Wow, put a silver ring around the shank and that pipe looks almost exactly like the Design Berlin I just acquired. Love the way your photos always look so artistic. Hope the rebellion is going well.'Dayyy from Athens-Greece with sun and 60 'F
Rincon De La Pipa No. 1.
I was about to compliment you on the nice cob but I think the Galleon takes top honors. Love the undulating rim. Just exactly how many pipes are in your collection? They all seem top notch!
Dang buddy, you do have some great looking pipes.
Thanks brother. That Wiley was the first "good" pipe I bought back in 2007. It smokes wonderfully. I only have about 25 pipes in my collection with 9 of them being Peterson's. I enjoy the Pete's very much. I have a couple of meers, a few cobs and about 8 or 9 artisan pipes. I try to buy only those pipes I really want these days so I am very picky when it comes to adding one.
Well unfortunately for my bank account I just got my first Tom Eltang a few weeks back and fell in love with it. I will be adding at least 1 more to the collection when the right pipe pops up at the right time. I have artisan pipes from Wiley, Ruthenberg, Rad Davis, Bruce Weaver, Tom Eltang. The meers are a Baki gourd Calabash and an IM Baglan hand carved Gandalf pipe. I think Wiley is still carving as of course is Tom Eltang. Ruthenberg and Rad Davis have retired (though Rad does the sanblasting on Mark Tinsky's pipes), Bruce Weaver has passed to his reward and I don't know about Baki and Baglan. Maybe I have just been lucky with my artisan pipes but they have all been outstanding smokers with fantastic engineering and they are beutiful to look at (at least to my eyes). I know there is a lot of debate about whether or not an artisan pipe is worth the extra money. If just depends. If you find the right artisan who has some proven experience and it's a pipe you want then I don't think you can lose. Of course cost comes into the picture. A bespoke pipe where you have a chance to interface with the makerhas some added intrinsic value as well since that pipe represents a relationship between you and it's creator. I can not smoke my Bruce Weaver without recalling my phone calls and emails with Bruce and remembering what a warm, wonderful man he was. It has become so much more than just a pipe. I really sort of chuckle sometimes when I see someone on a forum ridicule another brother after the purchase of an artisan or high end pipe with comments like" For the price of that pipe you could have bought..." Such folks don't really grasp the concept that there is really a different between what something cost and what it is to it's owner. I am proud to own good smoking cobs and good smoking artisan and factory pipes but there is something very special about my artisans that I would really not expect anyone but me to understand. I smoke and enjoy them all.
Dave, believe me I totally understand. I thought the Galleon you recently showed was an absolute work of art. I have about 50 pipes now but any going forth will be artisan pipes, a Ron Powell or an Eltang. I would rather pay $500/$700 for a Wiley than a grand for a Dunhill. Same as when folks ask me why I ride Harleys when jap bikes are so much cheaper, and I tell them because they aren't Harleys, lol.
@Tennessee Dave the old adage “smoke what you like and like what you smoke” applies to pipes as well as tobacco I believe. When I started back into pipe smoking a couple of years ago, I added some less expensive factory pipes and cobs to my meager 40 year old accumulation. Then a number of estate pipes. The outlier was a Limited Edition Larrysson bent Dublin, the Badger & Blade Brown Leaf POY, what a sweet pipe! While I still buy the occasional estate pipe, I tend to be more selective. I agree with your assessment of artisan pipes, they are a good way to go given the right circumstance.
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