England
Another one old good pipe from the 1950s. Some sources say that “Straight grain” was a kind of Comoy’s second (like other makers marked their pipes “Reject”) but we didn’t find a confirmation.
The pipe is 15.0 cm long, 5.0 cm tall and weights 27 gr. The bowl’s external diameter is 3.2 cm, inner – 2.0 cm, inner depth – 4.0 cm. Vulcanite stem, no filter.
Italia The Molina name is relatively new in the pipe-smoking community; the brand has been around since 2004. However, as we can see from the shape, the materials, and the skilful adaptation of the straight grain, today’s pipe is not the work of a novice nor a cheap basket pipe, but a thoroughly respectable creation…
Italy An exquisite freehand pipe from the world best known Italian manufacturer. Autograph pipes are made absolutely separately from other lines – very carefully selected briar specially for this series, the pipes are made essentially by hand, only the best carvers are allowed to make Autograph pipes. Every such pipe becomes a work of art…
England One of the mysterious pipes with the palm (hand) logo on the stem (it still visible on this pipe, but it’s a bit faded already). Our investigation brought us to the McGahey tobacconist in Exeter, UK. Some of such “palm” pipes were created or repaired by their carver and stamped with this logo. Unfortunately…
England This pipe is not so easy to identify as we may expect from a straight shape pipe. During different time periods the brand name “Grosvenor” was used both by Charatan and Sasieni. Nevertheless neither from the pipe’s nomenclature nor from it’s shape we can say definitely that the pipe belongs to one of these…
Denmark, 1970s A pipe from the greatest Danish tobacconist made in the 1970s. There were many legendary pipe carvers working for W.Ø. LARSEN and it’s usually difficult to say who exactly made a specific pipe. But such the elongated, specifically bent stem hints that our today’s pipe was made by (or at least inspired by)…
England The highest grade pipe made in the second half of the XX century at the John Redman LTD & British Empire Pipe Co factory. Unlike many other large and quite “freehandish” designed “Royals” this pipe is made rather according to the classical British tradition – a capacious (but not chubby) English horn pipe (some…
Hi,
I have a smooth, plum- stained pipe stamped just like the one above, and have been scratching my head over it. The only stamping I can find is “STRAIGHT GRAIN” over “LONDON MADE” on the left side, and the number “20” has been stamped on the right side. It is a small pot in shape. The script looks exactly like that used in the stamping of my Blue Riband and London Pride, but I see no trace of “Comoy’s” on the pipe. I can see no fills, and the grain is vertically straight and very tight. I see no maker identification on the stem, which may be a replacement, but is very well made and fits perfectly. Any idea who may have made it? I have had no luck in trying to trace the shape number.
Thanks,
Jeff Stierman
Hi Jeff,
The reasons why a particular pipe wasn’t stamped with its manufacturer name may be vary and at times not clear for us in the 2021. Such pipes are not always “seconds”, some of them could be made tobacco shops, some others were not finished due to closing / moving of production facilities.
“Straight grain” is not a registered brand name, therefore any maker could stamp this name on pipes. However you right, Comoy’s stamping is quite unique and I would say preliminary your pipe is one of Comoy’s too. But the small pot with the shape number 20 is not in Comoy’s shape charts (of course if it wasn’t made at the commission of another company).
I would recommend also to ask the question at the pipesmagazine.com forum, maybe someone of experts can identify your pipe or recall who was producing such the shape Nr. 20.
The very best regards, stay safe!