Comfort Level (Price Wise)

[Dock]

I talked to a very nice and obviously affluent MD this weekend and had a great conversation about the price range that we're comfortable in paying for a pipe. The most he'd ever shelled out was $1,500.00 for a Baldo Baldi. For some folks $50.00 is a big sum for others that price is $5,000.00. Hermit Tobacco Works currently has a Nordh for $14,000.00 which has been discounted from $30,000. Almost seems like a bargin! Some folks would rather have a few uberhighgrades than a collection of 100 mids. Every collector has his limit wether or not he's consious of this fact or not. For myself when the price goes beyond Five I really have to think hard.

 

[Midnight Blues]

Dock, interesting question, but I guess its all relative. I myself would have a hard time spending over a grand for a pipe. I may be wrong but I can't see anyone actually smoking a $14,000 pipe but to some people $14,000 is not a lot of money. its funny though, I think I read in Pipes and Tobacco a while back were Bo Nordh was interviewed and he said that he couldn't afford to smoke his own pipes! Now thats crazy

 

[Frost]

For me, so far in my short pipe gathering career, I am thinking of it as a sort of scale on which the number of pipes I am willing to consider in a given range get smaller as the price goes up, and the frequency with which I can make a purchase goes down.

I have enough lowish priced Stanwells and such for everyday, take to work with you type smoking that I don't really feel drawn to look at pipes in the sub $100 range anymore, except as a good deal on an estate. Now I am more focused on finding a nice $150-300 pipe that really floats my boat, and with that increase in money I am more picky about what pipe I want and who I want it to come from, and also have to be more patient and carefull with the purchases. It is easy to come up with $50-$100 every week, not so easy for me to come up with $150-250.

In order for me to make a purchase of over $300 or so, it would require a special occasion with at least a couple months of planning and saving time, and I would have to really be infatuated with the pipe. I spent about $300 at the NY pipe show, and now will be counting pennies for the next month or so in order to keep all my ducks in a row. I am comfortable with it, but also understand my limitations.

 

[Handsome Dynamite]

If people have money for it, I think they'll be spending more.
I'm 19 working at a home improvement store. Sure I make a couple of bucks above minimum, but since pipe smoking is really my main recreational activity, a lot of my money does go there, but I have yet to spend over $120 on a single pipe.

 

[N7COF]

For me I'd rather have a few great pipes than a lot of good pipes, most of mine were in the 500.00 range with one almost costing a grand.

 

[Tennessee Dave]

I am definitely in the $500 camp. Anything more than that for me and the pipe better offer something more than a great smoke and great looks.

 

[puros_bran]

All my pipes are $100 or less now.. I've had some high dollar pipes but was mostly disillusioned and ran back to my Stanwells and Petes.

 

[Hermit]

I voted 250, but I could go to 500 for the right pipe.

 

[PegLegEd]

I voted 250, but I could go to 500 for the right pipe. Copied from Hermit.

I would like to think that, anyway.

I'm not a collector probably will never be a collector. I am a smoker. Frost mainly and comments from several other BoB posters have convinced me of this.

I am fumble fingered, hazardous to those around me, hard to walk now days considering all this. I don't need anything expensive to break, myself, and if I have anything expensive or valuable when I am gone there is no one that will understand it's value and would just give it away.

I actually like my pappy's old Kaywoodies, Yellow Boles, corn cobs, and one lone Meerschaum.

I do have a few pipes I have bought throughout the 48 states and Canada, when I was a OTR steering wheel holder. That cost a lot of money IMO, I don't seem to get around to smoking them, saving them for a rainy I suppose. I will get around to smoking them some more one day.

Just enjoying those old briars of my dad's (4) and the (3) gotten from ebay and the one from a BoB -- all way under 100.00. I have all the pipes I need. Just need some Walmut to put in them.
ED

 

[mark]

I have a hard time justifying anything over $350,,,,what I consider midrange,,,I'm not a collector, just a smoker. I'd probably be hesitant to smoke a high end pipe on a regular basis. Which poses the other question,,what one considers a high end pipe. Nobody's going to go WOW looking at what's in my pipe rack, except me. While the super blasts and straight grains are amazing, and I enjoy them as art, I guess I'm a Chevy worktruck kind of guy.

