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Show us your Pipes

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18,222
In going through my parent's estate, I have found several vintage pipes. I never knew my father smoked pipes, although I do recall him rolling cigarettes when I was very very young, but he had quit by the time i was 5 I think. And that was 60 years ago. Anyway, I am looking for information on any of them if you guys can help. Like Sergeant Schultz, "I know nothing" about pipes. Well, almost nothing, I've read this thread so I have a start...

Here are the first two, meerschaums. The amber stem belongs with the case, the yellow stem was loose in a box. The tag in the case says "Genuine Meerschaum by Pioneer. Deluxe." and has a drawing of a horse-drawn covered wagon. There are no markings on either pipe. View attachment 240677
Pioneer Pipes was a meerschaum pipe & meerschaum lined briar pipe company based in Brooklyn, NY. Their meerschaum pipes were all marked with a fancy letter "P" (not to be confused with Peterson as above) & stamped "Genuine bLock Meerschaum". Impossible to know but you probably have an unidentified meerschaum pipe in a Pioneer Pipe case. It's possible they had a sister company that sold a line of seconds unmarked & under a different name. That was somewhat common back in the day.
 
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18,222
I am at a total loss on this one. All it says is Germany. Not sure if it's ivory or bone or what, but it is interesting. It's about 3 1/2 inches long overall.

View attachment 240682

View attachment 240683
It's an inexpensive tavern novelty pipe made of clay. Clay tavern pipes were originally sold at taverns & Kent to only be smoked a few times before they would usually break. Many yrs later they became more of a novelty item molded in many shapes such as your Indian.
 
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18,222
The larger top pipe is marked "All Briar Kaywoodie" with the number 95B.
the smaller lower pipe just says Imported Briar Kaywoodie

View attachment 240684

Top is a Winston English Style, Algerian Briar,
bottom one says Wally Frank Ltd., "Good-Will", Made in England.
View attachment 240685
Kaywoodie started as a line of pipes by KB&B in 1919, & the corporate name wasn't changed to Kaywoodie until in 1955. They made a lot of pipes. Most of their pipes have an inlaid cloverleaf on the stem. The cloverleaf changed some over the yrs & that can help date a pipe. If yours does not it could mean it has a replacement stem,

Kaywoodie was also known to patent a lot of processes & innovations to pipe smoking systems, Pipes with patent numbers stamped in the stummel are often sought out & the number can help date the pipe. Unfortunately the 93B which is probably a model number means nothing to me.

Don't know anything about Winston.

Wally Frank started business in 1930. They contracted their pipe making out so you can find pipes marked England, Italy, France, US, & Danish made. They are usually well thought of & good smokers. Late in their business life I think they became tobacconist as pipe smoking decreased.
 
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18,222
Top pipe says "John Cotton" and imported briar in script on the other side.
Bottom one is marked "English Pipe Shop", has the number 69 on the other side, and says "Aged Imported Briar" on the bottom.

View attachment 240686


Top pipe is marked on the bottom: The Everyman London Pipe, Made in London, England.
Bottom pipe is marked with the number 530, has three letter Bs in a diamond shape, above the words Own Make, and then it looks like it is marked "THORNEYCROFT, London, England". But the Croft part is difficult to read.

View attachment 240687
Don't know anything about John Cotton.

The Everyman line was a line of seconds made by Comoy in London.

BBB was the Blumfeld Best Briar pipe company originally registered in England in 1846. Sometime later it became Best British Briar & sold to the Cadogan Company, then even later the Wally Frank Company.

The BBB logo in the diamond changed from time to time thru the yrs & can be used to help date a pipe. As recently as 1980 Wally Frank was still using the logo.

I don't know anything about Thorneycroft.
 
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18,222
And lastly, some tools. a camera-shaped lighter, a pipe cover, a british buttner, and I guess a tobacco pouch?

View attachment 240696
The camera lighter is neat but probably just a novality too.

Wind caps are still available & can be used on any pipe should one require a cap. They are usually spring loaded to fit different size bowls.

The British buttner is an adjustable pipe reamer used inside a bowl to cut down the carbon cake that builds overtime.
 

Il Cappello

New in Town
Thank you so much for all the info. It kind of confirms what I thought, the Kaywoodies and a few others are common pipes, the "novelty" ones are just that. Didn't really care about any $ value, just wanted to make sure that I kept the decent ones. I wouldn't want to try a junk pipe to start with...

Here are the cloverleafs on the two Kaywoodies, and the BBB from the Thorneycroft. I would imagine all these pipes are from the late 40s or early to mid 50s.


IMG_20200609_204320cap.jpg


IMG_20200609_205726.jpg
 
Messages
18,222
Thank you so much for all the info. It kind of confirms what I thought, the Kaywoodies and a few others are common pipes, the "novelty" ones are just that. Didn't really care about any $ value, just wanted to make sure that I kept the decent ones. I wouldn't want to try a junk pipe to start with...

Here are the cloverleafs on the two Kaywoodies, and the BBB from the Thorneycroft. I would imagine all these pipes are from the late 40s or early to mid 50s.


View attachment 240914

View attachment 240915
I'm sure others will jump in & Ill have more to add when time permits in the next couple of days.
 
Messages
18,222
^^^The Military mount also made it convenient to break down a pipe to pocket carry while in uniform. And it made for a much better pipe then say a vest pipe or an opera pipe where the stem swiveled around making the pipe pocket size.
 

ReynardTheFox

New in Town
Messages
45
New meerschaum with amber stem View attachment 238431 View attachment 238432
I am unsure as to age but I would guess late 19th to early 20th century. Great detail on the claw.


That's a really nice pipe. it looks like african meerschaum from the colouration. I have a bent billiard shaped one just like that and it had belonged to my grandfather. From anything I could find out about them they were vienna meerschaum and they were no longer made after the 1950s. the experts can tell from the type of stem what era it is. Mine will be pre second world war as my grandpa travelled around Europe as he was a hydraulic engineer expert. He was in a bit of demand back in the day.

tHe stem on mine is lighter than that. Someone reckoned it was lucite.

my grandfather only smoked meerschaums apparently, i think my uncle still has most of them but i liked they sort of colour of that one and asked for it. Will never smoke it
 

ReynardTheFox

New in Town
Messages
45
I am at a total loss on this one. All it says is Germany. Not sure if it's ivory or bone or what, but it is interesting. It's about 3 1/2 inches long overall.

View attachment 240682

View attachment 240683

fancy clay pipe. Look after it.

My old boss said he used to sneak up on the gypsy camps when he was a little boy (early 1920s) and he would watch the old ladies sitting round the fire smoking clay pipes. He said they were called jaw warmers and they'd get tossed into the fire once they'd cracked . Him and his pals would go back when the camp had moved on and see if any could be salvaged. They'd have pinched a bit of tobacco out their fathers tobacco jars for the occasion
 
Messages
18,222
A meerschaum block billiard with a Catalin stem that was one of my dad's pipes. I got it out to smoke on Memorial Day, let it rest yesterday & wanted to smoke it again today before putting it away again.

IMG_1236.jpg
 

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