Finite Amount of Bowls?

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Amenhotep04

Amenhotep04

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Okay, been reading during my break. Bought six pipe books. Came across something that suggested that pipes have a limited amount of smokes in them. They still can be smoked, but that the quality of smoke goes down significantly. Some say as little as 1000 smokes. Others say close to 10,000. Others say that if the pipe is kept clean, that they can go on much longer.

You guys ever hear of this?

Makes me think I need a greater number of pipes.

:farao:
 
you talking briar only?

If you have only a 7-day rotation. That means you only smoke a pipe once a week or 50 times a year. 1000 smokes would equal 20 years of usage, 10,000 smokes would equal 200 years.

I know of people that have smoked the same pipe, 2-3 times a day for 40 years, never giving the pipe even a day of rest. After 30-40K smokes they were still enjoying the pipe.

Interesting question but I think the answer is impossible to reach. It would probably depend highly on many factors.
 
Good points. I hadn't done the math. But yeah, I was talking briar.

Thanks,

:farao:
 
I would be more worried about mouth cancer if I were to worry about anything which I am not. It would depend a lot on how hot you smoke your pipe and how you take care of it. Unless you're talking mid to high grade, after 1,000 or 10,000 bowls, the price would be long forgotten when it peters out.

An old well smoked pipe that we smoked has a lot of stories and memories behind it which are priceless.
 
11, 347 if you smoke slow.


Pipes are like elves - they live forever, but can be killed in combat.
 
Amenhotep04":18n9debd said:
Makes me think I need a greater number of pipes
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C'mon,,let's not get ridiculous,,,of course you need more pipes,,, :lol!:
 
Personally I think the ole boy is right on the money. Pipes wear out even quicker than the 1000 smoke mark, its probably closer to 100 smokes.

I feel so strongly about this that I have began a new business. We all know about Global Climate change and the dangers involved with non-recycled products. I have cleared an area of my home to store 'worn-out' pipes so you boys will be carbon footprint neutral. This service isn't cheap but because of my concern for the environment I am willing to subsidize part of the project and will only require 3 easy payments of $19.99 to cover the transfer and administration needs.

Remember boys, don't toss your old pipe, send it to PB's Environmental Storage Facility..After all we need to save mother Earth for the children.
For more details visit www.pbsenviromentalservices.org While there look at our low rates on Carbon Credits, we will beat any advertised price!
 
You're referring to a reference in Rick Newcombe's "Pipe Dreams". In it Rick related a story about a Jess Chonoitsch pipe that a friend of his owned that was thought to be "all smoked out". In my opinion this is certainly possible if one smokes the same pipe day after day for years on end. Most of us though have a large enough rotation that this senario won't likely ever present itself as a problem. I'd imagine most of my pipes will still be smoked long after I've gone to the great tobacco shop in the sky :lol:
 
In all seriousness I don't see how a pipe smoked properly could 'wear out'.

I've seen stems messed up by over buffing, shoot I've even seen a pipe 'reshaped' from over buffing, but that's not what was implied in Ricks book.

Smoking a pipe generates heat, there's no way around that, the question is how does that heat effect the pipe. Smoked slowly without 'puffing it up' I don't think a pipe will ever wear out. I do think there is permenant damage every time a pipe gets puffed up to the point of the heat becoming uncomfortable for the smoker. So the concept (in my mind anyway) isn't 'does a pipe wear out', it is 'how much can you abuse a pipe before you destroy it.'
 
I have a 1915 dunhill billard that i smoke 2-3 times daley and this pipe was smoked like this by the man before me and ect so a 95 year old pipe that if you ay on a 7 day rotation would take 20 years to hit thousand bowls than this pipe has smoked 5 thousand bowls and thans based on a 7 day rotation never mind being smoked every day. And I tell you what it is my best flavored English pipe i have. I also have quite afew earley pipes from the 20s and 30s that have to be well over 1000 bowls and they are also some of my best. so from my experance pipes will smoke as long as there is some one to smoke them.
 
puros_bran":nqfhgh47 said:
We all know about Global Climate change and the dangers involved with non-recycled products.
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Damn liberals! So you're one of the "brothers" that voted for them too without regard to how it would affect your own "brothers". :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
On a related note, how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop? :D
 
To answer this question from the cost standpoint, you need to know if there is any correlation between the number of pipes you own and the frequency of ruining your pants from falling cinders. If there is, then you need to factor in the cost of pants and see where that math leads you. If you're married there could be other factors as well that could boil down to money.

Steve
 
I should probably go re-read Rick's book to get some context, but it seems to me that given the mixture of heat, moisture, tars, saliva and all the other stuff that is generated by the act of smoking, even a fairly well-cared for and regularly cleaned pipe would, after a while, start to get a little funky. As to Dock's point, I've got enough of a rotation that this is not happened to me yet, but it doesn't seem an altogether outrageous suggestion. In the interests of scientific inquiry, I therefore propose to smoke the ever-lovin crap out of my pipes as much as possible over the next 30 years and will report back regularly as to my results, I suggest y'all do the same. In the name of science, of course.
 
chopstix":0zotc8gu said:
I should probably go re-read Rick's book to get some context, but it seems to me that given the mixture of heat, moisture, tars, saliva and all the other stuff that is generated by the act of smoking, even a fairly well-cared for and regularly cleaned pipe would, after a while, start to get a little funky. As to Dock's point, I've got enough of a rotation that this is not happened to me yet, but it doesn't seem an altogether outrageous suggestion. In the interests of scientific inquiry, I therefore propose to smoke the ever-lovin crap out of my pipes as much as possible over the next 30 years and will report back regularly as to my results, I suggest y'all do the same. In the name of science, of course.
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I will do the same.

To keep the study valid, I propose that we continue to buy brand new pipes to smoke as well to serve as the control group, so we can compare and contrast. Otherwise, we'd probably get used to the gradual deterioration of our pipes and no longer be able to tell the difference.

If I die before the 30 years are up, can someone promise to publish the results?

:farao:
 
Of course a pipe, like everything else here below, is subject to time and chance. Eventually, a pipe will wear out; truly all is vanity and vexation. But if the pipe is smoked and cleaned carefully, and given a chance to dry between smokings, there is no reason why a pipe won't outlast its owner.
 
Briar, being a natural product, and absorbing things when smoking, it's possible for it wear out, but I think if the pipes taken care of, and even some of the refurbishing steps, mainly the ones focused on cleaning the bowl inside itself, could make a pipe last for years, longer than it's smoker (the most concerned person about their pipe) would last. For what it's worth, I think our pipes will outlast us, granted we take care of them
 
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