I was just able to pick one of my wishlist pipes up a couple days ago. Haven't even smoked it yet. Late last year I picked up my first meer, the SMS that I've posted a couple pictures of, and it's turned out to be one of my favorite pipes. While I was there, I almost purchased another SMS instead, which was a very simple and plain bent apple, that was marked at $70. However, my gal liked the more ornate finish of the one I purchased, so I went that route.
Well, on Sunday we happened to be passing through the town with that tobacconist, and stopped by again. Turns out the $70 was so inexpensive because it was an estate, but the discoloration inside the bowl is so minimal it leads me to suspect only 1 bowl was smoked through it. For the price (compared to the about $170 I paid for the first one), I snatched it right up. No formed case, unfortunately, but if it smokes anything like the first one, I'll be happy to have it.
I plan to search for some kind of padded pipe case on Amazon and keep it as more of a "travel" or "beater" pipe that I'll worry less about taking out since it wasn't as expensive and doesn't feel quite as delicate.
That's it so far for wishlist pipes. I'll continue to keep my eyes open for a Peterson Explorers Tom Crean, and I had seen a Comoy pipe that had a scrimshaw band on the shank that I would jump on if I ever found one in the wild I could afford, but at this point I'm probably more interested in growing my cellar than my pipe collection. I'm pretty happy with what I've curated thus far.
