Collecting pipes is an old and established pastime. Men were collecting pipes when postage stamps had not as yet been inven­ted. Indeed, the requirements of pipe collecting are among the simplest of any hobby: any smoker can be said to have a pipe col­lection if he has more than one pipe.

A pipe collection need not be large, nor must it consist only of expensive pipes. While, admittedly, a hand-carved meerschaum may cost hundreds of dollars, a plain, three-dollar briar posses­sing special personal meaning to the smoker certainly deserves equal respect as part of his collection.

Collecting pipes differs from collecting stamps, coins, or simi­lar objects in that the pipes can always be used. The hobbyist's pipes serve a double purpose, since they are both items of special interest and instruments capable of providing an enjoyable smoke.

Most interested pipe smokers become collectors sooner or later. This does not mean they assemble a hundred or more pipes; but every smoker eventually learns that he should have at least four or five pipes and smoke them alternately. Soon the smoker finds himself with eight, ten, or fifteen pipes, so that he has quite naturally and progressively become a collector on a small scale.

Not all pipes which might grace a collection can be smoked. Many of them are too old and too fragile to withstand regular smoking. Yet the beauty and history of such pipes might give them great value. Every pipe collector usually separates his pipes into two classifications: those which can be regularly smoked, and those which should remain safely in their cases or behind glass.

The neophyte collector should learn all he can about pipes, both modern and historical. Libraries will have some books on the sub­ject, but generally pipe literature is rather scarce. Pipe catalogues supplied by manufacturers often contain valuable information.

Your favorite pipe shop might also be helpful, or a local pipe club if one exists in your community. In most large cities there are museums and historical societies, many of which have pipe collections or pipe exhibits on display. You will want to know about different types of briar, stem sizes, shapes, and other de­tails of pipe lore worth studying.

It is a good idea to add only good-quality pipes to your collec­tion. Careful selection and an appreciation of quality will start you off on the road to becoming a pipe connoisseur. There is no reason to limit yourself to briar pipes; pipes of meerschaum, clay, various woods, and even corncobs and water pipes will liven up your collection.

The older carved meerschaum pipes are both beautiful and expensive. The meerschaums of forty or fifty years ago can still be found at reasonable prices. Also available are novelty pipes made of such materials as stone, glass, or ceramic. You may often pick them up as souvenirs of excursions or holidays. Your assem­blage of pipes can even expand to include bizzare pipes from the Orient and Africa, aboriginal native pipes, and ancient pre-Co­lumbian pipes, if you can get your hands on them before a mu­seum does.

Where can these pipes be obtained? In facing this problem, the true collector must show both ingenuity and imagination. The search may begin by first visiting his local pipe shop, then hunting through local curio and antique shops. There you will probably find the most common and most plentiful types, such as the Central European porcelain pipes popular a century ago. They usually have a porcelain bowl, a cherry-wood stem, and a bone or horn bit. The bowl may be painted and the pipe decorated with cords and tassels. Such pipes are not expensive, and a few of them will add color and variety to any collection.

You may turn up a pipe which you suspect is quite old. Try to trace its history as far back as you can. It may have some associa­tion with a historical figure, which might make it valuable. How much would you give for Mark Twain's corncob, or for a church­warden smoked by Alexander Hamilton?

The collector's fun really begins when he takes an afternoon off to go sleuthing around pipe shops and antique dealers, searching for the rare and treasured pipe which, surprisingly, he will often find.

The search for the "better pipe" goes on and on. Here is but one extremely complicated pipe design on file at the U.S. Patent Office.

But the pipe hobbyist should by no means limit himself to an­cient or historical pipes. If you see a pipe you particularly like in a tobacconist's window, add it to your collection. A collection of fine modern pipes can be especially rewarding because all the pipes in it can be smoked.

EVALUATING PIPES

If you deem a pipe worthy of being included in your pipe col­lection, it matters little whether the pipe is new or whether it has been smoked. However, if its previous owners have smoked it to death, cracking either stem or bowl, it will be worth somewhat less since it will then have to be permanently relegated to the showcase.

As with all antique or art objects, the value of a pipe depends on its age, its condition, its maker or manufacturer, the quality of its workmanship, the scarcity of the particular type, and the cur­rent demand. Since few people would be expert on all these points about any particular pipe, it is easy to see why there are so few recognized pipe appraisers. The pipe's price is usually governed by the strength of the potential buyer's desire, and by how much he is willing to pay.

The collector may well find it difficult to determine how much an antique pipe is really worth. No catalog of collector's pipes and antique pipe values exists to inform him. Even attempting to quote a fair price for certain types of pipes is not easy, be­cause no two pipes are exactly alike. They may be similar in many ways, yet the age, size, color, and overall condition of the individual specimen may greatly affect its value.

Old pipes retaining their original condition are the most val­uable. If evidence turns up that some of the original parts, such as the stem or band, have been replaced, the pipe loses some val­ue. This can easily be detected if the bowl shows signs of having been smoked but the stem displays no teeth marks. It's a good bet, in such cases, that the stem has been replaced.

The bowl of the pipe and its decoration largely set the price of the pipe. A plain, undecorated bowl naturally costs the least. Hand-work is also worth more than mass-produced work. A por­celain bowl decorated by a transfer or decal should cost less than a hand-painted one. An elaborately hand-carved meerschaum or briar, of course, always counts as a valuable item.

The best advice for a beginning collector is to patronize repu­table pipe dealers. Their prices are likely to be fairly close to the real value of the pipe. This holds true for both modern pipes and older pipes. No one can deny a certain thrill one experiences in rummaging around antique shops in the hope of finding a bar­gain. But unless the hobbyist knows his subject well, he may very well pay an outrageous price for a common specimen.

If you spot a pipe which appeals to you, but you are not sure of its value, ask another collector to appraise it for you. If his ap­praisal agrees with yours, you can be sure of a reasonably good buy. However, if you see a bargain, grab it. Otherwise, your fellow pipe smoker may decide to make a nice addition to his own collection.

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