Super Expensive Pipes
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I’m also genuinely curious. I don't think DPS would take on your pipes and sell them for $4,000.00 USD if there wasn't a market.
That's more to do with the carver than the pipe itself.
I see. I checked out her Pipedia (Anne Julie - Pipedia - https://pipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Julie) and it looks like she’s carved some nice pipes in the past.
If it fits, I have a pipe that cost me $150. I'll describe it, but I hope neither its wholesaler nor its creator are reading this thread and are upset about possible blown cover. I bought it from a shop in Seattle; it's a just-barely-bent blowfish with three knuckles of bamboo, and they had a few others, obviously by the same maker and with the bamboo but in MUCH simpler shapes. The carving is staggering to me. Very nice grain. Viewed from the right angle, the shape reminds me vaguely of the body of some sort of stringed instrument. It is marked "T.P.E. Hand Work" and "1" in a circle. The shop said only that it was a local pipe supply house called Tobacco Pipe Exporters (I think I have that right).
I found their website, which seems to be gone now, and it had some pipes with bamboo, but not these. I called T.P.E. and asked; the man said they had more, and the story he gave was that a carver who didn't feel he was ready to put his own name out there yet sold those to them. He wouldn't say who it was. I did a lot of hunting online, looking at various carvers who used bamboo. Whether or not the man at T.P.E's story was exactly as it happened, I can't say, but mine looks so incredibly close to some Alex Florov blowfish I've now seen that I cannot imagine it's by anyone else. The bowl looks almost exactly like the dark-colored one from 2018 on Smokingpipes' estates list, the shank and stem more like the 2013 lighter one but bowl similar. $1500+!!?? If I have what I think I have, I'm happy. It's an amazing pipe.
I found their website, which seems to be gone now, and it had some pipes with bamboo, but not these. I called T.P.E. and asked; the man said they had more, and the story he gave was that a carver who didn't feel he was ready to put his own name out there yet sold those to them. He wouldn't say who it was. I did a lot of hunting online, looking at various carvers who used bamboo. Whether or not the man at T.P.E's story was exactly as it happened, I can't say, but mine looks so incredibly close to some Alex Florov blowfish I've now seen that I cannot imagine it's by anyone else. The bowl looks almost exactly like the dark-colored one from 2018 on Smokingpipes' estates list, the shank and stem more like the 2013 lighter one but bowl similar. $1500+!!?? If I have what I think I have, I'm happy. It's an amazing pipe.
I’m not much of a pipe person, I mean I like them and I’ve spent over $500 on some of them. I just find that my “beater“ pipes smoke just as good (some better) than my artisan pipes. I enjoy nice things too but the way I see it is, I would rather have my money in tobacco than in pipes. I’ve just never been hit bad with PAD but there’s still time, so who knows, I just don’t think I’ll ever be in search for $10,000 + pipes, if I had the money, it would possibly be a different story. When I think about spending a couple grand on a pipe, I just think of a wonderful hand crafted Spanish guitar I could get for the same price, then I get hit hard with GAD.
After a lot of overwhelming opinions on a various topics to OP @tzinc here is a treat for you.
Here is one of the holy grail pipes I own from my collection (one of only two holy grails) by Sixten Ivarsson. I am sure you know that Sixten Ivarsson is most coveted amongst pipe makers. See if you can spot me smoking this pipe ? in the WAYS thread
Here is one of the holy grail pipes I own from my collection (one of only two holy grails) by Sixten Ivarsson. I am sure you know that Sixten Ivarsson is most coveted amongst pipe makers. See if you can spot me smoking this pipe ? in the WAYS thread
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Adopt me? Pop?
I know this might seem shocking to everyone here but if someone did a good job carving a Roger Rabbit meer I would most definitely buy it if it were within my budget.
No more meerschaum for me especially if I have to import it.
From the posts of your pipes, I'd venture that your weekly pipe budget would exceed most members annual budget by far ?
Love looking at what new pipes you come up with. A fitting successor to the much missed @fish&banjo
Yes, I recall
hope you get them eventually.
I have a similar problem.
Unloaded at airport 13 november
presented to customs 8 december
no update since.
Also another pipe from the UK shows arriving in Greece 7 December on the UK royal mail site,On the Greek post site not even showing as arrived.
And I will get stung for import duties on both these
Rant over
I've recently received several pipes from 2 sources in Italy, 1 source in Sweden, 1 source in Denmark (Danish Pipe Shop), 1 source in Canada (Pipes2Smoke), and 1 from Turkey. All without issue. Maybe it was just dumb luck?
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