UP IN SMOKE: PIPE COLLECTING HOT NEW TREND

UP IN SMOKE: PIPE COLLECTING HOT NEW TREND

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (Wireless Flash) -- Now put this in your pipe and smoke it: the hot new trend for Gen Xers is collecting already-smoked pipes. That's according to Richard Carleton Hacker, author of the new book "Rare Smoke -- The Ultimate Guide to Pipe Collecting" (Autumngold). He says now that cigar smoking has choked in popularity, Gen X'ers are hot for charred, antique pipes. Some old tobacco pipes can be worth as much as $10,000 -- and the best part is you don't have to leave the pipes on a shelf like other collectibles. It seems the more you smoke a pipe, the more its value increases because the smoke improves the patina of the wood. Carleton Hacker personally owns a collection of 2000 pipes, including a few that were smoked by Bing Crosby and William Conrad of "Jake and the Fatman" fame.