...that when it comes to pipes, how much a specimen costs doesn't matter. (With regard to anything but aesthetics, anyway.)

I've smoked a pipe for 35 years, owned hundreds of them from all price points, and probably burned well over a hundred pounds of tobacco.

Like every smoker, I keep a "top 5" list in the back of my mind as an ongoing thing. Occasionally a pipe will drop out or be added to the group, but not often. The most recent addition is worth noting. After two years the jury is in, and there's no doubt about it. The pipe belongs. It's absolutely an All Time Best specimen. Smokes like a little briar machine that reads my mind, and tastes great no matter how much it is rested or any of that "rotation" stuff.

What is it? An old Pete DeLuxe 999 that I paid $32 for.

Wasn't your first Peterson, that you really liked, a gold mount that you bought about four or five years ago? For some reason I recall you being impressed with it.

I only have two Petersons now and neither are high end. I like them fine but have really been considering sending them to you to have them opened up or just have new stems made. Both are army mounts. I think I would really enjoy them then.

thanks LL. good to know when you can't afford the $$$ pipes.

Well said LL, one of my best smokers is a Pete Sys std I rescued secondhand for a song!!!!!!
Slowly I am beginning to love them alot. Have just got my hands on a Pete poy 2010. It is the fist one I paid big bucks for, hope it smokes as well as my 5 Arans!!

Thanks for sharing!

i like my pete standard system.

probably the first 'good' pipe ive ever owned. ive already abused it, but with care it does well. near $100 for it, im smokin' it, apologies given to any future 'estate' buyers!

camoham

I have a $43 Tsuge that smokes as well as anything, as well as an inexpensive Viprati. High prices are paid for name and aesthetics, construction varies across the board.

I have an old Savinelli Oscar that didn't cost me more than $50 way back when. It is one of my favorites to this day- superb. Period!!

I love all 14 of my Petes. They are part of my regular rotation with a few high grades. For the most part the Petes smoke as well as any of my high grades with one exception.

Recently Piet cleaned up & rusticated a couple of Italian seconds that I could use as fishing pipes. Well, these things smoke like kings, in spite of their heritage.

My Peterson Aran is still my #1 pipe of the 14 I own!

As I read these posts I believe that the main message is that inexpensive pipes can be great smokers. Does this mean that buying a pipe is a pig in a poke (i.e, A common colloquial expression in the English language, to buy a pig in a poke is to make a risky purchase without inspecting the item beforehand.) Perhaps this is the case in the age on the Internet and ebay. Are there ways of improving the odds or is it just caveat emptor. In other words,

Quite a bit of the experience is what you put in it.
Sure there are pipes that will smoke good/bad regardless of what you think of them, but the love of the pipe will have real life effect...
A mediocre pipe that's well loved will smoke better than the finest of high grades that gets no love...