The Novice's Guide on How to Buy Estate Pipes: Glossary of Terms

A Guide to Terms with Annotation

BOWL COATING: A thin application of a fire-resistant paste compound that is applied to a tobacco chamber interior to accelerate cake formation (sometimes called pre-carbonization), and to reduce the possibility of heat damage. Secondary Bowl Coating: In the process of refurbishment, some resellers remove a pipe’s original bowl coating and apply their own version. Some pipemakers do not apply bowl coatings, but resellers sometimes apply one if they are concerned about past or potential damage to a chamber interior. Bowl coating formulas vary. Some are dietary charcoal with organic binder (yogurt or sour cream) and some are waterglass and dietary charcoal. The use or non-use of coatings is controversial; both pro-coating and anti-coating adherents make strong arguments. Unless a reseller or refurbisher has used a coating to conceal the true condition of a pipe, the presence of a coating does not materially impact an estate’s value. (I prefer original condition: the original coating or the original state of no coating.)

BURN-OUT: A severely charred area inside a tobacco chamber. A complete burnout results when the wood is charred or burned from the inside to the outside of a pipe. This is the first issue you should look for in an estate pipe purchase. Burnout renders a pipe worthless in the collectibles market. A partially burnt-out pipe that can be repaired with pipe mud may have minimal value as a smoker.

BUTTON: The articulated, raised area of a stem end that is inserted into the mouth. The stem button facilitates the ease with which a pipe smoker can hold the pipe with the teeth (clench).

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Part 7: The Novice's Guide on How to Buy Estate Pipes: On Evaluating Condition

Note: This is the final installment of the 7-part series on buying estate pipes. The next post will include a glossary of terms to which I referred during the entire series.

On evaluating condition

Obviously, most of us take our first look at a pipe in aesthetic terms. If a pipe lacks appeal we move on. Usually, most people continue appraising a pipe in cosmetic terms, because that’s the frame within which the pipe was initially seen. It is important, however, to continue looking at the pipe in question in functional terms, too, when your aesthetic survey is complete. If you’re a pipe smoker and not solely a collector, you’ll want to be able to smoke the pipe under consideration. For the purposes of organization, I will begin with aesthetics.

If you are examining a prospective estate pipe in person, you enjoy a tremendous advantage over purchasing online. It’s possible for you to shift the pipe in the light to examine every contour, to see every scratch whether tiny or deep, and to shine a bright light into the bowl to look for telltale signs of hot smoking that can result in a burnout-in-process, heat-stress fractures (see guide to terms below), or cake that has thickened so much that it may have cracked the bowl. You will be able to see the extent to which the stem might be oxidized. Many, if not most of these things are nearly impossible to detect when looking at photos of a prospective pipe.

When examining a prospective pipe, using photos alone, your confidence in your inspection cannot help but be constrained by the number and quality of photos provided by the seller. The angles at which the pipe was photographed, the intensity and quality of the lighting, whether or not the image is in focus, and the clarity and initial resolution of the photographs are all important factors in making an online evaluation.

1960s Vintage Jarl BilliardSometimes, photos make it obvious that a pipe’s condition is anything but excellent. The image at right reveals a stem that is not only severely oxidized but also (1) missing a significant piece of material on the mouthpiece area of the button. (2) The rim has been repeatedly dinged by having its wood surface banged on an ashtray or shoe bottom.

Too-thick cake clads the tobacco chamber surface. We can assume that the pipe was a beloved smoker, however, because its condition tells us it was often reached for by its previous owner. I know this to be true because I saw it smoked so often when I was a boy.

We rarely encounter pipes being sold in such poor condition. We don’t consider purchasing them unless they were the favorite smoker of someone like J.R.R. Tolkein, Samuel Clemens, William Faulkner, or some such other revered personage. In such an instance, they are no longer pipes. They are totems, and their value is what they signify not what they are. Ironically, evidence of hard use transforms from defect to endearing character trait.

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Part 6: The Novice's Guide on How to Buy Estate Pipes

Buying from a distance.

Unless you are blessed with a local pipe shop that stocks a wide selection of estates, or have a pipe mentor or mentors who make estates available to you for purchase, you probably shop online. I shop online. These days, we all want as much choice as possible. The online environment offers tremendous choice, but it isn’t easy for a novice to navigate. It isn’t always easy for the experienced person, either.

It is easier to evaluate a pipe in person, especially when it comes to size and weight. When I look at a pipe and hold it, I know whether it’s a pipe for me or not, regardless of how attracted I am to the shape, grain, and balance. I don’t always have the luxury of holding a pipe, however.

I still recall how confused I was in the online sales environment when I started buying pipes at a distance. Because I didn’t understand measurement conventions in the pipe world, I didn’t know how to use the information provided. It was not an infrequent occurence for me to think that I was buying one pipe and, upon opening a package, discover that I  had bought something else.

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Part 5: The Novice's Guide on How to Buy Estate Pipes

Original Finishes

Some smokers heaped abuse on their pipes during smoking. That abuse took many forms, ranging from knocking rims on ashtrays or shoes to careless lighting with matches or a lighter. Whether the results are dings, dents, or rim charring, if the abused pipe happens to be a particularly rare specimen of a valued brand, some resellers or refurbishers will purpose their considerable skills toward banishing evidence of the abuse. Their strategies almost always require refinishing part or all of a pipe.

Sometimes, they will sand and re-shape the rim to eliminate knock marks that cannot otherwise be raised from the pipe. Sometimes they will sand just enough to remove charred material from the top. In either case, the pipe will require refinishing.

As I indicated above, alterations of the original pipe – even those alterations that make a pipe look better (and closer to factory condition) – reduce the value of a pipe unless they are virtually undetectable and the owner cannot disclose the condition because he is unaware of the alteration.

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Part 4: The Novice's Guide on How to Buy Estate Pipes

On Original Stems

Whether or not a pipe retains its original stem is an important aspect of evaluating an estate pipe’s value. There is no more important variable than original condition. Almost all modifications diminish a pipe’s value in collectible terms, including replacement stems.

This is not an issue that can be easily addressed. To do so comprehensively would require hundreds of pictures and thousands of words addressing many collectible brands and makers. Doing the subject justice is daunting, indeed. It takes many years of experience and looking at hundreds of pipes from a particular brand to acquire an eye for replacement stems. Even then, the keenest expert can be fooled.

If you are buying an estate pipe and if you are paying a considerable sum for it, ask the seller if the pipe has its original stem. If you receive an ambiguous answer, proceed with caution.

If you are not paying a considerable sum for the pipe, and it has a stem in good condition, and you plan to smoke the pipe and not purchase it as a collectible specimen, I would advise you not to worry too much about whether the stem is original or not. High-quality duplicate stems are not inexpensive, so most people would not have one fabricated for a run-of-the-mill estate.

As I previously wrote, very seasoned collectors can be deceived on this issue. There are more than a few artisans possessed of sufficient skills to duplicate a stem and some whose skills are so advanced that their work defies detection.

Of the two Comoy Army Mount pipes pictured above, one of them has a replacement stem. Can you tell which?

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