry. Pheeew....

 

[TallSmoke]

My Peterson Aran is still my #1 pipe of the 14 I own! :cheers:

 

[Bub]

As I read these posts I believe that the main message is that inexpensive pipes can be great smokers. Does this mean that buying a pipe is a pig in a poke (i.e, A common colloquial expression in the English language, to buy a pig in a poke is to make a risky purchase without inspecting the item beforehand.) Perhaps this is the case in the age on the Internet and ebay. Are there ways of improving the odds or is it just caveat emptor. In other words,

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[LL]

Are there ways of improving the odds or is it just caveat emptor?

Sure there are.

The chances of finding a good smoker in a basket for ten bucks is pretty low, as are the chances of finding a bad smoker from a "high end" company or maker.

The reason is initial wood quality and proper curing. You must pay for that one way or the other. Either in a higher initial price, or by "running through ten to find one good one" from a basket.

In addition to the wood, a pipe must have proper alignment/size/etc of the airway, chamber, and etc. If they're OK, you're home free.

How much does good smoking wood and acceptable drilling cost? I'd guess a retail price around $80-$100. Below that your risk of a bum rises significantly, above that and you are paying for grain, lack of surface flaws, fit & finish, etc.

 

[puros_bran]

Quite a bit of the experience is what you put in it.
Sure there are pipes that will smoke good/bad regardless of what you think of them, but the love of the pipe will have real life effect...
A mediocre pipe that's well loved will smoke better than the finest of high grades that gets no love...

 

[Anonymous]

From the "big picture" perspective, I'd note that the disadvantages of inadequately seasoned briar minimise and disappear given tine and smoking. IOW, a 40 year-old basket pipe -- today -- may well be a notably fine smoker, given some airway correction. (Mine are, at any rate). And since the average "cheap pipe" from the era (to pull a number out of the air) previous to maybe 1975 was often a "good" company's second (or third), it's likely to have been properly made in the first place. A word to the budget-constrained wise : I just watched an old Peterson Premiere 1S stummel with pretty grain and a silver band (who knows ?) close on flea bay for $11.25. A decent new stem on that will result in a far better pipe, in every respect -- than anything available for $100 retail. Fact.

re. Petersons : a good half of the pipes on hand (adding in those I've given to friends and occasionally kind of wish I would have kept) (old ones used to go for dirt cheap) are/were Petersons. Having confined these largely to the target era, I've never had a bad one. Petes plus Virginias are a match made in pipular heaven -- a discovery made in 1975 and never shaken by subsequent experience.

FWIW

:face:

 

[Anonymous]

Quite a bit of the experience is what you put in it.
Sure there are pipes that will smoke good/bad regardless of what you think of them, but the love of the pipe will have real life effect...
A mediocre pipe that's well loved will smoke better than the finest of high grades that gets no love...

Well said there PB! :cheers:

 

[LL]

... the love of the pipe will have real life effect...
A mediocre pipe that's well loved will smoke better than the finest of high grades that gets no love...

As New Age-y as that sounds, I tend to agree. Perception is reality, and many subtle and subconscious things come into play regarding perception.

Robert Heinlein used to say (paraphrasing from memory):

When you meet a woman who touches your heart, tell her she is beautiful, especially if she's not. Pretty soon, you'll realize she was beautiful all along. You just didn't realize it at first.