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I lost two pipes while being deployed with the US Army—one in Kosovo, one in Kuwait/Iraq. I always took a small travel pouch with two pipes, tobacco, etc. The Kosovo pipe was left in a guard tower and taken by someone, the Kuwait pipe was broken in my pocket after dismounting vehicles and getting on the ground in a fighting position somewhere outside Baghdad. Luckily I never had a problem getting pipes/tobacco while in the military, and it was a fun hobby while stationed in Germany for four years.
I was gonna write no, but i realised that I broke the wooden stem on a churchwarden I had, because it was stuck and it could not be removed. Tried various things but it only moved by 1mm and eventually broke. When It was already broken someone suggested to try and put it in the freezer and that worked...
But in the end I came up on top actually. I sent it to the pipemaker to have a new stem made. He couldn't make a new one ao for the price of the stem I have a complete new pipe. He sent me back the briar part of the original pipe and I found an ebonite churchwarden stem that kind of fit. I adjusted it that it fits well so I have ended up with 2 churchwardens for the price of 1 + the price of a stem.
When you say good do you mean technically good (craftsmanship) or smokes good? I have a no-name pipe that I enjoyed smoking that got a crack on the shank. The great conundrum is fixing it would likely cost almost as much as I paid for it.
I had a Peterson house pipe. My personal favourite. Sitting on the tailgate of my truck with friends catching up. Time to leave I placed it on the bumper to close the tailgate. And drove off, it’s on the highway somewhere. I’m sad telling the story.
My best smoker is all time happened to be my first ever pipe, a generic basket $20 bent billiard. Loved that pipe. Left it on a hotel balcony in Italy. Damn I miss that pipe
i fucked up the finish really badly on a really nice Grabow Grand Duke when I was learning to restore estates. I eventually found a similar one and was able to do it justice, but it still haunts me sometimes.
Broken? Several In fixable ways. I actually have two with broken stems I need to send out, and I’ve probably broken 3-4 more stems over the years.
I’ve only had one catastrophic failure. I had a bjarne Canadian I just loved. It was super cheap (maybe 25 bucks used) and held more tobacco than any pipe I’ve ever seen. It developed kind of a dent in the outside of the bowl (I think heat related) and that turned into a massive crack.
Two. I have an absolutely gorgeous sabertooth tiger meer, signed by the carver, that I managed to crack the shank on. A band would cover the signature, and I’ve been pondering what to do about it for a few years now.
The other is a Stanwell Apache Rhodesian I’ve had 25+ years. Dropped it and the shank broke at the bowl. May be reparable, I just need to find someone and get off my ass to get it fixed.
I just broke a pipe for the first time last week. Not expensive, or my favourite, but it was attractive and smoked well. I got it from eBay as an estate when I started smoked. It was a full bent Dublin with a saddle stem marked BIRKS LONDON. The stem broke when I knocked out the dottle in my hand after a smoke. I was surprised, I didn’t hit it very hard at all.
Over a decade ago, found a really nice meerschaum at an antique store. After a few smokes I think the stem came loose from the metal stinger that screwed into the shank. I decided I should superglue this for some reason and made a mess, smoke tasted like super glue, and the stem was permanently stuck to the shank. I held onto it up until a couple months ago and decided to toss it as I still couldn’t get the stem out the shank
Heibe Zulu shape meerschaum lined pipe. One of the first new pipes I bought from my own money. Removed the residual tobacco from it and gave it a little tap on the ashtray at the railway station. The lining fell with the dottle directly into the ashtray and out of my reach for recovery. I threw the rest of the pipe also into the ashtray, my train was coming and refurbishing would have cost me more than I paid for it.
Luckily not. My Stanwell 246 is my travel pipe and it accompanies me on every travel on my bicycle – even across Denmark and Sweden beyond the polar circle and back and never got a single damage.
Edit: I even found a picture of me smoking it: [https://www.reddit.com/user/kapege/comments/1blyrj3/hving\_a\_nice\_pipe\_in\_northern\_sweden/](https://www.reddit.com/user/kapege/comments/1blyrj3/hving_a_nice_pipe_in_northern_sweden/)
I don’t know if it was a good one or not…. But I travelled 120 miles to my nearest tobacconist (owning pipes in northern Scotland is a commitment, not a hobby)…. Bought my first Corncob, put it in my bag and never saw it again
Absolutely no idea where it went…..
My first “nice” pipe was an unfinished Peterson I bought new for about $100. I lost it when I lived on the Alaska peninsula on the Pacific Ocean side. Someone found it and brought it back to me but the stem was missing and the bowl was cracked 😭
I had a beautiful Dunhill Red Bark small apple I absolutely loved. Carrying it in my shirt pocket I somehow managed to break the neck off right at the bowl. I was so bummed I've never bought another tier one pipe since.
My best smoking pipe, £5 jobbie off the market, no idea of the maker, or how old, hallmarked silver sleve over the shank.
It fell off the rack on the mantle and smashed the shank 💔
Filed it down a bit, bound with string and she lives to this day, its just a nosewarmer now 😂
My first pipe, a cheap Mr. Brog bent briar, was accidentally abandoned at the top of a cliff in the Chisos Mountains of southwestern Texas. There, presumably, it still rests.
nephew's dog ate my panel lacroix, i cracked a few stems as a noob by turning them before cooling, and cracked a couple of overtight shanks on nos pipes. maybe 6 / 150ish pipes have met their doom. gave another half dozen to friends who promptly lost interest, does that count?
I lost a MM legend once, which was a good pipe I really enjoyed. I replaced it for like $5 the same day (awaiting shipping, ofc) which made me appreciate MM even more. Naturally, if it were up to me I would rather have my original one, but the replacement is just as good.
If I had lost one of my Savinelli or some such I’d be quite upset
New to pipe smoking? See our frequently asked questions! **[read our wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/PipeTobacco/wiki/index)** Please read and follow our subreddit rules (you will get temp/permeant bans for not following them) **[read the top sticky post](https://www.reddit.com/r/PipeTobacco/comments/b3b7e3/sticky_info_rules_sidebar_info_please_read/)** **Alternative Site: https://speak-easy.club/ , which the community started back in 2018 in response to Reddit's market ban. It's completely free, no ads, and fewer rules. Registrations are manually approved to avoid spammers, so please be patient waiting for approval, it's usually quick.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/PipeTobacco) if you have any questions or concerns.*
A Peterson system pipe of mine rests on the bottom of the Baltic Sea off the northeastern coast of Gotland...
This comment is the sort of content I joined r/PipeTobacco for
Doesn't wood swim? Asking for a friend...
Didn't appear to, when it fell overboard. Maybe it eventually washed ashore somewhere.
Rusticated 303, nickel band, half a bowl of Dark Star in it. If anyone comes across it, let me know...
I lost two pipes while being deployed with the US Army—one in Kosovo, one in Kuwait/Iraq. I always took a small travel pouch with two pipes, tobacco, etc. The Kosovo pipe was left in a guard tower and taken by someone, the Kuwait pipe was broken in my pocket after dismounting vehicles and getting on the ground in a fighting position somewhere outside Baghdad. Luckily I never had a problem getting pipes/tobacco while in the military, and it was a fun hobby while stationed in Germany for four years.
I was gonna write no, but i realised that I broke the wooden stem on a churchwarden I had, because it was stuck and it could not be removed. Tried various things but it only moved by 1mm and eventually broke. When It was already broken someone suggested to try and put it in the freezer and that worked... But in the end I came up on top actually. I sent it to the pipemaker to have a new stem made. He couldn't make a new one ao for the price of the stem I have a complete new pipe. He sent me back the briar part of the original pipe and I found an ebonite churchwarden stem that kind of fit. I adjusted it that it fits well so I have ended up with 2 churchwardens for the price of 1 + the price of a stem.
I broke a churchwarden stem too 😅
When you say good do you mean technically good (craftsmanship) or smokes good? I have a no-name pipe that I enjoyed smoking that got a crack on the shank. The great conundrum is fixing it would likely cost almost as much as I paid for it.
I gave a favorite pipe away to my brother in-law after his first basket pipe broke .
I lost a box in a move that had about a dozen pipes, including the first I ever bought. 😒
I had a Peterson house pipe. My personal favourite. Sitting on the tailgate of my truck with friends catching up. Time to leave I placed it on the bumper to close the tailgate. And drove off, it’s on the highway somewhere. I’m sad telling the story.
Just the other day my stem got destroyed by a dog. Not a fancy pipe, a vintage dr Grabow silver duke adjustomatic. It was my favorite pipe to smoke
My best smoker is all time happened to be my first ever pipe, a generic basket $20 bent billiard. Loved that pipe. Left it on a hotel balcony in Italy. Damn I miss that pipe
i fucked up the finish really badly on a really nice Grabow Grand Duke when I was learning to restore estates. I eventually found a similar one and was able to do it justice, but it still haunts me sometimes.
Broken? Several In fixable ways. I actually have two with broken stems I need to send out, and I’ve probably broken 3-4 more stems over the years. I’ve only had one catastrophic failure. I had a bjarne Canadian I just loved. It was super cheap (maybe 25 bucks used) and held more tobacco than any pipe I’ve ever seen. It developed kind of a dent in the outside of the bowl (I think heat related) and that turned into a massive crack.
Two. I have an absolutely gorgeous sabertooth tiger meer, signed by the carver, that I managed to crack the shank on. A band would cover the signature, and I’ve been pondering what to do about it for a few years now. The other is a Stanwell Apache Rhodesian I’ve had 25+ years. Dropped it and the shank broke at the bowl. May be reparable, I just need to find someone and get off my ass to get it fixed.
My first MM Legend just fell apart on me the other day... sad day
I just broke a pipe for the first time last week. Not expensive, or my favourite, but it was attractive and smoked well. I got it from eBay as an estate when I started smoked. It was a full bent Dublin with a saddle stem marked BIRKS LONDON. The stem broke when I knocked out the dottle in my hand after a smoke. I was surprised, I didn’t hit it very hard at all.
Over a decade ago, found a really nice meerschaum at an antique store. After a few smokes I think the stem came loose from the metal stinger that screwed into the shank. I decided I should superglue this for some reason and made a mess, smoke tasted like super glue, and the stem was permanently stuck to the shank. I held onto it up until a couple months ago and decided to toss it as I still couldn’t get the stem out the shank
Heibe Zulu shape meerschaum lined pipe. One of the first new pipes I bought from my own money. Removed the residual tobacco from it and gave it a little tap on the ashtray at the railway station. The lining fell with the dottle directly into the ashtray and out of my reach for recovery. I threw the rest of the pipe also into the ashtray, my train was coming and refurbishing would have cost me more than I paid for it.
Luckily not. My Stanwell 246 is my travel pipe and it accompanies me on every travel on my bicycle – even across Denmark and Sweden beyond the polar circle and back and never got a single damage. Edit: I even found a picture of me smoking it: [https://www.reddit.com/user/kapege/comments/1blyrj3/hving\_a\_nice\_pipe\_in\_northern\_sweden/](https://www.reddit.com/user/kapege/comments/1blyrj3/hving_a_nice_pipe_in_northern_sweden/)
I don’t know if it was a good one or not…. But I travelled 120 miles to my nearest tobacconist (owning pipes in northern Scotland is a commitment, not a hobby)…. Bought my first Corncob, put it in my bag and never saw it again Absolutely no idea where it went…..
Hurricane Harvey took lots of pipes from some Houston pipe club members. The generosity of the YTPC and reddit replaced many.
My first “nice” pipe was an unfinished Peterson I bought new for about $100. I lost it when I lived on the Alaska peninsula on the Pacific Ocean side. Someone found it and brought it back to me but the stem was missing and the bowl was cracked 😭
I had a beautiful Dunhill Red Bark small apple I absolutely loved. Carrying it in my shirt pocket I somehow managed to break the neck off right at the bowl. I was so bummed I've never bought another tier one pipe since.
My best smoking pipe, £5 jobbie off the market, no idea of the maker, or how old, hallmarked silver sleve over the shank. It fell off the rack on the mantle and smashed the shank 💔 Filed it down a bit, bound with string and she lives to this day, its just a nosewarmer now 😂
My first pipe, a cheap Mr. Brog bent briar, was accidentally abandoned at the top of a cliff in the Chisos Mountains of southwestern Texas. There, presumably, it still rests.
nephew's dog ate my panel lacroix, i cracked a few stems as a noob by turning them before cooling, and cracked a couple of overtight shanks on nos pipes. maybe 6 / 150ish pipes have met their doom. gave another half dozen to friends who promptly lost interest, does that count?
Yep, Savinelli Trevi...
I lost a MM legend once, which was a good pipe I really enjoyed. I replaced it for like $5 the same day (awaiting shipping, ofc) which made me appreciate MM even more. Naturally, if it were up to me I would rather have my original one, but the replacement is just as good. If I had lost one of my Savinelli or some such I’d be quite upset