Wait For It . . .

[Anonymous]

My promise was to tackle the almost rhetorical question, "why is this pipe worth $1,000? The answer is not "because I'm hoping to make about $950 pure profit," although that is not necessarily a wrong answer, given the right circumstances.

Yet, I must defer my answer to a later time as this is a particularly busy week. Today, for instance, is going to culminate in answering my wife's call to join her in the kitchen for a small bowl of ice cream.

But I will mess around with that question as soon as possible. I say "mess around," because I can't imagine a definitive answer. But with luck, and divine inspiration, some kind of answer might ensue.

http://www.pulversbriar.com/

:face:

 

[AJ]

Seems to me you have already answered the question, "Why is this pipe worth a$1000.?" Answer: Because you bought it and paid $1000. You have demonstrated that your thought processes are working in good order and that you clearly have a grip on your priorities by deferring to having a bowl of ice cream in the kitchen with your wife. A smart choice that will give you pleasure. :cheers: :cheers: Enough said.
AJ

 

[Richard Burley]

Yak was quoting Marty, both agent provocateurs at times, besides being philosophers of the highest order. I have learned considerable from both. Considerable "what" I refuse to say, though it tends toward the nicotinic and briarly.

 

[Anonymous]

Seems the same basis that some only buy their clothes from an English tailor or a French couturier. There is crafting and there is manufacture. All serve their purpose. All are good at servicing their market.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

As we wait on pins and needles, I think you organized your priorities correctly by having ice cream with Mrs. Yak.

Plus, Marty Pulvers has quite the archive of incendiary stuff to read on his site...quite a fun time reading through his writ and wit.

In closing, I laughed at the checking in of the somewhat outspoken/crotchety/witty Old Bastards Society here. :lol: Of which I might be a junior member, but hey, someone's gotta carry the torch.

 

[Anonymous]

Mr. Pulvers is the ice cream guy.

Really, I'm gonna have to come up with some way of signaling when I say something to distinguish it from when I copy & paste something. What I figure must be self-evident isn't.

:face:

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Mr. Pulvers is the ice cream guy.

Really, I'm gonna have to come up with some way of signaling when I say something to distinguish it from when I copy & paste something. What I figure must be self-evident isn't.

:face:

True. Yak-specific words verus that-which-Yak-quotes.

You can always do a manual quote thingy:

{quote="Marty Pulvers"} words and stuff go here {/quote}


...in that instance, curly brackets {} should actually be square brackets []. Have to use the {}'s because otherwise the site would screw up the explanation by attempting to implement my code request. :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

I've done that for years. But it makes lengthier quotes difficult to read from being in a narrower format & smaller type.

Still experimenting.

:clown:

 

[Kyle Weiss]

You're just too picky. :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Younger people seem to have a hard enough time reading paragraphs as it is. Straining their capacity to process & absorb information that isn't formatted

See spot run

doesn't facilitate comprehension.

:face:

 

[Anonymous]

Attribution can be done using italics.

e.g.

I've done that for years. But it makes lengthier quotes difficult to read from being in a narrower format & smaller type.

Still experimenting.

 

[MisterE]

Big italics work, too. Small print gets harder for me daily. Age.

But I will mess around with that question as soon as possible. I say "mess around," because I can't imagine a definitive answer. But with luck, and divine inspiration, some kind of answer might ensue.

 

[dshpipes]

Godot?

 

[Anonymous]

And Here it Is !

THIS IS MARTY PULVERS WRITING (& Quoting). OK ?
.......................

The Mill​

May 20, 2013​

Before we tackle the issue of what makes a pipe worth $1,000, or $750 or $2500 (or more...gee I love when it's more) I need to buy myself more time to come up with some contrived answers for this spot to help save my hash, so I'll be posting a letter from a friend/customer below. He has some insights, based on humbling and pocket draining experience that might be worth a read. I am not revealing his name in the probably vain hope that he will once again feel the need to spend obsessive amounts of money on pipes and those pipes he spends that money on will be my pipes. Thus, no point in alienating him, yet.

Marty​

When is a pipe worth a thousand bananas, indeed! I noted some time ago the Teddy Calabash was finally pried from your long term storage. Mazel tov. I'm thinking the $6500 Joura King may sprout roots and grow into fresh briar before your heirs return it to its consignor.

Jeepers creepers, Honest Marty. That's a lot of cabbage for a wooden leaf burner . . . Lest you think I'm merely some pot calling the kettle black, I will confess that I have recently started to rethink some of my pipe collecting habits.

