There are many benefits to buying an estate pipes, one of those reasons might be because it’s a certain no longer found on the market. Another might be because you do not wish to pay retail for it, or perhaps your just looking for a pipe to restore for fun.
While I own many brand new pipes I also own many more estate pipes. Some of these pipes are in almost near perfect condition, while others not so and, need to be worked on a little. I know many people which have a problem with buying a second hand pipe, mostly the complaint is ” It’s been in somebody else mouth “. Well here’s a fact for us all. No matter what restaurant we go to wither it’s a three star Michelin or the local pub diner about five hundred plus people will have eaten off the same plate as you, used the cutlery before you and drunk out the glass before you. Of course before it gets too your mouth all the items are cleaned threw. This holds the same for estate pipes, the rimmed back, stems polished and sanitized and the finish restored. This can either be done by you or by a professional pipe maker/restorer. Either way your pipe will be clean again and ready to smoke. Some estate pipes will have been heavily smoked with strong tobacco which will have caused a ghosting, all you can really do here is keep smoking your tobacco and after time it will go. For the biggest benefit of buying estate pipes is that I can buy a large number of good pipes for less money. It was only yesterday I picked up and estate lot of 2 Karl Erik’s, 1 Peterson system, 1 Peterson silver spigot, 1 Peterson’s meerschaum rock, a couple of Savinelli’s, couple of Danish Free-hands, 3 Stanwells for 125 euros and it’s not the first time I have had bargains like that. Where some of us may be on a budget and are wanting a quality pipe like a Dunhill or a Peterson’s but have the money to spend on a new one then looking around for a good estate pipe is the best way to go, the other advantage is you maybe like me interested like me in only 2 of the pipes in the Job lot however buying the lot means in time you can re-sell them or trade.
Of course like anything you buy make sure you do your homework,
There are many gems out there that people perhaps don’t know about. We all know a Dunhill, black stem white dot. However a Parker for example is an Dunhill second and one of those pipes many people forget about. While smoking is now becoming more and anti social in the eyes of the government this is the time to start buying.
Many people are giving up the smoking, pipes left by and deceased and no one in the family wants the old tobacco or pipes. I keep seeing more and more estate pipes coming up for auction, but not just that, Pipe lighters from Dunhill, Corona, Dupont and Cartier, pipe racks and stands, pipe cleaners etc etc. While the price of tobacco goes up we must look at other ways of keeping cost down and estate buys is one way of doing it. Another great advantage is nowadays we shop for rare pipes online, something which many of us could not do ten years ago and therefore those pipes we would have perhaps only found by chance are at the tips of our fingers for little money.
The best advice I can give you when buying an estate pipe is look at the condition of it, make sure all the parts are original and the the briar is not burnt out. The finish of a pipe can always be restored. Also know roughly what you want to pay for the pipe. Some people will always knock the price up with a story like ” The pipe belonged to my Grand father, smoked daily but well looked after. Looking for 200 euros ” . While to buy the same pipe it’s 120 euro’s. The amount of times I have had people expecting me to pay for the sentimental value because it was grandpa’s war pipe I would be a Millionaire. Most of the time the value in a pipe is the quality of it’s smoking ability and the best smoking pipes I feel are ones that have been broken into for a great length of time, this holds more true to a Meerschaum that has over sixty odd years been smoked and is Amber and brown and golden and will only smoke and color more the more you smoke it.
My advice is if the pipe is not cracked or broken - don't toss it. Give it a good cleaning along with the rest, then spread out the entire collection you've accumulated and pick out the ones you want for your personal collection. Set the rest aside for safe keeping in some out of the way place. Then when the zombie apocalypse of what-ever disaster is about to befall mankind arrives (and believe me ... it's coming) you'll have a little something for bartering power. Cigarettes and cigars will disappear pretty quick ... but there are many pipe smokers among us with cellars full of bulk tobacco to quell the cravings of smokers who will be more than happy to transition from cigarettes to pipes. And a clean Estate pipe along with a few ounces of tobacco just might be enough to get you a half dozen cans of beans, some dental floss, and a AA battery.
Doesn't make any sense to throw something out that's still useful. And unless a pipe is actually broken it should smoke just fine. Unless of course it's ghosted by Mixture 79. Then it's useless.
