The tobacco would have been a like-it-or-not matter back when it was made. I didn't, but a lot of people apparently did, because they made/sold it by the ton.
Old private labeled pipes ("Amphora" being one of hundreds) offer (after some refurbishing and possibly de-toxing) a ridiculously appealing combination of low price with potential high smoking quality.
There were not that many manufacturers back then -- Amphora or DE certainly didn't make pipes. They bought them in quantity from manufacturers who made them to specs and stamped them with (in this case) "Amphora." (Or, "Veeblefeetzer's Pipe Shop" or "American Pride" or whatever).
Because there's essentially NO "collector value" the names on them, you're buying well-aged briar and engineering (generally pretty decent, if improvable). The bottom line of which is, while you'll make some mistakes buying them "raw" (uncleaned) on Flea Bay, they'll be inexpensive mistakes that will be more than made up-for by the ones you buy and keep. You can afford to have these brought up to snuff by somebody competent like Dr. Dave, because the pipe itself was dirt cheap. The smoking/taste quality of the keepers will far out-perform what would be available new @ even $100 or so.
My two cents' worth
:face:
