England, 1940-50s An eye catching decent size classical English poker pipe made at Barling’s family factory between 1941 and 1962, i.e. during the pre-transition period. The arched BARLING’S MAKE logo is already of a full size, larger than before WWII. There’s still no shape number, but the stamping “EXEXEL” was introduced after 1941 when Barling…
England, 1960s A Charatan’s pipe of “the second Lane era” (1965-76), the period of the brightest blossoming of this brand, delightful shapes and grains, which eclipsed all others pipe makers including Dunhill. There’s no shape number on the pipe, thus it was made by one of the leading carvers at this factory regardless any catalogues….
England, 1950s Middlesbrough (Middlesbrough or Middlesbro) is a town in the north-east of England. It is known as a seaport, an industrial centre and the homeland of the musician Chris Rhee. In 1907 Lady Florence Bell, the wife of the local industrialist Hugh Bell, wondered why people spend so much time in pubs? As it…
USA, 1930-50s Kaywoodie pipes are well known and respected as relatively inexpensive, reliable and collectable smokers, it’s perhaps the most collectable and well explored American pipe brand: each small detail can tell something significant about the pipe’s age and history. And this sample is very interesting indeed: this is the early Super Grain Kaywoodie (“Super…
Denmark “Søren” is the pre name of Søren Refbjerg Rasmussen (more known as Refbjerg) – famous Danish artisan and founder of the small company (8-12 craftsmen in 1970s). The very best pipes were finished by the carver himself and stamped “Refbjerg”, while more affordable creations were marked “Søren”. Nevertheless this pipe is undoubtedly unique –…
England A higher grade Charatan’s pipe made in the 1960s, “Lane era” – the most famous period in the company’s history. Unlike many other Charatan pipes of that times this sample is very close to the classical bent shape, but with a touch of artisans creativity. And of course the grain is almost perfectly straight…
England A very interesting finding: the Brixton series is not represented in available Redman’s catalogues. The pipe was made in the 1960-70s the most probably: the stamping “John Redman” (in script) is not typical for early Redman products. Also we’d like to draw your attention to the shape: it’s not a simple bent pipe, but…
England Authoritative pipe community members advised that H.T.L. stands for Hiland’s Tobacco Locker, a southern California retail tobacco chain. Pipes have been ordered from leading Europian manufacturers such as Savinelli, Comoy’s and GBD. That explains also why some of HTL pipes are stamped “Made in Italy”, while the majority of them has the nomenclature “Made…
Denmark A pipe of the exclusive series from Stanwell: the bowl is made in the calabash shape and completed with two stems: one standard lenght acrylic and one long made of vulcanite, so you may use it either as a “traditional” pipe or as an churchwarden. Great finding! The pipe comes with an original tube…
Ireland We didn’t find any information on the Peterson Prefect series, but generally the pipe is a well known and reasonably respected Peterson Systems pipe of the 314 shape. The stem is a nicely made replacement one, it has a traditional P-Lip shape but the drilling is coming to the end of the button unlike…