Let me make it clear that there's nothing wrong with a peterson or a stanwell. My first "good" pipe was a Peterson Kildare Rhodesian that I still smoke on a regular rotation. I also have a Peterson Churchwarden, a Dublin, a Sterling Silver Rhodesian, and a Peterson Meerschaum. So you could say Peterson is right up there with Dunhill and Southern Pipes among my "most numerous" pipes.
I have never owned a Peterson that wasn't excellent. They are one of the best values for the money. Besides everything else, Petersons are workhorses: they smoke great, and can be abused more than a regular pipe. Not that I'm saying you SHOULD abuse your pipes, ever! But if there's one pipe I would smoke twice a day in a pinch, it would be a Peterson. They handle heat really well. If I dropped a Dunhill on any kind of a hard surface from any decent height, that may well mean the end of that Dunhill. But I've dropped a Peterson down a short flight of stairs, watched it bounce three times, and picked it up with not so much as a scratch on it.
As for Stanwell, I only have one Stanwell, but its a doozy. A 2001 Pipe of The Year with a Masonic logo on it. You can guess where I take that one to smoke with.
To smoke well, you don't ever really have to smoke expensive. You don't ever really have to spend more than $150 on a pipe, if you don't want to. And if you are discriminating, know how to spot good grain, etc. you can still have a magnificent collection.
That said, I would strongly suggest that sometime you save up your pennies and try buying at least high-end british pipe (it could be a Dunhill, Ashton or Ferndown.. the latter two are made by ex-dunhill craftsmen and are really excellent while costing a bit less than a dunhill) and at least one high-end italian (Castello Collection, Ser Jacopo, or Mastro de Paja). They are worth the money.
If you can't, though, there are a couple of italian brands, Lorenzetti and Moretti, that are usually priced under the $200 mark and that smoke magnificently. I strongly recommend these two brands to someone who wants to find out why everyone is talking so big about Italian pipes, but doesn't want to put down $500 for a Castello.
Don't go for Savinelli, unless you can actually spring for an Autograph. The Autographs are magnificent, but most of the lesser lines of Savinelli are pretty mediocre.
RPGPundit August 10 2005