Biggest Pipe Disappointment

[Kyle Weiss]

I chalk this up to experience, and proof to me that choosing a higher priced pipe won't necessarily lead to bliss.

A realization all of us have eventually. Mine was a $240 Randy Wiley. The thing smoked hotter and wetter than any pipe I've ever owned. The difference was, the learned tricks I've employed like filing any re-drill attempts in the shank at the time of making (sometimes creating a figure "8" shape airway, or an sharp, edged elbow where the bend is rather than a straight shot drilled to the bowl), or chamfering/trumpeting the tenon end of the stem, helped this Wiley out tremendously, where my Nording refuses to succumb. Now the Wiley pipe, due to bowl shape, is my best "light English" pipe I own. Good wood, bad quality control. Dodged a bullet there.

8)

 

[IndySmoker]

mine was a Ben Wade Ruby, gurgled no mater what and I could actually feel the stem bend it was so soft. Turned me off Ben Wade forever

 

[Dave_In_Philly]

My biggest pipe disappointment wasn't with a pipe that smoked poorly, but with pipes that didn't smoke as I thought they would. I have come to learn that I prefer small to medium sized, lightweight pipes in fairly traditional shapes, but it seems all of the "cool" pipes are big and clunky. It took a couple of disappointments to realize that what I liked to smoke, wasn't necessarily what I liked to look at on the internet.

ETA: my biggest disappointment was probably learning that I didn't care for Peterson's P-Lip. I spent so long drooling over the high grade Petes that are only available with a P-Lip, only to learn they aren't really my thing after all.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

... but it seems all of the "cool" pipes are big and clunky.

I don't think all of them, but yeah, you're right: at least a lot of them. There's some whimsical designs that would work well for those of us without the need for a tobacco chamber fit for a mortar round. :lol: There's an open market for people like me, I assume, anyway, that can have a non-traditional shape that's not a hammer or a doorstop of a pipe. Small paintings are harder to do, by the same token, but harder to see and notice.

8)

 

[soylentgreen]

... but it seems all of the "cool" pipes are big and clunky.

I don't think all of them, but yeah, you're right: at least a lot of them. There's some whimsical designs that would work well for those of us without the need for a tobacco chamber fit for a mortar round. :lol: There's an open market for people like me, I assume, anyway, that can have a non-traditional shape that's not a hammer or a doorstop of a pipe. Small paintings are harder to do, by the same token, but harder to see and notice.

8)

Agreed. I love the look of the rustication on Radice and Ser Jacopo pipes, but I've yet to see one small enough to be practical for me. I agree with Kyle that this is an under-served niche in pipe design. I'm puzzled why so many "artisan" pipes are effing HUGE! Sorry, sliding off topic I guess, but it is disappointing to see all those cool pipes that I can't use.

 

[Jers]

Pipes are too big for ya? Here's a solution “Man up and GROW A SET!"

* shambles off, pauses, scratches groin, hawks, spits, shakes head whilst wiping tobacco juice off chin and mumbles “Goddamn cupcakes"

:lol!:

Fraternally

Jers

 

[billporter1456]

ETA: my biggest disappointment was probably learning that I didn't care for Peterson's P-Lip. I spent so long drooling over the high grade Petes that are only available with a P-Lip, only to learn they aren't really my thing after all.

My biggest disappointment was also a Peterson P-lip. I am just recently back into pipes, not having smoked them since the 1980s. I wanted to try a Peterson System pipe and not having the patience to shop around for a good deal, I bought one from a local B&M shop. Got home and fired it up only to learn that the P-lip didn't seem to fit well with the structure of my teeth and was hard to clinch. Since it was, and still is, my most expensive pipe, I just "bit the bullet" so to speak and found ways to keep it from falling into my lap. No more P-lips for me.

BTW, it does smoke just fine if you ignore the problem I have clinching it in my teeth. :cheers:

 

[monbla256]

Thanks guys. And let me be clear - I am not casting aspersions on all Nording pipes. I know many hold them in high esteem, and indeed, that is why I bought one in the first place. That said, I know people who won't buy fords or dodges anymore because they caught one of the 1980s lemon cars and, as a result, they won't touch the brand again. Likewise, I too will have some serious reflection to do before I take the leap into another Nording pipe.

As I have said many times on here (and will soon stop saying), I am new to the hobby. One of my other hobbies is and continues to be wine collecting. When I first got into wine about 15 years ago, as a newbie I tended to gravitate toward higher priced wines, not because higher priced wines are always better than lower priced wines, but because there certainly is a positive correlation between higher prices and better wines. As I became more knowledgeable about wine (primarily through reading countless books and magazines on the subject and through websites much like this one but devoted to the brotherhood of the grape), I became more selective and have become quite good at choosing more affordable wines that punch well above their weight in dollar terms. I am going through a similar process with pipes. I chalk this up to experience, and proof to me that choosing a higher priced pipe won't necessarily lead to bliss.