The short history is that when I started piping more seriously, maybe 10 or so years ago, I started binge buying, largely indiscriminately, and quickly amassed a large hodge podge; mostly dreck. Then I slowly became conscious of pipe quality, but not without a dose of pipe snobbery, as well. Then, I had to clamber after some ultra high grades. Now I think I have finally evolved a bit further, and I suspect a bit more in keeping with some of your sensibilities. Pipes are first and foremost for enjoying tobacco, and a close second would be that a pipe should satisfy some aesthetic sense in its owner.

Now we both know that this can be readily accomplished over a broad range of prices from very modest to obscenely expensive. Another possible consideration is how important it may or may not be for a collector to own pieces that represent a certain rarity or cachet. This is, perhaps, the area where things are prone to descending into exaggerated concerns with prestige and snobbery. I suppose it must be in some measure defined by one's own financial situation, and at what point chasing the Joneses, or one's own ego, starts to strain one's budgetary sensibilities. I have certainly fallen prey to some of this self-deception.

Over the last year, I have been systematically divesting myself of a number of Lars, Nanna, Teddy, Micke, etc. pipes. Pipes that I rarely if ever smoke, some pipes that simply don't wow me, in spite of their proud pedigrees, and some that I just don't enjoy smoking. I am scaring myself by seeing how much money I have raised, even knowing that some of the pipes are being sold for something less than I may have paid for them. I still have way too many pipes. And pipes that I will be weeding out of my collection that include some that are pricey and some that are not especially expensive, but just sit collecting dust. I'm hoping to have the prudence to maintain a collection that only includes pipes that I really and truly enjoy, and some may meet or exceed your arbitrary $1000 threshold.

But I'd have to really love and enjoy them to qualify them for retention; and pipes that may have a particular sentimental value as gifts or made by people with whom I have developed a personal connection making them valuable to me along these particular merits.

Lastly, I think with a bit of maturity, I have come to another epiphany: That my appetites vastly exceed my means to satisfy them, and include many tastes outside of pipes . . . and that are more significant to me than pipes . . . So why do I have so many f---ing pipes? And why have I pissed away thousands of dollars on these baubles? This concludes my confession."
Signed, S.

http://www,pulversbriar.com

:face:

 

[Rob_In_MO]

See spot run

Go spot go

:lol:

 

[Anonymous]

If your bills are getting paid, your kids are fed and your significant other isn't going to kill you... it's your money.

At $1000 I would definitely view it as an art piece though. It would come nowhere near a match. Ever.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

And Here it Is !

Didn't read it--too long.

(too young)

:tongue:

 

[Anonymous]

Jagoff :twisted:

:face:

 

[Anonymous]

Aren't pipes a different collecting field specially when it isn't estate pipes? Car collectors don't buy every new car model. New cars and new-unsmoked have a similar, initial depreciation. Items/builders/artists fall in and out of favor and never have a stable value until they are gone from the scene with known amounts produced.

PBS has an Antiques Roadshow ripoff where experts buy items to be auctioned. Even the experts are getting their ass handed to them.

Isn't it only mad men and guys try to explain to their wives why they need a $1000 pipe?

But, we're all mad for something or life is a boring place. So, we lie and call it an investment. More useful than commemorative plates too.

Well, those are my well-reasoned thoughts anyway. Gotta run. Off to add to my collection -- the starving artist show is at the Holiday Inn.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

If cars, new and old, were frequently beautiful, unique, handmade items that only cost around $100, were easy to store and cheap to use, I bet you'd see a lot more avid and repeat collectors--just to put it into perspective.

The four-figure pipe is something left to those who are able to do it, and more power to 'em. It's likely they'll leave my cheapies alone, for that's what I prefer. It seems to me the functionality, either through mind or practice, diminishes with such expensive pipes...those who covet them and work hard to get just one won't touch match or flame to it. Those who are frequent buyers have gone down the road of many of the new models of pipe being large-bodied, large-bowled and often cutting-edge styling. The "common" man's pipe appeals to me in use no matter how intrigued I am by some odd, artistic styling (and hefty price to match, more often than not). Fortunately, pictures on the Internet of expensive pipes are free, and my pipes just happen to still be cheap to smoke while I look at said pictures. :lol: Winning combination.

I've happened across that PBS show, as I only recently discovered rabbit ears still work on my television. Don't get too many channels, but PBS is one of 'em. Not sure if that's a blessing or a curse. :lol: That show's "experts" are interesting. I think they have expertise in an interest of theirs, but I'd hardly call them proper experts. They rely on instinct more than anything. Sometimes they're on it, sometimes they aren't. I'd pit my non-expertise against theirs any day. It takes more eye than savvy in the junk world at times. You never know what the buyer is gonna want, and for why.