If you could only have one pipe...

Me?

New? A Stanwell Brushed Brown from P&C.
Used? Search for a nice estate (preferably a Stanwell Made in Denmark, of course )
Really? I would buy a good few Missouri Meerschaum cobs in the standard shapes.

Bag of cob 2nds. The mix bag. Under 50 shipped.

I would also go with a ten dollar cob and $40 bucks of tobacco. My best smoking, and definitely not most expensive pipe, is a Brigham Mountaineer - Brighams start at $52 on smokingpipes. A good place to look is smokingpipes' new pipes list; they put the price range of all their pipes on the master list, so you could just go through the fifty dollar ones and get a shape you liked: Brigham, Genod, Nording, P. Piazzola, Ropp, Rossi and Tsuge all have pipes that start at fifty or less. I only have experience with Brigham, and my Mountaineer costs $75. I'd look hard at cobs plus tobacco, though

www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/new/

If I was on a $50.00 budget, I would:

Avoid a filter pipe by checking descriptions, and get a $20.00 briar


www.pipesandcigars.com/p/stanwell-brushed-brown-pipes-pipes/1483390/
(That sale has been running for awhile, it may disappear soon)

And at P&C, I would look at their Missouri Meerschaum offerings, and compare prices at:


corncobpipe.com/?SID=dk8l8v0s9niv9o8ln91ccbpr25



I would get a briar and a cob or two...keeping in mind the benefit of buying a cob from P&C might be higher, but you aren't duplicating shipping charges.

The $40.00 grab bag at Missouri Meerschaum is a good deal, but quite often, the draft holes are turned sideways...not sure how bad that is for a smoke, but it doesn't seem right.


If you are a first time buyer, I would call them and place the order, tell them that you are new to pipe smoking and someone turned you onto their stanwell sale that I posted above...ask if they can apply a discount code. They are all about recruiting new customers, I bet it would work.

My favorite bought pipe in that range would be my Sloop John B Magnum Poker. The pipe was 25$ with shipping. Besides being a sitter, it smokes cool and sweet. The stem on it is really nice. Easy to light and keep lit.

The only other one on an equal footing (bought not gifted) would be a Rossi Bent Pot, but it is more expensive. I could almost buy two Sloops for that.

I might be drawing a brain fart on this, but with the fifty dollar limit and one pipe this is the best I got.

This turned out to be a great thread! I'm actually surprised by how much attention the cob is getting. Not that I don't like one myself, I just didn't expect so many people to go that route.

Though, the last cob I bought from P&C came with a big ol glob of glue in the bottom of the bowl, so I'm still waiting on the replacement in the mail.

Thanks to everyone who posted. This is great information.

It's hard to find a good forum community, and so far, this one has shined in that department.
I am also involved in magic/mentalism, so I'm a part of a private forum which until today, I thought was one of a kind. I see people here doing things that I've only seen in the magic community(sending each other free stuff, trading, and really just being very helpful in a way that has become very uncommon.

The forum chose a pipe of the year and it was a set of cobs. Almost 40 people participated. They are excellent at half the cost of a chinese knockoff briar. Once they are well smoked they just keep improving with every new bowl. The grab bags are around $30 and you get ten random shaped smokable "second" cobs. That generally you wont be able to see the reason for getting bumped to second status.

I have a Peterson 315XL system pipe that I payed $35 for as a barely smoked estate. I know for a fact that this pipe is capable of out lasting me by many years and it is always an enjoyable smoke.

I'd buy another Grabow Royalton and spend the extra ten bucks on a tin of Black House!

A Cayuga made at Paul's Pipe Shop in Flint, MI.  That's a <$50 Cayuga in my current avatar picture.

sorry to hear that. I have experienced tight fit on 2 of my Rossi Vittoria as well. Use beeswax, graphite and lightly sanded the tenon on the stem.

a freehand cob -- nice deep bowl

The cob seems to be the choice of the majority..cant disagree..


Another option might be a Kaywoodie estate from a restorer I know..I got one from him for 20 bucks..I havent been disappointed..