Dock
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2007
- Messages
- 1,934
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I can remember talking with friend and bookseller Ben Rappaport a few years back. He was saying that folks were no longer actively purchasing his pipe/tobacco/cigar related books. "They want the wood, not the word now." he said.
When I myself was an up and coming collector in the late 90's I visited fellow Sherlock Holmes Pipe Club members houses that were literaly LOADED with pipe/tobacco advertising items and artwork. I drolled over Dunhill jars, rare promotional items, framed prints and rare books. To me, the pipes were fine but the hard to get collectibles were just superb.
The pipe hobby as a collectible category got it's unoffical start at a pipe show in St.Louis I believe around 1978. The first real collectors actively bought up Dunhills, Charatans and GBD's with the occasional Savinelli Autograph showing up as the artisian pipe market in the US was nonexistant. Those in Europe like Castello and S.Bang weren't well known as their pipes were only brought in in small numbers via the black market. Many of these pipe pioneers were active collectors of catalogs, jars and retail store display items. They felt that these items truly added to their pipe collections and they filled their smoking rooms with stuff bought at the major pipe shows of the time as it was pre e-bay.
It seems that the new and young generation of pipe hobbyists could really care less about anything except the pipes and tobacco themselves. This, of course is my own feeling and I would love to hear others opinions. I hope I'm wrong as acquiring old signs, vintage tins and long out of print tobacco books is rewarding, challenging and fun....
When I myself was an up and coming collector in the late 90's I visited fellow Sherlock Holmes Pipe Club members houses that were literaly LOADED with pipe/tobacco advertising items and artwork. I drolled over Dunhill jars, rare promotional items, framed prints and rare books. To me, the pipes were fine but the hard to get collectibles were just superb.
The pipe hobby as a collectible category got it's unoffical start at a pipe show in St.Louis I believe around 1978. The first real collectors actively bought up Dunhills, Charatans and GBD's with the occasional Savinelli Autograph showing up as the artisian pipe market in the US was nonexistant. Those in Europe like Castello and S.Bang weren't well known as their pipes were only brought in in small numbers via the black market. Many of these pipe pioneers were active collectors of catalogs, jars and retail store display items. They felt that these items truly added to their pipe collections and they filled their smoking rooms with stuff bought at the major pipe shows of the time as it was pre e-bay.
It seems that the new and young generation of pipe hobbyists could really care less about anything except the pipes and tobacco themselves. This, of course is my own feeling and I would love to hear others opinions. I hope I'm wrong as acquiring old signs, vintage tins and long out of print tobacco books is rewarding, challenging and fun....