Estates Vs. New and the diffrences

[BuckeyeBoy34]

PS I dont mind estate women so I am good on that end! :lol!:

 

[kieveryuu]

Even my never smoked pipes are old stock sold as estates. There are new pipes I would love to get my hands on, but budget wise, and quality wise, I have been able to build a nice collection.

Broadly (very much so) speaking, you have to be careful buying new pipes and you have to be careful buying estates pipes. Good pipes are there to be had, just look at the guys on here who have found great pipes in antique shops.

Just a couple thoughts sparked by the conversation.

 

[Vodomagoo]

My entire collection are estates except for my cob. There's something about a pipe made when manufactures employed real craftsmen who cared. Not saying a current pipe is not given the same love but mid century there was a lot more companies producing great products. The cleaning and restoration is also what makes it fun for me too, about 50% Of the pipes I need a good amount of work to make them pretty.

 

[Rob_In_MO]

PS I dont mind estate women so I am good on that end! :lol!:

Yeah - as long as she's got a good 'end'!
A good 'front' is a plus too!

8)

 

[atwageman]

PS I dont mind estate women so I am good on that end! :lol!:

Yeah - as long as she's got a good 'end'!
A good 'front' is a plus too!

8)

Yeah and there is a lost less drama most of the time since somebody else has already broke it in.

 

[herbinedave]

As I type sitting 2 feet away on my desk is a Tom Howard Bulldog. This isn't an expensive pipe , but it is one I like. It is filled with Kosher salt and everclear. It didn't tast right smoking it so I will give this a shot. The booze will draw out the tar and nasty gunk and the salt will absorb this. I paid 10 bucks for this and I believe a former ghost I didn't excorcise is coming back to haunt me. Doing the salt and booze 1-3 times should get rid of it.

Is this a route I recommend for all pipe smoker? The answer is no. I also have a buffer and all the stuff I need for restoration of a pipe. If you have a bit of time, a tad bit of handyman in you, all this can be done. There are threads on this board that discuss all aspects of cleaning and reconditioning. I actually enjoy fixing up MY pipes, I a retired and it gives me something to do once in awhile.

So if you want a pipe you might not be able to afford brand new, estate is the way to go. There are also many Pipe repair and resto. guys, you can find them somewhere on this board if you are not handy. But, if you want to open up a box and pull out a brand new pipe, there is not anything wrong with that,

 

[mattia76]

I've always thought estates had the edge for a couple of reasons that I don't think I've seen here yet.

1. Story. If you've ever inherited a pipe from a family member or a good friend, you know what I'm talking about here. I've always thought that pipes carry something of the spirit and the adventures of those who have smoked them before. Does that mean you can't make your own adventures with your estate pipe or new pipe? Absolutely not. In fact, depending on the legacy, it often makes me feel like I've got something to live up to.

2. Re-Sale. As long as you didn't make a bad deal on the front end, (and I've made quite a few, but they're getting fewer) you can always sell the pipe for at least what you paid for it.

 

[Anonymous]

I agree with what Yak says and from what I have experienced, though limited, buying from a known dealer of Estate Pipes who does all the cleaning and such PRIOR to selling the pipe, is preferable to buying from a seller on the 'Prey who sells 'em "as is" and you need to do all the work. There usually is a significant price difference but to my mind, it's far easier to just get a pipe that you can start right off and smoke as when new.

The beauty of the pipe world, as it's evolving (or devolving -- at any rate, changing beyond doubt) is that guys who like to pick up used pipes, clean them and sell them can get hooked up with guys like 256, to whom this is the way to go. It's one ecological niche. Not everybody inhabits it, of course -- if they did, it wouldn't be a niche.

With a background in restoring old violins, my niche was (there are enough of them here by now) finding scungy-looking beauties on Flea Bay, shown in wretchedly bad pictures by fleamarketing housewives who called the stems "handles." It mattered not whether they were (in a phrase a Danish friend used) "factory girls" or upper crusties -- a nice pipe is a nice pipe, and there were more than a few of them turned out back in the waning years of the first Golden Age.

Sure, roll the dice often enough and you're going to come up snake eyes now and then (the wor$t heartbreaker was a beautiful Roberto Ascorti second generation Caminetto so nearly burnt out from over-vigorous smoking that charcoal reached nearly out to the surface of the bowl). But there are still no-name pipes to be had (and "name" ones that people mis-spell in listings from unfamiliarity with them) for <$20 that, provided there's enough meat left in their stems to open them (as needed), they'll equal pretty much anything out there as smokers and far out-perform new ones.

FWIW

:face:
CHEAP ASS-THETE

 

[Kyle Weiss]

I like everyone's reasons for why they dig the oldies-but-goodies. I love the search. I love the story it can't tell. I love the lines, the designs, and often, the craftsmanship. I hope to find more in the future when I'm buying pipes again.

