Annals of shopping

Went to get a new pipe tonight.  Part of the thing with the Mrs. and I is that when we get our money back from taxes, we pay off debt and put some in our investments, but we always make sure to take a little bit and reward ourselves for not allowing the government to steal any more than they already did.  So I decided that I was going to pick up a good briar pipe.  We had held off buying it for a number of reasons, but today we went to a somewhat local pipe shop and did some searching.

My price was set at no higher than $150.  There are tons of good briar pipes out there for that price, and I found a unique pipe that I picked up for a bit less than that.  However, while shopping I saw pipes that were over $700.

That's two-thirds of a cool grand, all for a smoking pipe.  And the thing that got to me was that the expensive pipe isn't going to smoke any better than the pipe I picked up for considerably less.

Ah, well.  This is what makes the world go round, I guess.  If folks want to spend that much for a pipe, there's some Danish pipe maker who's happy to sell them.  And don't get me wrong, that $700 pipe is absolutely gorgeous.  I held it.  It fit my hand like it was made for me, and the grain on the briar was unbelievable.  Which is why it's as high priced as it is.  But still - I like the volcano I picked up, and there's no way on God's Green Earth that I'm spending $700 on a pipe.