LOEWE L&Co Small billiard, 1927

England, 1927

An illustrative example how the consumer preferences changes over decades. Todays smokers are usually interested in pipes marked “large”, “extra large”, “incredibly large” and so on and so forth. Such the trend arised the most probably after the end of the WWII and many leading manufacturers such as Charatan’s and Barling were involved into this race.

Although we can see quite frequently among older pipes very small and compact samples suitable rather for a short smoking break with a cup of coffee than for a long and leisurely enjoyment. Who knows, may be people on the beginning of the past century smoked much more heavy tobacco in such pipes? Or the perception of the smoking process was more pragmatic and practical and people didn’t pay too much attention to its duration? Anyway there’s a wonderful, extremely lightweight, very compact (a “nose warmer”) and of course still absolutely smokable Loewe pipe from 1927 – the pipe for a cup of coffee indeed!

​The pipe markings are “(L & Co)” on the stummel and silver marks “L & Co”, “RD” (what stands for Robert Victor Dumenil, a Londons silversmith) and hallmarks corresponding to London, 1927. The length is 10.1 cm (3.98″), bowl’s height is 3.5 cm (1.38″). External diameter of the bowl is 2.8 cm (1.1″), internal diameter is 1.6 cm (0.63″). The depth is 2.8 cm (1.1″) and this pipe weights 16 gr. Briar, vulcanite stem, no filter. We didn’t polish the collar too much to avoid hallmarks damage.