Bamboo shank briar stamped "T P E" - maker?

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jonasclark

Part of the Furniture Now
Aug 4, 2013
738
384
Seattle
I bought a nifty little pipe today. It's a small, elegant shape, I think in the "blowfish" category, with four knuckles of bamboo for a shank. The only stamps are "1" in a circle on the underside of the bowl, and "T P E hand work" on the bamboo. Does anybody know who makes or made these? The shop didn't know, but they had two (the other a dublin shape) as well as several smaller with one knuckle. I don't have a photo at the moment, but there's a rhodesian one on eBay, also with no maker's info besides the stamp.

 

fishnbanjo

Lifer
Feb 27, 2013
3,030
63
There is a large company called Tobacco Pipe Exports, they deal in Pipes, hookahs, vape items, tobacco etc. it’s possible it come from them and obviously the pipes are made elsewhere much like a trade, or basket, pipe.

banjo

 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,568
27,074
Carmel Valley, CA
Photos can be very helpful.
Once your photos are on a photo hosting site (such as Imgur.com; Postimage; Dropbox, etc. Photobucket), or on virtually any site, (including this site's album) such as eBay, Amazon, you-name-it, select the full sized image, then Control-click (Mac) or Right-click (Windows) on the image itself, then choose "copy image location" or similar words. Now paste that URL (the full web address, which should end in .jpg or .png) into the IMG box in the reply window of the thread you're posting to.
The site's album is also a good choice for displaying photos, and the same method works for obtaining the image's URL for copying into the IMG box.

 

jonasclark

Part of the Furniture Now
Aug 4, 2013
738
384
Seattle
Here's the pipe
oV2eEBQ.jpg

ebyR72U.jpg

If this is a basket pipe, quality-wise, it's the prettiest one I've ever seen. It's lightweight, the bamboo is beautiful, the mouthpiece is thin and easy to hold, ad the carving is gorgeous.

 

jonasclark

Part of the Furniture Now
Aug 4, 2013
738
384
Seattle
I'm in Seattle, as is Tobacco Pipe Exporters, and I know the shop (F. K. Kirsten) has other pipes I see on the TPE website, so this must be theirs. I don't see any bamboo on their website, though. Most of what they show is very basic, but this is a fancy pipe. As are another I've had no luck IDing (but which isn't marked TPE), the 'hole pipes' shown a ways down their page, which have plateau tops - they're stamped La Scala.
I see that TPE claims to be importers for Amadeus Pipe Co. out of Greece, on whom I can find little except an expired domain name.

 

jonasclark

Part of the Furniture Now
Aug 4, 2013
738
384
Seattle
Update: I spoke to Kevin Brackett at Tobacco Pipe Exporters. He told me he has an arrangement with a carver, who would like to sell high-grade pipes someday but feels he's not ready yet. Kevin buys his pipes inexpensively, stamps them TPE, and sells them inexpensively (about $150 for these bamboo shank models). He gives this carver free reign to make whatever he likes. For this reason, he won't say who carved this pipe, or even where he's from! However, he has a few more such pipes, and I'll be looking at them in a week or so. If anyone here might be interested, I'll get photos and prices, and would offer them here for exactly what he charges me.
The "La Scala" hole or bridge pipes with plateau are an Italian import TPE sells, and they have some of those, too. The F.K. Kirsten shop is their only Washington retailer.

 
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