Calling Catgate or Andsome

[Gandalph]

I have a friend lives down the lane which smokes a pipe. He's had this pipe for a long long time and I noticed that the bowl, ( It's a Falcon) is rather burned and bashed and rather than just buy him a new bowl, or Falcon pipe for that matter, I might get him a good manufactured pipe for Christmas.

The type of pipe he smokes will have to be along the lines of the shape below as he likes it curved.

Anyone got a good manufacturer in mind who makes a good pipe.

[doug]

I used to run on one of those for years. These days I just use a standard Falcon.

[Gandalph]

I used to run on one of those for years. These days I just use a standard Falcon.

I take it the standard Falcon will be the straight model Doug.

[-pops-]

http://www.uktobacco.com/acatalog/Smoking_Pipes.html

http://www.smoke.co.uk/acatalog/Pipes.html

[doug]

Correct Gandalph

[catgate]

Having not smoked for some years ( though I do not claim to have given up) I am somewhat out of touch, But, the best "bent" pipes I had were "Petersons". Meershaum lined ones being very good indeed, but rather more expensive.

edit :- Since posting this I have just had a quick look at pops' first link.......I imagine that the only people now who can afford buy Peterson's pipes are Non. Doms. I think my most expensive pipe was a plain bent Meershaum with an amber mouthpiece bought, at the Laxey pipe factory in IOM in the early 80s, for £6.50!

[Gandalph]

Thank you both for the info pops and catgate. This is a subject I am going to have to read up on quite intensively.

Question though. Does the actual smoking of the tobacco taste different in a cheap pipe compared to an expensive pipe. I notice the Falcon pipes vary in price, but not by much, of between £24.00 and £30.00.

Some pipes are made with Mediterranean Briar, such being made by Baldo Baldi others are made of Italian Briar. There is the Chacom range made by the French. I have heard people say bad things about Dr. Plumb pipes. Something about the saliva having a chemical reaction on the resin mouthpiece turning it brown and tasting terrible etc,.

These are the things I need to avoid in buying a pipe.

Another friend has a Savanelli and swears it is the best pipe he has ever had. In his words 'Don't ask me why, it just is'. So the mind boggles with so many people makeing pipes as to the best one to get him at a reasonable price.

[andsome]

Haven't smoked for over twenty years, so cannot help you. I used to smoke a falcon. :D

[catgate]

I used to break a lot of pipes through various reasons. Putting them down in my workshop and forgetting they were there, letting them drop out of my pocket, etc. etc. So buying a new one was not an infrequent occurence at one period. Thus I bought cheap ones. for quite a while.

However, what I found was that the cheap ones were often physicaly flawed in some way. A piece gouged out during the turning was the favourite. These flaws were filled with some sort of filler, stained and laquered over and were very often invisible to the buyer. However they soon showed up, and often dropped out due to differential expansion. I once had one where the drilling for the stem had gone right through the bottom of the bowl.

Another factor seemed to be that the cheaper the pipe the softer the wood. (This could have been the reason for the occurence of the above mentioned gouging problem.) the harder, older, finer grained, matured wood would turn better and would not "burn" itself as easily as the softer cheaper stuff. In other words the taste of the mixture of tobacco smoke and wood smoke, which occurs with the breaking in of a new pipe, does not last as long with an "expensive" pipe as it does with "cheap" one. Similarly the life expectation of an expensive pipe is much longer. Thus I eventually went for more expensive ones.

The Meerchaum lining is used to totally prevent the wood from ever burning.

Then there is the matter of the sort of tobacco used. I found light tobaccos used to burn quickly at a much higher temperature , and with a more "peppery" taste, than the darker tobbacos, which just smouldered away at the same speed as an old sweaty sock, but with a better smoother flavour. The lighter tobaccos play havoc with a cheap pipe.

I hope this helps slightly, Gandalph.

[Gandalph]

I used to break a lot of pipes through various reasons. Putting them down in my workshop and forgetting they were there, letting them drop out of my pocket, etc. etc. So buying a new one was not an infrequent occurence at one period. Thus I bought cheap ones. for quite a while.

However, what I found was that the cheap ones were often physicaly flawed in some way. A piece gouged out during the turning was the favourite. These flaws were filled with some sort of filler, stained and laquered over and were very often invisible to the buyer. However they soon showed up, and often dropped out due to differential expansion. I once had one where the drilling for the stem had gone right through the bottom of the bowl.

Another factor seemed to be that the cheaper the pipe the softer the wood. (This could have been the reason for the occurence of the above mentioned gouging problem.) the harder, older, finer grained, matured wood would turn better and would not "burn" itself as easily as the softer cheaper stuff. In other words the taste of the mixture of tobacco smoke and wood smoke, which occurs with the breaking in of a new pipe, does not last as long with an "expensive" pipe as it does with "cheap" one. Similarly the life expectation of an expensive pipe is much longer. Thus I eventually went for more expensive ones.

The Meerchaum lining is used to totally prevent the wood from ever burning.

Then there is the matter of the sort of tobacco used. I found light tobaccos used to burn quickly at a much higher temperature , and with a more "peppery" taste, than the darker tobbacos, which just smouldered away at the same speed as an old sweaty sock, but with a better smoother flavour. The lighter tobaccos play havoc with a cheap pipe.

I hope this helps slightly, Gandalph.

Many thanks for that catgate, it has answered 98% of my questions.

I have to go to Edinburgh next week so I will call in to a Tobacconist and have a look at the Paterson and Savinelii range of pipes. I have been doing a lot of reading up on pipes and Peterson got an award last year for 'The Pipe of the Year' what ever that is. Evidently Peterson use a good Mediterranean Briar and a German Vucanite for the mouthpiece. The Vulcanite is said to be very hard and wont leave teeth marks in it if you have a good bite. :lol:. This tobacconist in Edinburgh does his own blending so I am assuming he knows his stuff.

Thank you to everyone who donated to this query.