I've seen a guy on the 'net who makes up little "starter set" baggies with a cheap corn cob pipe, some baccy, some pipe cleaners, and some matches. He would give these away to anyone who expressed an interest when they saw him smoking his pipe in order to promote the hobby. Perhaps you could clean up those that you don't want to keep then give them to friends who show an interest in trying this out. Either that, or use 'em to start your own "Pipe & Bikini Exhibition Team"! 😆
Comments
How to Buy an Estate Pipe for Less (above) is found at:
https://www.ebay.com/gds/how-to-buy-an-estate-pipe-for-less/580058b5399d3140368a61e1/g.html
Sorry, I was wrong saying both are from eBay: the second article, Buying Pipes on eBay, above, is from
https://us.v-cdn.net/6029410/uploads/editor/y6/gz9rkpstu47t.pdf
Estate Pipes
There are many benefits to buying an estate pipes, one of those reasons might be because it’s a certain no longer found on the market. Another might be because you do not wish to pay retail for it, or perhaps your just looking for a pipe to restore for fun.
While I own many brand new pipes I also own many more estate pipes. Some of these pipes are in almost near perfect condition, while others not so and, need to be worked on a little. I know many people which have a problem with buying a second hand pipe, mostly the complaint is ” It’s been in somebody else mouth “.
Well here’s a fact for us all. No matter what restaurant we go to wither it’s a three star Michelin or the local pub diner about five hundred plus people will have eaten off the same plate as you, used the cutlery before you and drunk out the glass before you. Of course before it gets too your mouth all the items are cleaned threw.
This holds the same for estate pipes, the rimmed back, stems polished and sanitized and the finish restored. This can either be done by you or by a professional pipe maker/restorer. Either way your pipe will be clean again and ready to smoke. Some estate pipes will have been heavily smoked with strong tobacco which will have caused a ghosting, all you can really do here is keep smoking your tobacco and after time it will go. For the biggest benefit of buying estate pipes is that I can buy a large number of good pipes for less money.
It was only yesterday I picked up and estate lot of 2 Karl Erik’s, 1 Peterson system, 1 Peterson silver spigot, 1 Peterson’s meerschaum rock, a couple of Savinelli’s, couple of Danish Free-hands, 3 Stanwells for 125 euros and it’s not the first time I have had bargains like that.
Where some of us may be on a budget and are wanting a quality pipe like a Dunhill or a Peterson’s but have the money to spend on a new one then looking around for a good estate pipe is the best way to go, the other advantage is you maybe like me interested like me in only 2 of the pipes in the Job lot however buying the lot means in time you can re-sell them or trade.
Of course like anything you buy make sure you do your homework,
There are many gems out there that people perhaps don’t know about. We all know a Dunhill, black stem white dot. However a Parker for example is an Dunhill second and one of those pipes many people forget about. While smoking is now becoming more and anti social in the eyes of the government this is the time to start buying.
Many people are giving up the smoking, pipes left by and deceased and no one in the family wants the old tobacco or pipes. I keep seeing more and more estate pipes coming up for auction, but not just that, Pipe lighters from Dunhill, Corona, Dupont and Cartier, pipe racks and stands, pipe cleaners etc etc. While the price of tobacco goes up we must look at other ways of keeping cost down and estate buys is one way of doing it. Another great advantage is nowadays we shop for rare pipes online, something which many of us could not do ten years ago and therefore those pipes we would have perhaps only found by chance are at the tips of our fingers for little money.
The best advice I can give you when buying an estate pipe is look at the condition of it, make sure all the parts are original and the the briar is not burnt out. The finish of a pipe can always be restored. Also know roughly what you want to pay for the pipe. Some people will always knock the price up with a story like ” The pipe belonged to my Grand father, smoked daily but well looked after. Looking for 200 euros ” . While to buy the same pipe it’s 120 euro’s. The amount of times I have had people expecting me to pay for the sentimental value because it was grandpa’s war pipe I would be a Millionaire. Most of the time the value in a pipe is the quality of it’s smoking ability and the best smoking pipes I feel are ones that have been broken into for a great length of time, this holds more true to a Meerschaum that has over sixty odd years been smoked and is Amber and brown and golden and will only smoke and color more the more you smoke it.
Ped A. van de Gevel
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS: What differentiates cleaning a pipe and restoring it?
https://rebornpipes.com/2020/08/15/answers-to-questions-what-differentiates-cleaning-a-pipe-and-restoring-it/I don't want to see @ghostsofpompeii in a bikini, no, uh-ah, nope. 😖