How many pipes do you need?

Woodsman

I started out with a 7 day rotation. Then it was getting x amount of my favorite makers 14, then it was someone saying you need a month's rest for a pipe 31, now I've run out of excuses, I'm buying more and larger racks while frantically searching for space to put them and thinking I really don't need that much room for clothes. 58

Help!

drac2485

We like to call that PAD, Pipe Acquisition Disorder.  It is a common problem with pipe smokers.  If you want you can always send me some pipes so that way you don't have as large of a collection.  I smoke maybe once every week or two and have over 100 pipes in my collection and I have a tendency to add a pipe or tow every couple months.  I don't sweat it though because i enjoy every pipe that I have.

judandhispipe

My PAD is fairly well under control. Right now the TAD is much worse...

tomatobodhi

Just one more...

Corey562

I dont know how many one needs, just know how many I want which leads to another question it's not how many do I want rather how many can I afford.

thebadgerpiper

My wife told me I'm allowed to own up to 50 pipes. After that, I'll have to sell some of the collection to own more. We'll see if that stands...

PAD never rests,

Mangoandy

I find that I trade in and trade up.

Bphasty

5! The 5 may change but definitely 5. Any less is under-equiped any more is showing off

idbowman

I find that the exact number of pipes that I need is always exactly one more than I own.

Still, I've always been pretty good about controlling PAD...TAD, on the other had, seems to be incurable.

Subtilis87

8 Briar

1 Meerschaum

I like to keep the rule of 1 pipe per shop/event.

If I visit a shop, then that is the only pipe i get to purchase from that shop.

One pipe per show that I go to.

These rules serve two purposes.

1. My collection does not grow too fast

2. Each pipe has a location in place/time that means something to me.

Subtilis87

Correction 9 briars
#1 inherited from grandfather

#2 tinderbox Southbend, IN

#3 Campbell's smoke shop East Lansing, MI

#4 Gift 21st birthday

#5 Smokeshop Mount Plesant, MI

#6 Arrowhead pipe club pipe show

#7 Georgetown Tobacco DC

#8 5th anniversary present

#9 Country Squire, Jackson Mississippi

# 10 (meerschaum) 2011 Chicago pipe show

tim12string

As many as you can fit in your house!

pipeman83

How many is to many? Well, I say you can never have enough pipes, but then I just sold 6 of them at the NASPC Show. My display case is full and I have 2 pipes sitting on the case next to it and 10 corncobs in a shoebox underneath, so , I really can't say, as for my PAD, I'm currently getting professional help.

Abreathawayfromglory

ummm is there such a thing as to many pipes? I am at 27 and counting added two more to the collection this wekedn lol 

Hitz53

Well, the question depends on whether one considers a pipe as an artifact or as a tool. As a young man I collected a bunch of pipes. All expensive (more expensive than I really could afford) because that was what the pipe world told me that I needed (this was forty years ago). As I grew older I found that I didn't need so many pipes. There were favorites just because they were comfortable to smoke, but some of them just weren't that great because they didn't meet my needs --- free hands and big briars, for example. The common wisdom at the time was at least seven pipes; one for every day of the week. But I've known men who have smoked happily with just two or three pipes for many, many years. Speaking for myself, I'm down to about five or six pipes. And they are all corncobs. I'm not trying to impress anybody, and if the cob burns out it's cheap to replace.

xDutchx

Asking a pipe collector how many pipes he needs, is akin to asking a stamp collector how many stamps does he need to mail a letter.

Seriously, when it comes to the hobby of pipe smoking, some blends smoke better in certain pipes, and the geometry of the bowl can affect flavor as well. Add to that, the certainty or uncertainty that some pipes are crafted from better briar than others, and you have a dilemma. Do I limit myself to a seven day set, not knowing if I could do better with 14 or 21?

I think in our hearts, we all know the answer to that question. However, the real bottom line, is that it all comes down to personal satisfaction.

One pipe smoker with the means to do so, may only settle for the highest grade straight grains, and derive maximum satisfaction from the rarity of his collection, while still enjoying the other aspects of the hobby that we all enjoy.

Another pipe smoker, may choose to settle only for custom cobs that he has crafted by hand for himself, and derive maximum satisfaction from his quality smoking experience, with minimum expenditure.

