The thing with pipes is the fact that different pipe decks can be so hugely different. Some start Prancing Pony with Legolas and Arwen and focus mainly on archery to dispatch enemies. Others play
Gandalf, The Grey Pilgrim with
Shire Lookout Point and tend to be phenomenal at surviving, normally going for a shadow kill. The second is much weaker to beatdown Nazgul as it may take a while to set up, though can double to 9 if it survives the initial onslaught, whereas the first can find itself horribly clogged early game making Uruks a fairly good counter, dealing tons of damage at sites 4/5. Also, if you are able to pick off Aragorn, it's basically game over, since his pipe is the one that does most of the healing.
But as most people have said, the best way to beat them is to run with your Fellowship. They take a lot of setting up, what with needing to draw pipes, companions and weed, so early pushes are often fatal. Other Fellowships don't have that problem so much.