Author: V. K. Pipes

  • DANMORE 3031

    Denmark, 1970s The pipe can be dated quite precisely. Hans Sørensen founded the Danmore company in the early 1970s and it was quite a lucky start up, Danmore pipes were popular and sold in the Pipe Dan catalogue as well. But due to raising labour costs and falling demand the pipes production was closed in…

  • VIPRATI La Pipa

    Italy, 1980-90s A creature of the one of the most respected and collected modern Italian high grade pipe makers. Luigi Viprati (1953) started to carve pipes during his military service (simlarly to Karl Erik) and since 1982 he’s a full time pipe maker. Viprati uses clover signs for the grading: 1, 2, 4 and 5…

  • CIVIC 1923

    England, 1923 In fact it’s a “pre Cadogan Cadogan pipe”. The brand Civic was invented by Imperial Tobacco in 1921 as an outsource producer and trader of briar pipes and fancy goods. In 1928 Civic merged with other companies, what formed Cadogan Investments – a well known and very powerful player on the modern smoking…

  • Bruyere Garantie bulldog

    1920-30s? In the pre WWII period the nomenclature “Bruyere Garantie” (Real Briar, Echt Bruyere) was much more than just a stamping for identification of pipes made of briar (not of any other, cheaper wood). At the same time this nomenclature didn’t become a brand status because many manufacturers used it without any concerns regarding patents,…

  • STANWELL Old Briar 506

    Denmark, 1950s The Danish pipe from the most famous Stanwell period. The registration number was obtained by the company in 1948 and Stanwell pipes were stamped with it until the early 1970’s. Absence of the crown over the “S” on the stem prompt that the pipe was made still before the 1960s. The pipe is…

  • BJARNE Hand-Carved

    Denmark, 1980-90s “He could have been an ambassador for his country, but instead he became an ambassador for Danish pipes”. Bjarne Nielsen’s career was really untypical and unique. Many pipe makers came from different areas, there were engineers, telecommunication technicians, blacksmiths, and so on and so forth. However that was a highly unexpected move for…

  • DUNHILL Dress 4109

    England, 2002 Dunhill Dress pipes are relatively young; the series was introduced in 1973 and is distinguished by dark (in the most cases black) smooth finish. Despite dark stain hides natural briar grain the “Dress” pipes look luxury indeed!

  • JEAN LACROIX Brittany

    France, unsmoked An export brand made by Jean Lacroix (†2007). The Lacroix family is one of the oldest French dynasties in the pipe making. The founder, Eugine Lacroix began with the Delacour factory back in the 19 century, his son and grandsons launched own workshop (1921) and registered own brand (later in 1962). The most…

  • ROPP Spira Brevete S12

    France, 1950-60 A genius detective, Mr Sherlock Holmes is traditionally associated with Peterson pipes, no matter that there’s no clear proof of that. It’s already a standard human perception. In such a case his famous colleague from another side of the Channel, Jules Magrait should be associated with Ropp pipes the most probably. And that’s…