Again, it all comes down to personal satisfaction, and it's not uncommon for a pipe smokers tastes to change, after they spend a significant amount of time in the hobby.

I remember reading a post a few years back on another forum, where a member stated that to him, a pipe was nothing more than a means for delivering nicotine to his bloodstream. After giving his sentiments some thought, I couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy.

ghostsofpompeii

I think I have something like 35 or 40 pipes and have come to the self realization that it's time to stop ... cold turkey. The most you can possibly justify is 31 if you're trying to rationalize that a pipe should be rested after a day's usage. And a maximum of 31 pipes gives you one pipe a day for a full month ... and nowhere have I read that 'you must' rest a pipe for a week or two after smoking. 

Last year after discovering the YouTube Pipe Community and received my first catalog from Pipes And Cigars I went crazy and purchased about a dozen or more additional pipes for my already sufficient collection. But where I really lost my mind was on tobacco purchases. I went from having one or two OTC pouches around the house at a time to now having a tobacco cellar with over 50 blends, and in most cases I purchased 4 to 8 ounces of each blend. Then when word came out about the FDA Deeming regulations and discovering many of the blends I acquired being discontinued - I went from irrational behavior to bat-shit crazy, panic buying pounds of tobacco - more than I could possibly deplete in the limited years remaining to me. A year and a half ago I hadn't even heard of the term 'tobacco cellar' - now I have a dedicated bedroom closet practically stacked floor to ceiling with Mason jars full of tobacco.         

PappyJoe

There is no correct answer to this question.

Topaz75

All of us are pipe smokers, but not all of us are pipe collectors. A regular smoker can get along perfectly fine with just a few pipes. A collector is going to need as many pipes as deemed necessary to complete his or her collection.

Woodsman

I think ghostsofpompei is right about how much tobacco is really needed. I've gone overboard on the TAD now. Some of my cellar are going to be available after the tobacco Nazis Deeming so I'm freezing their ordering and slowing others.

abcbill

I have 25 or fewer pipes. I will always have 25 or fewer pipes. I hold a Master's Certification in Satrapian Pen Math which allows me adapt Satrapian Pen Math and apply the derivative to whatever my new accumulation dysfunction is.

As an example of the supreme greatness of Satrapian Pen Math, I can say to you, with sincereity and without the least bit of guilt that my 400+ fountain pen corral numbers just under 25 pens.

I haven't done a physical count; I figure I have may 40 or so pipes in my 5 or 8 pipe collection.

I am available, on request, to explain Satrapian Pen Math and/or the extension Wright's Smokey Derivation of Satrapian Pen Math. Just let me know....

Deadpool57

My Grandpa used to tell me "smoke what you like and use only that pipe for it. Build the cake and allow for the smoke to soak into the wood. Be sure to try every type of tobacco but learn what you would actually smoke. Be a man and decide your choices in life as such".

I learned that smoking Dan Tobacco: Sweet Vanilla Honeydew is my overall favorite and it doesn't kick the wife out of the room.  I currently use about 7 pipes and if I switch tobaccos, I thoroughly clean one of the pipes and use the new tobacco.  Any extras that I get I sell on ebay or give as gifts to friends. But then again I catch myself buying large groups of pipes because I like several in the collection and sell the rest.

paulwansing

I don't know the answer, I have far fewer pipes than many smokers on here but still, I do have 23 total pipes - 16 cobs, 5 briars, 1 pearwood, and a churchwarden and I have noticed some blends simply do better in a certain pipe. So I guess if I only smoked a single blend I would only need one or two pipes but since my tastes change with the seasons I needed a few more!

Anthony

I'm in on the just one more, you know that one, that just speaks to you! just likw anything of beauty!

riobrusa

I believe that we need as many as we like and can afford. I'm collect pipes because I smoke pipes, have about 140 pipes and smoke then all, one a day. But by experience van tell that one needs only one pipe, as long as keep it clean. Years ago, smokes the same pipe for 3 consecutives months, cleaning the pipe every night, and did notice any change with the tobacco taste. But at the end, is the hobby, same with tobacco, is just plain and flat smoke the same tobacco years after years, days after days. There are no fun, no discoveries, just monochromatic and one dimensional think.