Cigar smoker needs advice about recently acquired pipes.

[Rob.]

Hey guys,

Normally I stick to cigars, but today I gained a lot of 4 different pipes, and really I have no idea what to do with them. I may keep one for my own use, but to have 4 is a bit over my head at this time.
Is there a good site I can use to get a value for these? They may not be worth anything at all, but it would be nice to know.

Two of them are Amphora X-tra's numbers 646 and 722-842

One of the others is an Ideal made in Italy, and the final one is a Radcliffe.
Anything to point me in the right direction would be great.

Thanks,

Rob.

[Mister Moo]

No good valuation site and, at forums like this, folks are usually more interested in smoking and restoring their pipes than in trying to figure out what they're worth.

Amphora is a Dutch brand characterized (not exclusively) by low/average quality briar, conventional designs and good smoking characteristics. Some are cosmetically nicer, thus more desirable, than others.

Ideal and Radcliff are unknown to me and I am not hardly the last word on pipes of the universe.

Learn more at pipedia.com and pipephil.eu; photos of pipes always help; average pipes tend to run in packs; look around for a guy named strongirish (Patrick) who has many hundreds of older pipes in a big bag under his bed and knows about these things.

If you decide to keep one pipe for your own use, just keep the four of them. It always works out better that way.

[Emjaysmash]

Originally Posted by Mister Moo

No good valuation site and, at forums like this, folks are usually more interested in smoking and restoring their pipes than in trying to figure out what they're worth.

Amphora is a Dutch brand characterized (not exclusively) by low/average quality briar, conventional designs and good smoking characteristics. Some are cosmetically nicer, thus more desirable, than others.

Ideal and Radcliff are unknown to me and I am not hardly the last word on pipes of the universe.

Learn more at pipedia.com and pipephil.eu; photos of pipes always help; average pipes tend to run in packs; look around for a guy named strongirish (Patrick) who has many hundreds of older pipes in a big bag under his bed and knows about these things.

If you decide to keep one pipe for your own use, just keep the four of them. It always works out better that way.

Keep the pipes until you know you wont need/smoke them.

[Mister Moo]

Strongirish pm'd me and said, "Radcliff pipes are a second or basket pipe made in England and are worth about ten dollars. Let him know. If he is to keep one pipe, I would keep one of the Amphoras. they are pretty good smokers."

[Rob.]

Originally Posted by Mister Moo

Strongirish pm'd me and said, "Radcliff pipes are a second or basket pipe made in England and are worth about ten dollars. Let him know. If he is to keep one pipe, I would keep one of the Amphoras. they are pretty good smokers."

Thanks so much to everyone. I've been in contact with someone local who wants to have a look at them, but I've been leaning towards just keeping them myself, as you all have said.

Rob.

[alfredo_buscatti]

I'd say definitely keep all the pipes.

If you continue down the road of pipe smoking, you might just find yourself dedicating certain pipes to certain tobaccos. The cake that develops in the pipe is composed of charcoal, and the partially and totally incinerated remnants of the tobaccos that have been smoked in them. That residue/cake imparts flavors to the next tobacco that you smoke in that pipe. If you want to really taste the blend, dedication allows you to bypass laying down a new layer of cake from the current tobacco so that that layer is congenial to subsequent bowls of that tobacco. But in the end it usually only takes three or four bowls to turn a pipe; but sometimes longer.

The estate pipe market is where the values are. As soon as a new pipe is smoked once it becomes an estate. smokingpipes is a great place to buy estates.

http://smokingpipes.com/

Getting enough inexpensive pipes to dedicate is as easy and cheap as buying corncobs, and there are specific sites that cater to pipers seeking inexpensive pipes; but be forewarned, even an estate can usually sell for ~$150.00.

I have ~50 pipes; some guys have hundreds. I don't feel that I need more, thank god, as pipes are the expensive part of pipe smoking. I haven't bought a pipe since last August. Now my spending is on cigars.

[jkstewart1]

If you can post pictures, you can always try to sell them in the B/S/T forum. Some of us are suckers for good smoking pipes at any price.

Then again pipes are like cats, rabbits, or potato chips - you can't have just one.

[alfredo_buscatti]

IMHO you at least need one pipe per major tobacco genre: VA, VA/Perique, English/Balkan. . .there are more than a few sub-divisions, but this will do.

[alfredo_buscatti]

Briar is a type of wood, and while smoking the combustion of the tobacco releases moisture. This brings us to the need to rest your pipes 3-7 days after smoking them so that the briar can release that moisture.

But if you've dedicated a pipe to a specific tobacco genre, the next pipe in line to be smoked may not be what you want to smoke at that time—not a good thing! Thus I would say that you need a minimum of 12 pipes to allow you to smoke what you want to smoke on any given occasion.

If you do a Google search on "inexpensive" or "cheap" pipes, you'll find good smokers for ~$25.00. The major estate pipe vendors, such as smokingpipes.com, don't carry them. Don't be afraid to buy estates; as long as they aren't defective, when you buy estate, you've doubled your money.