When do you decide to sell a pipe?

[Bub]

OK, we have all heard the expression "thinning the herd", but when do you decide its time to let a pipe go? More importantly, how do you decide to let it go? Do you trade it in for 50% off or do try to sell it on ebay?
For example, I have some pipes that I admire but seldom smoke. Should I keep them or sell them for other pipes that I covet?
Alternatively, do you just learn to say that enough is enough, buy some tobacco and look at the stars?
Bub

 

[briarcollector]

I have had some very rare and collectible pipes, some mid grades, and some beaters. I have traded or sold pipes of various grades - all for the same reason - I just wasn't smoking them. I am wrestling with a few pipes in the rack right now because they are truly works of art and I probably can't replace them but I'm not smoking them much...

I personally prefer ebay over trading in but some people hate dealing with ebay. Classified sections in forums like this offer an alternative with a smaller but more intimate audience.

I know some people that still have their first pipe. I'm more into turning over my collection (or as Greg Pease says, my collection of smaller collections).

Best,

Ed

OK, we have all heard the expression "thinning the herd", but when do you decide its time to let a pipe go? More importantly, how do you decide to let it go? Do you trade it in for 50% off or do try to sell it on ebay?
For example, I have some pipes that I admire but seldom smoke. Should I keep them or sell them for other pipes that I covet?
Alternatively, do you just learn to say that enough is enough, buy some tobacco and look at the stars?
Bub

 

[Muddler]

I've never sold a pipe. I tend to give away those that I haven't smoked for a long time. The less than pretty become fishing pipes, which I break or lose from time to time. I guess the issue is that my second line pipes are not that valuable - why ebay them for a few $ when I can give them as gifts?

 

[Wayne_Teipen]

The main criteria I use for deciding to sell a pipe is if I haven't smoked it in several months or don't enjoy smoking it anymore for whatever reason. Like muddler, however, I tend to give them away rather than sell them and even when I sell them it seems I give them away because I'm not a very good haggler (except when purshasing a car.) Never have been and probably never will be. Probably the biggest reason I could never successfully run my own business.

 

[mark]

Anytime I've become dissatisfied with a pipe, I've passed it on,,,clean it up and throw in some tobacco and send it to the troops overseas, or give it to someone starting out...An e-mailed "Thanks" is worth its weight in gold,,,

 

[Hermit]

I have sold one pipe.
I demanded a one cent profit. :lol:

 

[adauria]

I have never sold one either. I have about 15 of them and they all get some attention now and then. None are really so valuable that they represent any significant amount of money tied up that could be better used elsewhere. I'd just as soon keep them.

If I found I wasn't smoking one, I would certainly considering gifting it. And the situation would be different if I had more high end pipes than I smoked on a regular basis. Right now my highest end pipe is worth about $100.

-Andrew

 

[Strongirish]

I have over a hundred pipes that are in my rotation and these are the ones i just can't part with...yet. Would never sell my Petersons. I am always on the prowl for estate pipes to restore and I love the hunt and doing the restorations. But, I do sell some though if I have spent time on them I agonize over them. I resell on eBay or on forums. I form an attachment pretty much right away, at least by the third smoke. if I don't, I sell it. I buy often for just a few dollars and resell for a fair price based on brand and collectability. The ones I keep cover a large spectrum of brands, but i have never been able to sell a Peterson. I won't sell a dud though. Sometimes a pipe won't smoke well not just to me but because it was not made right. I won't let a buyer get stuck with these but I will part them. I hate it when a seller does this to me.

 

[raevans]

I've run the gamit on "Thinning the herd". I have sold pipes on eBay, traded them in at a local retailer, sold them in various forums and gifted them. It used to be that I would sell a pipe if it no longer appealed to me. Over time, I quit selling them on eBay reason being, (I know this will sound crazy to some), I never looked to make a profit on a pipe. I just didn't feel right seeing a bidding war take place and a pipe selling for far more than it was worth. Later, I had to sell quite a few of my pipes due to a serious case of TMJ. I loved large pipes and it got to the point that if I smoked one, the weight of the pipe, would lock my jaw up. Those pipes went on a forum and I pretty much got back what I paid for them. I've gifted a few pipes to friends and neighbors. Usually they were mid grade "wall" pipes and the people that I gave them to were just getting into pipe smoking. The last big sell-off all of the pipes went to a local retailer. If a pipe is not drilled correctly or has a serious flaw, I will throw it away. Once again, it doesn't seem right taking someones money for a pipe that I know has issues.

If your going to sell a pipe, I would recommend that you ask yourself if you are sure that you will not smoke it again. It's horrible when you sell a pipe only to find yourself wishing that you had not done it.

The question of when I decide to sell a pipe is pretty simple. If the pipe no longer appeals to me, I know that I will no longer smoke it, and it has no sentimental value then it goes.

Randy

 

[Justpipes]

Randy, except for the TMJ it sounds like we have both run the same gambit!

 

[raevans]

I see that you have done the pipe show circuit as well. I forgot to add that as a means that I have used to sell pipes too.

 

[Justpipes]

Shows are great fun to boot!