I have been wanting to buy a churchwarden pipe for a while now. Though I'm on a bit of a budget (100 dollars or less, perhaps?), I'd like to find a decent pipe. I've been looking around the internet at various brands, but I don't know enough to make an informed decision.

Is Brindisi a good brand? Do any of you have any suggestions for me? Thank you in advance!

Another Brother recently had the same question, same pricepoint as you: check out the discussion here and here.

Thank you very much. I apologize for cluttering up the forum... I'll look around first before posting from now on.

Didn't mean to scold--just figured those topics would be a good place to start. Don't know much about Brindisi pipes, but there are some solid brands with solid reps for your money.

These are almost certainly worth a look:

http://www.pipesandcigars.com/nodustpi1.html

The Stanwell Hans Christain Andersons are nice pipes, but a bit high for your price range, maybe.

www.thesmoker.com have Stanwell Hans Christian anderson sub-100... Mel is a good guy to boot.

I'd also look around at www.frenchyspipes.com untelling what he has available.

Now why on Earth would you want to boot Mel? What has he ever done

Frenchy is DA BOMB I've done business with him many times.

hillbilly-ese

Truth be known thats probably why you think I'm cryptic... you can't hear me speak...lol...

And yes I know it was humor

Let me say this about that.Churchwardens and gourd calabashes have pros
and cons.While I find I get a somewhai cooler smoke,you don't get the full taste
of the tobacco that you get in a regular sized pipe.You don't get that "in the zone"
effect so many of us seek in our smoking.In my opinion,I've never seen the topic discussed before.

Winslow

Jericho,

IMHO, Churchwardens are GREAT when you really just want to sit back and enjoy a smoke, maybe read a book but nothing serious, and I like that Lord of the Rings feel about them. I like to smoke while I do my studies and write papers, it helps me concentrate better, but I like the standard pipes for that because I just let them hang most of the time. Churchwardens don't do so well if you expect to be using your hands for other things.

I bought the Savinelli 601 Z and I can only say that it's fantastic. I use this one for aromatic blends and I love that the bit is quite thin and I can jus cross my arms and let it rest on my hand. pipesandcigars.com and cupojoes.com both have this and it's a VERY reasonable price. With the $40 I had remaining after the purchase, I put it aside for my next churchwarden to smoke non-aromatics in, which I will be getting from Boswell pipes. Check out boswellpipes.com and look at their churchwarden pipe gallery. I was about to buy the BC Balzac but once I saw this pipe from boswell I was hooked and though it may take a while to get, I'm sure my patience will pay off.


I simply asked him to make me this exact pipe, and for less than $100. There are other makers out there that can make one for you to your specs, and if Boswell turns out to be a good pipe, I may get one of their rhodhesians.

If you would like a CW right now, the savinelli is great, AND it passes the cleanner test, Just keep in mind, have plenty of churchwarden pipe cleaners handy as it DOES tend to have A LOT of moisture in the stem and does need a little extra oomph when puffing, but since my experience is based on the smell of the tobacco and not as much of the taste, the extra distance from the nose helps me get an even better fix.

Hope this helps

Thank you all for your advice. Bentbulldog, I really like the look of that Savinelli... I think I'm gonna try and track down one of those.

This is the savinelli

Easily obtained off the internet, and goes for around $55, beware some sites will ask you for much more. Cupojoes.com usually has it.

The pipe in the previous post is the boswell.

I just received a new-old-stock Medico churchwarden last week. I found it on the 'bay, and paid only $20 for it. It's a great smoking pipe, and for the price it would be hard to complain much even if it wasn't

I'll add another voice for the Savinelli. I have one like that black rusticated one pictured above (but a bit straighter). Love it!

-Andrew

I bought a Brindisi several months ago, it was my first Churchwarden. Turned out to be a good pipe, I liked the Churchwarden so much I bought a Peterson Prince, nice smoker but too small a bowl, then I ran across a Brebbia Lectura, it was $65.00, bought that one also, and it is a great smoker, so nice in fact that I bought a second one as a traveler. I have found that not each of my Churchwardens is a good smoke with any tobacco. I like the Nat Sherman 307 and Tinderbox Sunset in the Brebbia's, but neither tastes good in the Brindisi, and the Peterson Deluxe doesn't smoke well in the Brebbia but smokes good on the Brindisi, it is dryer and smokes fast. I like a bigger pipe and like to make my smokes last, the Churchwardens are a sit down evening pipe for me and last a fair amount of time, but I wish the bowls were bigger.
The Brindisi was a good starter Churchwarden for me and I am glad I bought it, I was able to enjoy it and learn what i wanted in a Churchwarden. Good Luck.