Buying Your First Estate Pipe

So you want to smoke a briar pipe?
Briar pipes take a lot more work than cob pipes.  They are less forgiving to smoke, are more expensive, can have moisture issues, should be rested in between smokes, and require more cleaning and care.  But with proper techniques they can also give a most pleasurable smoking experience...and they look more impressive in public than a cob does!

Buying a new briar pipe leads quickly to a few problems:
 •  Cheap briar pipes (like drugstore brands, etc) are usually poorly constructed
 •  Pipes by well known makers, such as Dunhill and Peterson, get quite expensive

 •  Breaking-in new briar pipes takes some expertise and a bunch of time.

Buying a GOOD estate pipe (used pipe) will mitigate all of these problems.
•  An experienced piper has already selected the pipe and smoked it for some time, so it should be a good-smoking pipe (good construction/materials, minimal moisture issues, etc).
•  Many quality brands are available on the estate pipe market for affordable prices, including the popular brands of today and yesteryear too.
•  And most likely the pipe will already be broken-in with ample "cake" in the bowl.


There are TWO WAYS to go about buying an estate pipe:
1.)  By going to an online pipe retailer's site and seeing what estate pipes they have.  They will have cleaned the pipe and will tell you all the details you wish to know about them.  You will also pay handsomely for this, with pipes starting around $50 and going up very quickly.

If you choose to go this route, here are two sites you can start with:
SmokingPipes.com
SmokersHaven.com

2.)  By buying from a private seller, on eBay, Craigslist, Goodwill, antique shops, or any other means.  The seller normally has NOT cleaned the pipe, they will have no idea about what type or brand it is, and will often mis-price them...sometimes in your favor!

The SECOND route will be discussed in detail in my next post!

To be continued...

~TMP