Quote Originally Posted by NeverBend View Post
The nomenclature is fun for collecting but if your goal is to get serious smoking pipes then there are other considerations and knowing what to look for is the key.
That is what I more or less guessed at, and that it'd be more work than just learning brand names. With axes, for example, I can probably do what you do with pipes-- pick out ideal candidates for putting to use, independent of the "big names" that fetch ten or twenty times despite no guarantee they they will be geometrically or metalurgically as sound as the ones that are ten or twenty times cheaper, with no bids. But it took me years to get to that point!

Right now, I am an avowed cob smoker of D&R and C&D blends. Plain, good, consistent and no nonsense smokes. I'm happy with that, and down the road in life I'll enjoy the more attuned side of it (that one blend, in that one pipe that just sing, made in that one factory, etc) when I have nothing better to do (which is a wonderful thing to look forward to!)