pipe prices...
What is it that makes a pipe either cheap or very expensive? It seems like they are made of Briar and apart from the obvious difference in thickness of the bowl and a few other things like that, what makes up the price of a pipe? What should a person be looking for when looking at pipes? Just looking for some education on everything pipes!
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When it comes to the pipes; the overall quality of the pipe will be reflected in the price. In the end, the old saying stands true, you get what you pay for. But check out those two sites, especially the latter, their forum has a wealth of knowledge that will truly benefit a newb such as yourself.
The quality of the briar has a lot to do with the price; the oldest briar, decades or centuries old, is the highest prized of all, and it's mostly been depleted, leaving only the younger stuff. IIRC, the older briar gets, the more dense it gets, and in many pipers opinions, the better. But since most of the old stuff has been dug up and used, only the younger stuff is in abundance anymore
When it comes to meerschaum, again, quality is what dictates price. If you look at meerschaum in a microscope, you'd see there are millions of small channels running throughout it - it's porous, and the oils from the tobacco being drawn through the pipe are what color it (for more info, check out a pipers board for how to properly wax your meerschaums; waxing draws out the oils that have been lagging behind in the meerschaum, bringing them to the surface. While not required at all, a proper waxing every 50-100 bowls can help hurry the coloring along. If you wax after a few hundred bowls, you'll be VERY shocked at how much it colored).
African meerschaum is harder than Turkish meerschaum; it doesn't break as easy, but it's not as porous as turkish, so it doesn't take up the oils as quickly - it'll color, just not as quickly as turkish. Turkish meerschaum on the other hand, is so delicate that you can scratch it with your fingernail, or just by rubbing it on your shirt - it's very soft, but it's so porous that it takes to the cigar oils like nothing else and colors quickly; of course, even with turkish meerschaum, there's grades - from A to D (I think; not sure what the lowest grade is); A grade is obviously the best, without flaws, etc.
What's the difference between turkish and african meerschaum? As the name suggests, location, location, location. I don't know the details, but there's something about the way it was formed that makes turkish meerschaum softer and in most pipers opinion, a better choice. That said, there's nothing wrong with African meerschaum, but you should know the difference so you don't get scammed and know what it is you're buying.
At the very lowest end of the meerschaum scale, is the equivalent of particle board. When a quality meerschaum pipe is made, it's carved, like wood, from the meerschaum stone. Like wood, this leaves many shavings on the ground - meerschaum pieces, maybe turkish, maybe african, are gathered from the cutting room floor of pipe makers, ground up/powdered, and glued together like particle board is. Because these meerschaum pieces are glued together, they don't have the microscopic channels that blocks of meerschaum mined from the ground have, and as a result, they will never color - they may appear to change color after many bowls smoked, but it's an illusion, easily wiped away. In reality, they'll remain forever white - which may be exactly what you're looking for; not everyone wants to color their meerschaum, some people like it to remain white and pristine looking
After the quality of the materials, there's always the name itself; some old pipe brands just command higher prices due to reputation; sometimes they deserve that reputation, sometimes they're just coasting.
As for pipe forums, this one is my favorite; tons of old geezers and life long pipers, mostly from the UK, who love to talk pipes and pipe tobacco: http://pipesmokersforum.com/community/
Generally all factory-made is cheapest, and all hand-made is the most expensive. You typically expect better engineering and carving in a hand-made. I think that "hand-finished" is a good compromise to find affordable, but well made pipes. Luciano is a good brand for those, in my opinion.
I've got a cheap Dr. Grabow that I really like, and am in fact about to fire up, and the reason is exactly what Xmacro pointed out about the hole. Just a touch above the bottom. I've also had several Dr. Grabows that ended up in the trash, again, wrong placement. Too high or too low. My favorite pipe is one I picked up in Germany for about $90.00 in 1985. Very hard and dense, nice thick walls, well placed hole. My wife flipped at spending nearly a hundred bucks "just on a pipe", but a good one that meets all the requirements is a lifetime investment.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
Not sure if I was clear on this, and I've amended my post to make it a bit more clear - you want the hole to be flush with the bottom of the pipe, not above it.
