Selling pipes from kits

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1968eric

1968eric

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The other day I was discussing another topic and to make my point I sort of declared, as if it were an absolute, that no one would consider buying a pipe the carver had made from a kit. In my mind, this is just axiomatic.

Since then, I ran across someone who is doing just that! He mentioned the pipes he sells are made from kits he buys.

I think kits are great for making pipe to smoke yourself - I've made a few, and no problem giving them away.

But selling them? This seems sort of bad form. Am I in the minority for looking down on this?
 
To each his own, I guess.

I once knew a guy who went to a trout farm where you pay for your catch by the pound. He caught a pretty large rainbow, had it mounted and hung it on his living room wall.

Rad
 
Well, there's two ways to look at it. First, anyone stupid enough to buy from this guy (unless the price is very low indeed) deserves just what they get. Most of those kits are decent but unexceptional briar, and the likelihood of passing off a kit as a high grade pipe is slim.

There are a surprising number of sellers on ebay which I won't name, (Buzzjack, etc) who are selling kit pipes, or at the very best, drilled briar blocks that have been polished, calling them "high grade pipes" and bragging about how all kinds of pipe makers come to them for advice. Again - caveat emptor. Oh, wait, I did name them, didn't I? :oops:

Is it kosher to pass off a kit pipe as a handmade? I would say that's disingenuous, if not downright dishonest. But again, anyone who figures that a kit pipe is gonna shine up into a Todd Johnson lookalike is totally dreaming. I bet the results are pretty mediocre, and you sure as hell are not going to make a splash in the pipe making world by having 2 types of pipe available (bent or straight, sir?), in 1 size.

So is it okay? Sure. Is it a scam? Pretty low grade scam. No one is making a million bucks. It takes FAR longer to shape, sand and finish a pipe than to drill it!

I'm totally new at making pipes, but I do make handmades, and I make them to whatever spec the customer wants, and I work very hard to make them mechanically very very good. I wouldn't dream of using someone else's drilling.

Here's a beaut: Get em while they're hot



http://cgi.ebay.ca/Handmade-Briar-Pipe-Huge-Bowl-Nice-Grain-REDONE_W0QQitemZ270373043940QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item270373043940&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1215%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318
 
Rad Davis":qb9fi1wy said:
To each his own, I guess.

I once knew a guy who went to a trout farm where you pay for your catch by the pound. He caught a pretty large rainbow, had it mounted and hung it on his living room wall.

Rad
Click to expand...
Hey, he caught it. :lol!:
 
Sasquatch":aobtx5m3 said:
There are a surprising number of sellers on ebay which I won't name, (Buzzjack, etc) who are selling kit pipes, or at the very best, drilled briar blocks that have been polished, calling them "high grade pipes" and bragging about how all kinds of pipe makers come to them for advice. Again - caveat emptor. Oh, wait, I did name them, didn't I? :oops:
Click to expand...
Hey! Donchu be talkin' 'bout Buzzjack! :x
The guy's in a class by himself.
I can't think of another pipe carver whose
"work" is so easily and instantly recognizable.
The second ya see one, ya know it's a Buzzjack! :lol!:
 
Good point Hermit. There is certainly no danger of confusing a Buzzjack for a Rad Davis.
 
That's quite posibly the ugliest pipe I've ever seen in my life! It kinda looks like a toilet without the seat!

Go Buzzjack! :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:
 
Hey, give him a break - he says he "spends less time on sanding" so he can....um.... spend more time on..... geez, what does he spend the time on? :suspect:
 
He spends his time doing high-end work farmed out to him by less skilled pipesmiths. Didn't you read his blurb?

DPG, that is the nicest thing anyone has ever said about a Buzzjack, and in all honesty, this is definitely one of his nicer pieces. Here is a guy who SHOULD be selling predrilled kit pipes.
 
You all are making me mighty happy that I use keywords to search for pipes, rather than letting all 6000 entries on ebay inflict themselves on me ;)
 
Yeah. Sadly, that's one of his better offerings. Used to have a "But it Now" button marked around 100 bucks. Don't imagine it got pressed all too often.
 
That is one fugly pipe, might make a good doorstop? Seriously though, I guess I might by a kit pipe if it were cheap and I really liked the shape but at that point I have enough tools and the like to make my one. Oh and know how to use sand paper.
Edit: Ol Buzzy seems to have unusualy large number of churchwardarns that he claims to be original, despite a lack of marking and poor fit of stem to shank. :scratch:
 
I've never been able to figure out if he's crooked or just stupid. :cheers:
 
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