Minimum wage pipes

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Greenleaf

Greenleaf

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Okay, I'm actually at a dollar above minimum wage and I live comfortably off of it. The point is that the percieved expense of pipe smoking seems to discourage some beginners. Indeed, it's seen as a rich man's habit when it's really the ideal poor man's smoke. I spend probably 70 cents a day on my heavy pipe smoking as opposed to $9 a day on my heavy cigarette smoking. Who smokes most? Poor people. These are my pipes, mostly Czech, which smoke good and cool and have solid workmanship. Really, I've smoked some sorry cheap pipes and these ain't it. They were $40 or less. The racks were bought at a thrift store on seperate occasions, both under $5. That black pipe pouch with rubber tobacco compartment was $25. My Zippo pipe lighter I damn sure love. It's solid brushed brass, special ordered for perhaps $20. I'm just a pipe lover, not a connoisseur, so I don't know about expensive pipes and how good they are. I do know that what I've got is all I need. My smokes are cool and satisfying. So, if you're concerned about the expense of pipe smoking, don't be. Just chill out and enjoy a smoke.



 
I like to brag a bit about how cheap I find things for, you should see my badass collection of thrift store blazers and ties. Each briar was less than a carton of Marlboros, but they're all special to me in a way. The search itself for good pipes at this price is hard and takes time, you know how so many cheap pipes are junk. And, my collection might be better if I hadn't been spending fortunes on cigarettes. Still must order more cobs very soon, love the big ones. The one shortcoming of a few of these Czechs is that the vulcanite oxidizes easily. I olive oil them weekly and will be ordering this Paragon wax very soon.
 
Yes know this well as I use to have a few nice ones, but more of the 2nd's and some if my memory serves me well I think a few were $15 each way back when and each have a few small fill places, but smoke great and still smoke them even though I have more nice one especially after the last several I bought. Before these I probably had maybe 7 to 9 really nice pipes and more that were not high cost at all. I count my Petersons and not high cost as all were bought before 1980 as were my Nordings. Don't mean they were cheap, but for sure not costly. Heck even my Caminetto Business pipes were like $65-$95. I know that's not cheap, but they were not $150-$200 either.

The 2nd's were how I built in a rotation at first and way back then had maybe 3 nice one and filled out the rest with not high cost, but good smokers. Ever though I have enough to make a rotation that didn't include my old 2nd's I don't do that and still smoke them pretty regular.

Skip
 
I was a dedicated thrift store hunter for many years, and I still have the first thing I ever bought at the Salvation Army, back in 1985. Don't have much time anymore, although I'll still hit the Goodwill once in a while, and I still turn up a treasure every now then. Blazers and ties? I've dug up a few of each in my day, and still wear a lot of them, proudly!
 
I haven't found any pipes at Goodwill, Salvation Army, Thrift Stores, etc.....yet. :lol:
 
Yeah, I've got a great czech pipe, nothing fancy, good construction, smokes great. $40.
 
This is what I love about pipe smoking - there's a place for everyone, no matter what your budget is. And the truth is that there really is not a huge amount of snobbery amongst pipe smokers. Some, yes, but compared to other pursuits, it's fairly small. Good smokers can be had at any price point. I too started off with Italian seconds (which I now use as fishing & car pipes - they're good smokers) & then kind of graduated onwards to more expensive pipes as money became available.
 
Get the stem restoring kit from Walker pipe repair you can bring them back to new.The olive oil retards oxidation.You can buy at the grocery store (publix) a product that will easily take all oxidation off of a vulcanite stem called Magic Eraser. no more clorox and sand paper.They will be dull after the eraser then use the kit and you will have new stems.takes about 10 minutes a stem.Very easy. A good smoke can come from a cheap pipe.how long ?Ihave a yellow bowl,paid 3.95 for it.might last a year more.Always smoked great,not good ,but great.how many I had before it? 5 pipes all gone.Traded off or sold off.Not a good smoke,not one.Later on you pay more and hope to get that great smoker with the odds more in your favor.That yellow bowl was an exception to the rule.You get what you pay for.I too get tired of people buying 600 plus dollar pipes and treating them like they were magic.I also lose patience with people that buy shitty pipes and act as if they have been given the gospel,while people who love and smoke the expensive creations must not really know whats up.I have found both sides lacking.Most of the purists, both high end and low wouldnt know a good smoke if it bit them where the sun doesnt shine.Then enters the pipe smoker who realizes how lucky we are to have these creations.The joy and comfort non-pipers miss.pure pleasure stuffing our cheap or expensive tobacco into our pipes till the release of pipe angels singing a job well done.Buy the pipes you can.Who knows, the people that think we need thier advice may one day make it illegal to buy tobacco or maybe even pipes.I celebrate anyone who is smart enough to pick up a pipe.The look of pleasure on their faces tells me if they know what they are doing.That yellow bowl has made it 52 years.Ifound out the other day that I have the worse case of T.A.D.and P.A.D.my doctor has ever seen.I buy pipes no matter what the cost up or down.I just have to have them.He wants to be accepted by the politically correct so he smokes in secret.He thinks I have a problem?WE dont have time to fight with each other and if you listen and pursue this pipe smoking you will be amazed at the knowlege some of these people have.They wow me all the time.Thats why Im reading this blog.They will teach you!Hope this helps.Got to go, a Viprati and some cheap burley are calling.
 
