BBB Pipe Shapes

I have a BBB Thorneycroft 529 Dublin. Its in my profile pic. Metal BBB logo.

Here's a bad pic of a 30's or 40's (I suspect) chubby billiard simply stamped with the BBB diamond and Best Make, imprint logo instead of metal inlay and the stem is also stamped hand cut , I'll try to take better pix later...


Here's a 30's (I suspect) Ripple.

I love this pipe.




Here's a great article by the very knowledgeable Jacques Cole,

http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/documentStore/x/h/j/xhj30g00/Sxhj30g00.pdf
A great blog post by N.A.R.,

http://www.apassionforpipes.com/neills-blog/2010/11/23/two-great-war-vintage-pipes-from-bbb-britains-best-briars.html
Pipephil is essential if you haven't looked there already,

http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-bbb.html
New old stock BBB's made in the 80's are still available,

http://www.alpascia.com/pipes/l/BBB
One of the best BBB collections I've ever seen,

Monpe's Best Briar

http://blog.zaq.ne.jp/monpe/category/1/
A few scarce BBB's

http://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/estate/england/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=70833
http://www.thepiperack.com/blue-chip-estate-pipe-1920s-bbb-glokar-canadian-amberiod-glokar-stem/
http://www.thepiperack.com/x-sold-blue-chip-estate-pipe-1913-bbb-hallmarked-bent-apple-near-mint/
http://www.thepiperack.com/blue-chip-estate-pipe-1905-bbb-silver-spigot-albatross-lounge-bent-billiard-mint/
http://www.smokingmetal.co.uk/pipe.php?page=507
I would LOVE to own this cased set,

so damn nice!


A couple of threads,

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/bbb-bent-billiard
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/restoration-questions-re-odd-bbb-pipe-pics

Here's an old advertising mirror,


Diggers in England uncovering a long lost BBB enamel sign at a landfill,

I must say the prices things are going for on ebay are all over the place.

Click to expand...

Yeah, they are.
The early BBB's usually fetch a good sum,

it's dependent on condition of course.
Sometimes things slip through the cracks and you can find a good deal,

but that's becoming more rare nowadays it seems...
Did you see the old wood BBB display case that recently sold?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-BBB-HIGH-CLASS-TOBACCO-PIPE-STORE-DISPLAY-CASE-/281429309721?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item41867e7919&nma=true&si=rOtaurHG%252FDuH%252BOYJ%252BUSWzZhH8mo%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
It was up the prior week too, and I had my eye on it.

It went unsold.

Dammit, in retrospect I wish I would have grabbed it,

$70 would have been a deal!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281421710062?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
:crying:

BBB OWN MAKE VIRGIN 403 Straight Bulldog Dark-Brown Smooth has metal inner tube and metal logo.

I just recieved yesterday an empty 3 bulldog Companion case No.664 in the catalogue.

Click to expand...

Good grab, you got a nice deal. if it had been for billiards I may have been bidding the price up!
About the link,

I've dealt with William on several occasions and he's a great guy, back when I was really into Stanwells I snagged some from him, along with a few other cool things. He's always got interesting stuff!
Here's something you might run across in your BBB searches, I believe this is a Wally Frank BBB,

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/restored-bbb-bulldog-pipe

"After the final Cadogan merger, BBB was simply another trade name, with a lot of new "grades" introduced, stamped on pretty much anything produced anywhere (initially the big consolidated Cadogan factory that supplied the world with "BBB"s, "Charatans," "Comoys" &c. After that petered out, from France).
A little before or possibly at the same time as this, Wally Frank bought the American rights to the BBB logo and stamped (not inlaid) this on the BBBs he produced. On the basis of a sample size of one, they're as fine a pipe as anything England ever put out, but the contraction & difficulties in the market made him close the plant and send the machinery over to Italy under contract. The DiMontes that resulted were actually pretty good but didn't last more than a few years either."

Click to expand...

An interesting old advertising journal praising the techniques of BBB's print campaign,

http://books.google.com/books?id=arApAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA6-PA74&dq=%22bbb+pipes%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=r8EQVPz8OI2cyATtj4LgCQ&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAzgo#v=onepage&q=%22bbb%20pipes%22&f=false
Harvard class of 1913 got BBB pipes!

http://tech.mit.edu/archives/VOL_029/TECH_V029_S0168_P001.pdf
Cadogan sells BBB cufflinks!

http://www.cadogan-gifts.co.uk/ViewItem.php?item=3498&cat=21&subcat=101&goToPage=&return=0&qs=
And,

HOLY SHIT!

...find of the day is this:

8O

112 pages!!!!


Unbelievably incredible and a bookish thing I so desire!
It appears to be from a seller in Spain,

sadly they want 150 €

:crying:

http://www.elsgnoms.com/ficha.php?ref=10163

Profusamente ilustrado.

Click to expand...

DAMN!

:!:

Owen, I've just scored THIS.
I love the shape (and well loved, battered state) of this pipe. I've noticed I'm gravitating almost exclusively to this type of old pipe - they make my heart beat a little faster and the hair on the back of my neck stand on end (in a good way) - these old pipes have an energy I find irresistible.
I also have 3 other vintages BBBs (there might be a couple more, I'll have to have a nosey about) - a bent Glokar, a beautiful little Opera pipe with military stem, and a Meer' billiard also with a military stem kicking around here somewhere.
The Glokar and Opera pipes have vulcanite stems, while the Meer' has an amber one. The briars are stamped BBB on the shank, no numbers etc. The silver is all hall marked, stamped BBB and AF & Co, as is the silver on the Meer'.
As you can see from the pics in the link, my latest is marked with 'Own Make', and the name of the tobacconist/supplier, Moffat & Saunders, Bradford.
I'll get pictures of the others up as soon as I can. Hope this helps.

I believe shape numbers and metal rondels on the stems didn't come in until the late 20s or early 30s.
Here's my 1905 bulldog with the Glokar stem (it's like the Peterson P-lip, but more like a slot than a hole), and a 1912 bent apple/billiard. The apple is very small and stubby, but the bowl is a decent group-2 or so.

1912 diamond-shank bent billiard.

1909 footed cutty.

Al, can you see a date letter on it? That's a cool little pipe. Yours?

Sorry. I thought it looked familiar. :D
Looks like 1914 to me.

Those are beautiful old shapes, P. I have a 1907 billiard and a 60's? squat bulldog Rare Grain 427. I never knew the term for the p-lip like stem on the 1907. Thx.