what is your latest pipe purchase

[BryGuySC]

Nice! Especially like that meerschaum. Don't care for the really fancy meers, prefer the traditional shapes rendered in meerschaum.

I agree.
I still have not pulled the trigger on a meer, yet. I need to do that one day!

[Bruck]

I agree.
I still have not pulled the trigger on a meer, yet. I need to do that one day!

Reasons to smoke a meer:
very absorbent - no need to rest them between bowls, kind of like a cob
they look good, lots of designs available, although I favor the classic pipe shapes
they gradually get a brown shade as you use them, from the juices migrating outward

Be careful when shopping for one though, look for block meer - the cheaper ones are molded from cemented meer dust.

[Haebar]

Reasons to smoke a meer:
very absorbent - no need to rest them between bowls, kind of like a cob
they look good, lots of designs available, although I favor the classic pipe shapes
they gradually get a brown shade as you use them, from the juices migrating outward

Be careful when shopping for one though, look for block meer - the cheaper ones are molded from cemented meer dust.

That's a good point @Bruck . I look for a reputable brand name to be sure that I'm getting real block meerschaum. Good ones are CAO, SMS, Altinok and others. Block meerschaum is very light, so think twice about buying a heavy meerschaum pipe. I had a meerschaum pipe that I smoked for years and it would never color up like it should have; finally gave up on it and decided it was one of those composite meerschaum pipes. It was a little heavy. Another thing to think about is African meerschaum vs. Turkish meerschaum. The African meerschaum is heavier and denser; I think they smoke hotter than the Turkish meerschaum pipes. I don't hear much about African meerschaum pipes lately, but they were in the market in the past.

[Haebar]

Got this Christmas present just today. It's a hand crafted pipe made by Ranz Freehands; Ron Smith of our Knoxville Pipe Club (https://www.facebook.com/people/Ron-...00008188929806 makes pipes and sells them. Somebody in the club bought this pipe to give to me after our December Christmas Party. We had one of those White Elephant gift exchange that went many rounds (7 or 8). Seems like everytime I picked a nice gift (2 pipes and a nice bottle of single malt), it would get stolen from me. I guess someone felt sorry for me and got this for me. The reason I got it so long after Christmas is that they left it at Smoky's Tobacco & Cigars and I just found out that it was waiting there for me last week. I'm very grateful to whoever got this for me!

[Desertlifter]

Got this unsmoked Lepeltier clay on Ebay for $10.95 with free shipping.

Lovely clay! I've looked at LePeltiers before, but haven't pulled the trigger. I have 2 clay pipes, and both smoke quite nicely. Have you test driven it yet?

[Haebar]

Lovely clay! I've looked at LePeltiers before, but haven't pulled the trigger. I have 2 clay pipes, and both smoke quite nicely. Have you test driven it yet?

No, I haven't smoked it yet. I've got other LePeltier pipes that I do smoke, and they smoke pretty good, very much like a meerschaum. And these are double-walled, so they don't get hot to the touch. You can usually get them for a song on Ebay.

[bluenoser]

Been really looking forward to trying this Vermont Meat Candy stuff, and the other 2 have been highly recommended.

[Haebar]

I got a bunch of estate pipes today at an antique store and from Craigslist.
The three on the right were purchased from a fellow who answered a listing that I put on Craigslist asking for estate pipes. They are in fine shape and don't need restoring. From the top right downward, they are a Bones bent billiard, a Keyser Hygienic bulldog with a metal band, and a Jeantet Lovat. He gave me a hot tip that an antique store in town had pipes for sale. I drove over there and picked the six on the left out of a bag full of old briars. Got the six of them for $50. They are, from the top left downward, a White Bar bent bulldog, a Parker Matt bent pipe, a Savinelli Deluxe, a Sunrise Amber Grain bulldog, a B. Barling & Sons Londoner Dublin, and, at the bottom, a Sunrise Tawny Grain Canadian. Two of these will need stem repair or else new stems. They could all use a good cleaning and a couple need reaming.

[Aguineapig]

I got a bunch of estate pipes today at an antique store and from Craigslist.
The three on the right were purchased from a fellow who answered a listing that I put on Craigslist asking for estate pipes. They are in fine shape and don't need restoring. From the top right downward, they are a Bones bent billiard, a Keyser Hygienic bulldog with a metal band, and a Jeantet Lovat. He gave me a hot tip that an antique store in town had pipes for sale. I drove over there and picked the six on the left out of a bag full of old briars. Got the six of them for $50. They are, from the top left downward, a White Bar bent bulldog, a Parker Matt bent pipe, a Savinelli Deluxe, a Sunrise Amber Grain bulldog, a B. Barling & Sons Londoner Dublin, and, at the bottom, a Sunrise Tawny Grain Canadian. Two of these will need stem repair or else new stems. They could all use a good cleaning and a couple need reaming.

Great haul! those all look nice. Especially like that Jeantet Lovat. I have a small Jeantet prince that became one of my favorite pipes.

[Haebar]

Great haul! those all look nice. Especially like that Jeantet Lovat. I have a small Jeantet prince that became one of my favorite pipes.

That Jeantet Lovat is almost like new. I'm pretty happy with the new additions to the collection; they will keep me busy restoring them for a while. That Canadian on the bottom is in pretty sad condition; it's been smoked so much that the bowl is almost completely black in the upper 2/3. I wonder if that was what Sherlock Holmes's "well-oiled briars" looked like? On a couple of these, the owner had filed the stems down near the bit to make them thinner.