 

[Justpipes]

I voted $250, but even that is pushing the limit for me. It would have to be extremely special!

 

[Anonymous]

Generally I try to stay as $250-$300 or less, but I guess if I really loved a specific pipe I'd go as high as $500...

 

[sstodvictory]

I'm in between categories. Most of my pipes are mid-grades, the most expensive in the bunch being a Castello "Castello" KKKK costing $440. I don't envision spending that much again. To go above $350 on a pipe I have to want it pretty bad.

Steve

 

[Trout Bum]

I tend to buy pipes most often at or near the $100 mark. The most I have ever spent on a pipe was around $200... I only have a dozen pipes or so, but I really like them all, and each one has a story/occasion behind it. I feel that for what I have spent on pipes, I have a pretty nice little rotation going, including a couple of Ashtons and a really sweet Rinaldo. My last purchase was an $88 (unsmoked) Stanwell that is now one of my best smokers. However, I do have my eye on some nicer artisanal pipes, so I am just trying to figure out how to tell the wife that I want to drop four or five bills on a small piece of wood with a hole drilled in it.

 

[Hunter5117]

I have a ton (tonne, eh?) of Canadian Brigham pipes that I paid less than $50 each for. The older Brighams are first class briar and great workmanship, a couple of my older ones are as nice as any Dunny I have. You just have to be willing to put up with their filter and tenon system which I don't mind. Other than those, most of my Pete's have been in the $100-200 range, along with a few Dunhills in the upper part of that range. I have never been tempted by any of the highly sought after Danish or other high-ends, nor any of the domestic custom made pipes. I like the look of Tinsky's and definitely plan on picking up a couple of those when the time is right, but again not anything over the $200 range.

 

[adauria]

Almost all my pipes are $100 or less, though I have one I dropped $150 for. Most of them are in the $60-100 range, I'd say. I'm not particularly poor, but it's just not something I spend a lot of money on. If a pipe is aesthetically pleasing to me and smokes well I'm happy with it. My stable is around 20 pipes or so, and almost all get smoked regularly.

Having a wife and 2 little kids also gets me thinking about my financial priorities. If I was a 34 year old bachelor, I'd probably have some nicer pipes, nicer musical instruments, better furniture, etc. At this point in my life though, I try not too tie up too much money in something that's going to get dinged or abused. If I had a high grade pipe I'd be really nervous about dropping, biting, breaking, charring, etc.

-Andrew

 

[Amenhotep04]

For me, it really doesn't matter. Though I've not spent more than $300 on a pipe, I have seriously considered pipes close to $1000. Most of the pipes I really like however are rusticated or blasts, so the cost isn't near as much (most of the time). The grain just really doesn't do a lot for me. Of course, that can change with the wind. I like the rotation I have right now. The one pipe I'd really like is a blast tomato from either Rad Davis or Scott Thile. I don't think either will cost more than $350. Other than that, I like what I've got.

:farao:

 

[the macdonald]

I voted $250, but looking back at the lat 12 months, I don’t think I have paid over $150 for a pipe in a long time.

I’m a little late coming to this discussion, but it brings another question to mind; how expensive a pipe would you smoke? If you bought a $10,000 pipe would you smoke?

Frankly, I think if it was in my rack, I'd smoke it, but this is the same reason my tobacco cellar can fit in a shoe box.

 

[Amenhotep04]

I’m a little late coming to this discussion, but it brings another question to mind; how expensive a pipe would you smoke? If you bought a $10,000 pipe would you smoke?

Frankly, I think if it was in my rack, I'd smoke it, but this is the same reason my tobacco cellar can fit in a shoe box.

Unless the pipe maker designed a pipe not be smoked, any pipe I have will be smoked. Or, I suppose if pipes become some great collecting prize, then I would have a vault or something where I'd keep those pipes with the unused coins, and other collectibles.

 

[Hunter5117]

Pipes are for smoking. I don't buy any "safe queens" regardless if pipes, guns, knives, etc. Of course some pipes only go out on club night while others go lawn mowing. Only a couple are so large that they only get smoked at home.