The first pipe I bought was a rusticated Italian briar basket pipe from a B&M for $20. I get a damn fine smoke out of it every time, and wouldn't trade it for the world. I've got a few fancier and more expensive pipes which I love without a doubt and they can send me into a glorious haze of zen like bliss, but that $20 basket pipe is home.
 
A guy I work with was asking me about pipe smoking the other night, said he wanted a pipe of his own. I told him about my favorite shop and the Czech pipes I smoke. He thought $30 was some outrageous price for a pipe! I tried to explain it to him, but all he could say was "damn, thirty dollars!" I had to keep correcting him when he simply called pipes "wood" rather than recognize that it takes a special type of wood. For God's sake, you can smoke cheap but not for free. Maybe the cheap bastard will spring for a cob.
 
LOL....

Before I started in on pipes I bought my step dad a Dr Grabow thinking I was giving him the gift of gifts, a $18 pipe.. He recieved it gracefully and smoked it right up until he gave up pipes to support mom in her effort to give up cigs..
 
I don't make much either and a good chunk of my money goes to pipes. I love buying them, simple as that. I search estate sales and antique stores and the like for nice used ones, but rarely find anything, that's why most of my pipes are new, not through distaste for estate ones. I don't tell non-pipe smokers the cost of my pipes. They wouldn't understand.
 
Nothing says "common sense" more clearly than when cobs appear on a man's rack. I don't begrudge anyone the pleasure of owning and smoking a $5,000 Rasmussen, but there's more to that particular pursuit of happiness than "I just want a good smoke." The appreciation of craftsmanship, engineering, and even fine art—these are all the additional dimensions that festoon the megabux pipe experience.

But if sublime smokage is all you're after, you need look no further than the corn cob pipe—the ultimate evidence that pipe smoking is everyman's door to enjoyment of the sacred weed.

:joker:
 
Take this for what it's worth. If that's "nothing," then so be it. Started with good pipes (i.e., better than the no-names the small town news outlet sold along with codger burlies and Marsh Wheelings) in 1973. "Good" pipes have come and gone since, as have inexpensive ones. Two bottom line conclusions :

1) Pipes, like violins and accoustic guitars, need around 30 years to come into their own. "Good" or not is obvious from the get-go, but ripening takes time. The one (singular) "new(er)" pipe here is a Castello Collection Christmas Bomb from PeeDee -- an awesome pipe. The other 20 or so are old-timers -- many with replacement stems (the headliner replacements are state-of-the-art ones by LL). Brand name has not been a factor in retention. Nor has price. In fact, putting (with postage) maybe $90 into turning a promising Fleabay $10 Cheapshit into a smoking machine has been money well spent indeed.

2) Love is where you find it. The forced-choice scenerio is always a fraud but, if there ever were one, it would be a Kildare (Peterson second) straight bulldog. The re-stem cost more than the pipe did (used). FWIW (above), five out of the dozen that see regular use are group 3-4 size Petersons that are anywhere from around 30 to maybe 70-something years old. Except for the Castello and the Charatan (arguably the Loewe), all lunchbucket pipes with no pretense to "distinction." What distinguishes them is the regularity with which they put a smile on my face.

:face:
 
I really like this post. I am new to the hobby and I want to get a few pipes, but a lot of times the cost is prohibitive. I've wondered where you can pick up estate pipes at a bargain. Looks like I should check thrift stores and things like that.
 
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