Peterson Prices

[alfredo_buscatti]

4noggins sells an Aran (05) Fishtail for $93 but a Sherlock Holmes Smooth Original Fishtail for $235. Looks like the same pipe but of course the SH has much better grain.

Are they pricing for two distinct markets, the first for all the working stiffs, the second for the monied? $145 is a lot of money for better wood, if indeed the overall quality of the pipe is the same.

I love straight grain and birdseye as much as anyone, but as I've seen so much of them, the grain of the Aran is more interesting.

 

[Puff Daddy]

It's overall quality. The SH smooth pipes are fill free, finished well, silver bands, nice wood. The aran will (likely) have at least some fills and blemishes, will have a simple stain without a lot of attention paid to detail, a nickel band. That of course has nothing to do with how it will smoke.

The best value for the money in a Peterson I've found so far is smokingpipes Kildare line, a sandblasted military mount acrylic stemmed pipe Peterson is making for them. They are quite handsome and the finish is excellent, and my 999 is a fantastic smoker.

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

Thanks PD!

 

[Anonymous]

There will probably never be a time when price and actual quality (briar, workmanship, smoking performance & flavor) correlate reliably. With some, it's a tendency consistent enough to be confidently assumed ; with others, not so much.

With the original Ben Wade out of the way, Dunhill and Charatan became the Ford & Chevy of good pipes. Both were careful to profile themselves (a key to market viability). Dunhill serenely ignored figuration -- what mattered was "dense" grain and perfect cleanliness. Charatan went 180 and marketed figuration as the end-all "important part." Both did OK while GBD, BBB and others found themselves selling "pipes" without the attitudinal superstructure that enabled them to charge more for them via suggestion.

That's carried over here, it seems. There's a market for $80 pipes, and a parallel market for $250 pipes. Since offering them all @ $80 would be suicidal, they play off existing expectations. Whether the difference makes them "worth it" is pretty much subjective, but dependably so.

Yak's two cents.

:cat: :face: :study:

 

[Ocelot55]

4noggins sells an Aran (05) Fishtail for $93 but a Sherlock Holmes Smooth Original Fishtail for $235. Looks like the same pipe but of course the SH has much better grain.

Don't be fooled! The Sherlock shape is not an "05" but is actually designated as "XL11." Same exact shape, but the Sherlock is probably a group 5 and the 05 is a group 3. So, better grain, yes, but also a much larger pipe.

Don't know if that will play a factor, but it's something to consider.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

I believe the Sherlock line has actual hallmarked silver banding, and the Aran features a polished chrome band.

8)

 

[DrumsAndBeer]

It's overall quality. The SH smooth pipes are fill free, finished well, silver bands, nice wood. The aran will (likely) have at least some fills and blemishes, will have a simple stain without a lot of attention paid to detail, a nickel band. That of course has nothing to do with how it will smoke.

The best value for the money in a Peterson I've found so far is smokingpipes Kildare line, a sandblasted military mount acrylic stemmed pipe Peterson is making for them. They are quite handsome and the finish is excellent, and my 999 is a fantastic smoker.

The blasted Wicklows on SP.com are also great. I have a Wicklow 03 with a nickel band. It's a great smoker, and they all run about 95.00 new.

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

A group 5 is more pipe to carve and finish; large(r) pipes are usually more. But c'mon, $100 more? People want to feel that they got what they paid for, and I have paid more for larger pipes.

It's like the timing belt kit I paid $300 for at the dealer. 100% mark-up in part because selling new cars is low margin while repairs are high. In essence they wack you with the high hourly repair rate and that markup so that they can support making low margin on the new cars. They price what you will pay for and hit you hard in one place and soft in the other. But when I worked in the corporate world they didn't just downsize, they terminated divisions. No plan for quick recovery? You're gone.

I'm not even close to understanding business, but it would be great if the maker had to work 20% to make a bigger pipe, he only charged 20% more.

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

Whether the difference makes them "worth it" is pretty much subjective, but dependably so.

What do you mean by subjective yet at the same dependably so? Subjective is clear, but if it is subjective it varies from one individual to another; and if variable, why dependable?

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Whether the difference makes them "worth it" is pretty much subjective, but dependably so.

What do you mean by subjective yet at the same dependably so? Subjective is clear, but if it is subjective it varies from one individual to another; and if variable, why dependable?

I think you just answered your own question.

 

[Anonymous]

So long as people in general continue to like the same things (like clean, even, straight-grained briar, &c &c &c) and are willing to pony up for it, that situation will continue. Reliably.

:cat: :face: :study:

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

Thanks for the clarification!