KBB Langley

USA, 1920-30s

One of the greatest USA makers, KBB (Kaufman Brothers & Bondy), has been making pipes since middle of the XIX century. The company took a fantastic chance in the “gold fever” years, when started to distribute pipes in California, other states and had to increase production volumes substantially. In the early XX KBB transformed from a single brand to an umbrella company for a number of famous names, such as Kaywoodie, Yello-Bole, Reiss-Premier etc. Only until 1936 approximately pre-Kaywoodie KBB pipes were stamped with the registered company logo – a cloverleaf around KB&B. Thus, this pipe was made definitely before the middle of the 1930s, but perhaps not earlier than in the 1920s taking into account the button design.

The pipe markings are “KBB”, “LANGLEY \ ITALIAN BRUYERE”. The length is 14.7 cm (5.79″), bowl’s height is 4.7 cm (1.85″). External diameter of the bowl is 3.6 cm (1.42″), internal diameter is 2.0 cm (0.79″). The depth is 4.1 cm (1.61″) and this pipe weights 37 gr. Briar, vulcanite stem, aluminium air cooler. The air hole centering is a bit imperfect, but the chamber looks very accurately and lightly smoked.