8)

 

[Dutch]

I believe it was Rick Newcomb who pointed out in his book, that we all eat from silverware in public restaurants that have very high milage, but that have been disinfected satisfactorily.

There's nothing any more satisfying, than sitting and smoking a fine piece of English briar that I have invested $20-$40, cleaned up, and seasoned to smoke as well as some of my other pipes which I have invested over $300.

It is a confidence, and ability, that comes with being an experienced pipe smoker.

In addition, the romance of smoking a briar that is ages old, is an experience that comes to be appreciated. I take good care of my pipes, and hope after I am long gone, some new pipe smoker will one day enjoy them as much as I have. 8)

 

[Harlock999]

I believe it was Rick Newcomb who pointed out in his book, that we all eat from silverware in public restaurants that have very high milage, but that have been disinfected satisfactorily.

There's nothing any more satisfying, than sitting and smoking a fine piece of English briar that I have invested $20-$40, cleaned up, and seasoned to smoke as well as some of my other pipes which I have invested over $300.

It is a confidence, and ability, that comes with being an experienced pipe smoker.

In addition, the romance of smoking a briar that is ages old, is an experience that comes to be appreciated. I take good care of my pipes, and hope after I am long gone, some new pipe smoker will one day enjoy them as much as I have. 8)

I like this!^
I've been on a vintage kick lately, and it is a nice feeling when you find a nice, seriously aged and seasoned briar that not only smokes like a champ, but exhibits craftsmanship that seemingly cannot be equaled today. As an example, look at a 1950's Shell Briar, and try to find someone who can replicate that type of sandblast.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

I believe it was Rick Newcomb who pointed out in his book, that we all eat from silverware in public restaurants that have very high milage, but that have been disinfected satisfactorily.

Possibly, but I know R.C. Hacker ("The Ultimate Pipe Book") also used that analogy.

I just look at it this way, we work out our brains to make them better, we work out our muscles to make them bigger, why not work out your immune system to make it stronger? :twisted: I'm kidding. Or am I? Or is a germaphobic response to estate pipes more mental than anything?

To each his own. I love estates, and I always will. 8)

 

[Zeno Marx]

I take good care of my pipes, and hope after I am long gone, some new pipe smoker will one day enjoy them as much as I have.

I wish we approached everything we own and everything we manufacture with this perspective. There's a responsibility beyond us and our years.

 

[monbla256]

I'm new to the buying and smoking of "estate" pipes ( I don't mind calling them "used pipes" as that's what they are ). though with the age of the rest of my pipes, I guess I'm smoking only "estate" pipes . I've a friend who ONLY smokes 'em, but he has ALL the stems replaced with new ones by Walker Briar Works and says that that's the only part of them he would want to not be "used" no matter how clean they were made. I can see his point, though it has not bothered me with the few I have and as with most things, depending on where I got them from I'll probably stick with what comes with the pipe when I buy it. I think the advantages of briar age, build quality etc. would outwiegh any thing about "germs', besides, we BURN a substance in the bowl and heat does kill germs

 

[Kyle Weiss]

I take good care of my pipes, and hope after I am long gone, some new pipe smoker will one day enjoy them as much as I have.

I wish we approached everything we own and everything we manufacture with this perspective. There's a responsibility beyond us and our years.

Best thing I've read today. 8)

 

[Rob_In_MO]

After a newly acquired Estate Pipe has been cleaned, reamed, and sanitized, I have no problem smoking out of it.

Might have to do the salt/alcohol treatment to get that nasty Latakia taste out of it, depending upon what was smoked in it last. :mrgreen:

 

[Zeno Marx]

The folks who go through the whole bleaching thing with their stems help me with my OCD. They're nuts.

 

[monbla256]

Might have to do the salt/alcohol treatment to get that nasty Latakia taste out of it, depending upon what was smoked in it last.

WHY would you want to do THAT That takes ALL the soul out of it

 

[Rob_In_MO]

Might have to do the salt/alcohol treatment to get that nasty Latakia taste out of it, depending upon what was smoked in it last. :mrgreen:

WHY would you want to do THAT That takes ALL the soul out of it

Why would you want to ruin a perfectly good Aromatic with an English/Balkan ghost? :scratch:


:lol!:

 

[Fight'n Hampsters]

I have bought three estate pipes over the years. Two of them were off of ebay and one was from a local pipe shop. With all three I gave them the salt and everclear treatment and cleaned out the stem and shanks real well but still had alot of problems with ghosting. I was never able to get the taste of what ever it was that the previous owner had smoked out of the pipe. I eventually got rid of them.

For this reason I have no desire to ever purchase an estate pipe again. just to much work and disapointment.

YMMV.