Cigar smoker needs advice about recently acquired pipes.

[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.