EDIT: Something I forgot to mention in my other post as well - meerschaum is so porous, that oftentimes the meerschaum will absorb the oils from your hands, leading to stained fingerprints on the outside of the bowl. You may or may not care about this, but should be aware of it; those fingerprints can result in an uneven coloring when the oils from the outside are drawn out and begin showing.
The classic way to avoid this back in the day was to wear white cotton gloves, which some people still recommend. Or you can take the easier route and either 1) handle the pipe by the stem and avoid the bowl, or 2) Just wash your hands before handling the pipe, and try not to grab onto the hot parts - no more fingerprints.
It should be mentioned that meerschaum, being a stone, doesn't burn like briar, so you can't catch the bowl on fire by smoking too hot, but still - smoking a meerschaum hot degrades the beeswax, which will slow or stop coloring. The easy way to get around this is to either smoke slow, or just rewax the pipe yourself (a very easy thing to do; just buy some pharmaceutical grade white beeswax, melt it, and apply to pipe; there are some excellent tutorials on the website I linked to. It can be done by dipping the pipe in a pot of hot wax or applying it chapstick style, thought the hot pot method is the most thorough)
It seems like there may be a few good sources of tobacco and whatknot locally so it is advice that I am looking for now.
What types or blend names do you guy's suggest for a new pipe smoker. Keep in mind that I am a regular cigar smoker who loves full on Nicaraguan cigars, so I don't think I need to start off too mild or anything. In fact I have been doing some reading and it seems the current thoughts on this is that as you mature as a pipe smoker you may become better at enjoying the subtle and more refined taste of single blend or milder tasting tobacco? That was not my opinion... just what I have been reading. Any help is appreciated.
I've been casting about since my local supplier went out of business a couple years ago, and I found that most of the blends I'd smoked before were no longer available. Apparently, a lot of the Dutch companies don't send to the U.S. due to our ridiculous packaging laws? The labelling of tobacco California style, I think.
Recently I've been smoking MacClelland 221-B, and Sutliff Balkan Luxury. The 221-B is the mellower of the two, the Balkan is complex and more powerful. I've found that after the Balkan, nothing else will do that day, and cigars won't taste right. You can smoke it sometime after a cigar, no problem. Reverse the order and your palate is tainted.
Yesterday my first tin of FrogMorton On the Town arrived. Smells fantastic, I'm looking forward to trying it out later today, maybe tomorrow.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
Laker: +1 to the Frog Morton, great stuff
I'd also add that I've never encountered a pipe tobacco that packs the punch of a cigar; it's all milder. I can sit out on the porch for 2 hours and retrohale pipe tobacco without any burn whatsoever; it's a much more mild experience.
That said, if you want a punch, there are some that'll hit you hard:
- Samuel Gawith Squadron Leader
- Samuel Gawith 1792 Flake
Between Sam Gawith and the milder stuff, you may wanna try GL Pease Triple Play and GL Pease Jack Knife Plug, along with Peter Stokkebye Luxury Navy, Peter Stokkebye Luxury Twist and Peter Stokkebye Luxury Bullseye Flake
There are several shops in Vancouver who seem to stock a ton of different blends, but they are also really big on house blends. Do you guy's have any experience with house blends? Are they worth a shot, or should I wait until I know more about what I am looking for, as far as type of tobacco I like etc.?
EDIT: I can't believe I forgot to mention this in my other meerschaum posts - the main reason people enjoy meerschaum isn't the coloring, it's the fact that the pipes don't contribute anything to the tobacco like briars do, so you get more of the tobacco's actual flavor, but most importantly: they almost never ghost, so you can smoke a ton of different stuff in a meerschaum and it won't ghost the pipe. That said, it is possible to kinda-sorta ghost a meerschaum if you smoke a TON of stuff in it that's notorious for ghost, without giving the pipe a rest or smoking anything else, like a bunch of lakeland, perique, etc, exclusively. I've heard that even in that situation you can unghost the pipe if you smoke some other stuff that doesn't have those blends in it for a bit - no idea if this works tho.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain