Growing up I remember a wrestling coach in high school giving us his wisdom regarding our opponents from a particularly tough school. “Never let them see you sweat” was his rule about setting a climate in which you could win over an opponent. For me Rule #6 is a variation on that adage. While a seller is not an opponent they are nonetheless your opposite in the purchase of a particular pipe. To put it simply Rule 6 is “Never let a seller see your excitement about what you have found”. I know this goes contrary to everything in me that wants to shout when I have found a super deal. When I turn over a pipe of a certain shape or colour, or move a pipe from underneath several others I can feel the adrenalin rise as my instinct about the pipe is met with an affirmative. It is at that moment that I hold back my exclamatory “yes” and carefully add the pipe to the lot I am carrying around the shop or have the seller carry it to the cash register to hold until I finish my hunt through the shop. I hold “yes” in and save the exulting until I am in the car or on the pipe forums!

Truthfully, this rule should probably be moved somewhere toward the top of the list of things I keep in mind when on a pipe hunt, because it has become a part of me on the hunt. I am quiet as I move through the store with the clerk as they unlock the cabinets that hold the pipes that I want to see. To help tame my enthusiasm I pick up pipes from the pipes on display that I have no intention of purchasing and “carefully” look them over and make quiet comments. Finally when I have gone through the lot I pick up the object/s of my attention and make a few general comments about the condition. Typically the clerk then carries it to the front for me and I am free to keep looking for more pipes. Though sometimes I carry the new find around the shop with me while I look at other pipes.

Even at the cash register I do not let on about my excitement over a find. I keep up the banter if I am in the mood or just quietly pay the bill and leave the shop. I have found that most sellers in shops or antique malls have no idea regarding the value of their old pipes and rather see them as stage props – hence a high price, or as dirty items that have a minimal value – hence a low price. The only time I talk about the prices is if the prices are outlandish. For instance recently I was in a Northern Alberta town here in Canada and the owner was selling a relatively new Grabow with a chewed stem for $120. I showed her on my phone what a new cost and she shrugged and said that in her town the local theatre guild and actors pay the prices she has for these items to use in their plays. Needless to say I kept my coin in my pocket and shook my head as I walked away.

I am looking for seller who sees the pipes they have as old and dirty items that they hope will sell but are not holding their breath over. I have found some great deals this way. I will give three examples from different times and years of my pipe hunting to illustrate the point. I found a nice mid 50’s Dunhill Shell billiard at a local thrift shop for $12. The sticker covered the white dot on the stem but the shape and blast caught my eye.

I found a small group 2 sized saddle billiard Dunhill Tanshell from the 60’s for under $20 in an antique mall in the US. It was hidden in a box of old junk pipes in a far corner of the shop. It was not locked in a cupboard but rather in an old porcelain jar with the stems inserted in the jar and the bowls sticking out the top. The blast on the pipe caught my eye so I pulled it out of the jar for a better look and found that I was holding a Dunhill.

More recently I came across a beautiful Comoy’s Gulidhall Liverpool for $30 in a shop in the Edmonton. It was on a shelf with other old beat up pipes and ratty pipe bags, broken pipe racks and old tins. It was toward the back of the shelf but the grain on this pipe caught my eye and it came with me the rest of the hunt in that shop.

The trick to this rule is to look and when you see them either pick them up and carry them with you or if the case is locked, note the case number and get the dealer to take them out of the case for you to examine. If the dealer unlocks the case for you then they typically want to carry them to the front for you. Play it cool with this and say that you will continue walk about the shop to look and “think” about your purchase.

You might wonder about the necessity of this rule but I can tell you it is critical in working deals and ongoing future deals with sellers. They key is to know that when you walk away happy with your amazing find, that they also are more than happy to have rid themselves of what they see as an eyesore. I have watched the price change drastically when a seller picks up on my excitement about the great price on a particular pipe. They read my reaction and I have seen the prices both escalate and de-escalate based on my response. I have had them decide quickly to not sell the pipe and when I came back at a later date the price was pushed through the roof and no longer something I would buy. I have also had them immediately back peddle and raise the price while I was standing there with excuses of mismarked prices or mistaken identification. It is critical to play your cards close to your chest when working a deal on these pipes. The words of a Kenny Rogers song, the Gambler hold true here; “You have to know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em.”

I have learned the lessons of this rule the hard way. It is very difficult to contain my excitement when I find highly valuable, collectible pipe. It is hard to not get worked up with the joy of the find. But I have found that if I do not let the cat out of the bag while I am looking the seller will let go of it at a bargain price of even less than it is marked or at the very least will not jack up the price so that next time you pass through the pipes are marked double and triple the price you paid for the first one. This rule is well worth remembering and practicing as you work the hunt.

Good hunting!