You really summed it up well with your last sentence. It is the individual pipe, you and your 'bac choices and your manner of smoking which count after all is said and done. And none of these can be experienced by just looking at a pipe in a shop or in photos online. As a general rule, it used to be that many of the older pipe firms peoduced MANY good pipes as a matter of fact year after year. I've enjoyed most of my GBD's, Charatan's, BBB's etc. that I've bought new over the years with just a few not really "working" for me but I did not "grade" that firms product just from those individual pipes. I don't think you can or should but that's JMHO

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Pipes are too big for ya? Here's a solution “Man up and GROW A SET!"

Right. For those of us without physical size concerns (or inadequacies), we merely abate the matter by inflating our pride by looking down on the "size matters" guys, and finding our own version. I don't think many of us escape the event unscathed. :lol: So it goes with hobbies and interests on a human level.

8)

 

[Anonymous]

It isn't made for that approach.

Just let it dangle. The underside of the button hooks over your incisor of choice. Or fits into the space between it and the canine next to it.

:cat: :face: :study:

 

[Fishfuzz]

It isn't made for that approach.

Just let it dangle. The underside of the button hooks over your incisor of choice. Or fits into the space between it and the canine next to it.

:cat: :face: :study:

I believe we are taking about the p lip here...maybe

 

[Jers]

Right. For those of us without physical size concerns (or inadequacies), we merely abate the matter by inflating our pride by looking down on the "size matters" guys, and finding our own version. I don't think many of us escape the event unscathed. :lol: So it goes with hobbies and interests on a human level.

:lol!: :lol!:

Fraternally

Jers

 

[Dave_In_Philly]

Right. For those of us without physical size concerns (or inadequacies), we merely abate the matter by inflating our pride by looking down on the "size matters" guys, and finding our own version. I don't think many of us escape the event unscathed. :lol: So it goes with hobbies and interests on a human level.

:lol!: :lol!:

Fraternally

Jers

Kyle when right for the penis joke, I was just gonna target the aromatic tobacco you're so fond of!

:tongue: :lol: :santa: :rendeer:

 

[Jers]

Kyle when right for the penis joke, I was just gonna target the aromatic tobacco you're so fond of!

:tongue: :lol: :santa: :rendeer:

:lol!:

As Shakespeare once penned......

“If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge?"

Through my childish humour I have clearly been caught slapping the bull.........

Fraternally

Jers

 

[Anonymous]

I believe we are taking about the p lip here...maybe

Referring to the P-lip.

Apparently, not as obviously as I'd assumed.

Sorry !

:cat: :face: :study:

 

[Idlefellow]

I love "The Lip"! :cheers:

 

[Kyle Weiss]

P-lips are okay by me.

You children, the ones causing trouble in the back, don't think I have vacated my chair next to you. :lol:

8)

 

[cigrmaster]

My worst pipes were all by one carver, Peter Matzhold. When I first began collecting, I was all about the grain and the looks. I fell in love with Peter's looks and bought three estate pieces within in a week that were from his early years. All three gurgled like no tomorrow and I had them sold for me. It has made me gun shy to ever try another one of his pipes even though I love his designs. I am sure his pipes smoke better now, but I still have not had the guts to find out. If I knew what I know now about pipe construction, I would have sent them out to be fixed. I am sure it would not have taken much, and I would still have three gorgeous pipes from him.

 

[Sasquatch]

I think the thinking has changed for a lot of the Danish carvers - I think the emphasis was grain and shape and if the thing had a stem it was a pipe. Newer/better ideas about airway design have improved the level of most handmades in the last... I dunno, ten years or something.

Honestly, most of the pipes in my collection dissappointed me in some way. I'm not going to name names, but gurgle, bad stemwork, and poor engineering seem more common than not right up to about 250 bucks in many brands.

Guys like Rad who develop a reputation for a good smoking pipe (each and every) get consistent and repeat custom because of this. In a sense, carvers should hope that larger companies continue to produce crappy pipes. It keeps us little guys in business.

 

[Harlock999]

I haven't had too many disappointments since I learned what I like and need in a pipe.
And I have not suffered any gurgle since selling an older gold mustache Caminetto, which was a bit of disappointment, mainly due to a cone bowl shape, that I did not expect in a short, bent pot. I could just never get the thing to smoke "right".
Now, someone in China will have to deal with it...