Well thanks to a few members here, I was able to sell some pipes that I wasn't smoking that much. This allowed me to get a couple of new pipes that I find I really like!
These pipes were purchased quite cheaply, but come from two different spectrums of the pipe making world.
I made an offer on a buy it now for an old Dr. Grabow Westrbook, and it was accepted. I've sold all my Dr. Grabow pipes in the past because I didn't like the non-removable stinger on the Linkman's era pipes, and the newer one I got had a plastic stem that I didn't like either. So I figured that the late 40s through the early 70s were probably the years I should be looking at for a Dr. Grabow. I really liked the grain on this pipe, and it looked to be an early example that would have a vulcanite stem. The stem was upside down, and the Adjustomatic system seemed to be stuck. But a little elbow grease got it loose, and the stem cleaned up beautifully. The bowl had a varnish on it that was about 70% worn away, so I had to remove the rest, and in the process removed most of the kind of dark red stain too. I uncovered a few very small fills, but they didn't seem too bothersome to me, so I left the pipe its natural color at this point. At least the stinger is removable on these models and it has a nice open draw without it. Nice little pipe all in all.
Next I came across a few Bob Hayes artisanal pipes at Smokingpipes.com. I had read a little about him a few years ago, but you don't often see his pipes for sale. He seems to favor low key traditional shapes with his own spin on them for the most part. Even new they are more affordable than many similar hand made pipes. I was very surprised to see this one for only $60.00, and I really liked the shape, which they called a bent apple, but I see it more as a prince. The rustication on the shank was interesting too, and it's very rough to the touch. I snapped it up, and then went to figuring how I was going to cover the money I took out of the bank account. Time to sell some pipes! The engineering on this is spot on, and it smokes like a dream. It has the bowl shape that I prefer most of the time, good width, and not too deep. I did some more reading and I discovered a little more about Bob and his relation to the family that is Cornell & Diehl. This of course led to the discovery of his pretty much number one fan, Captain Bob! I can see why he likes Bob's pipes so much, nothing real fancy, just nice looking great smoking pipes. Nothing left to do now but buy some of Captain Bob's Blend to smoke in it...
These pipes were purchased quite cheaply, but come from two different spectrums of the pipe making world.
I made an offer on a buy it now for an old Dr. Grabow Westrbook, and it was accepted. I've sold all my Dr. Grabow pipes in the past because I didn't like the non-removable stinger on the Linkman's era pipes, and the newer one I got had a plastic stem that I didn't like either. So I figured that the late 40s through the early 70s were probably the years I should be looking at for a Dr. Grabow. I really liked the grain on this pipe, and it looked to be an early example that would have a vulcanite stem. The stem was upside down, and the Adjustomatic system seemed to be stuck. But a little elbow grease got it loose, and the stem cleaned up beautifully. The bowl had a varnish on it that was about 70% worn away, so I had to remove the rest, and in the process removed most of the kind of dark red stain too. I uncovered a few very small fills, but they didn't seem too bothersome to me, so I left the pipe its natural color at this point. At least the stinger is removable on these models and it has a nice open draw without it. Nice little pipe all in all.
Next I came across a few Bob Hayes artisanal pipes at Smokingpipes.com. I had read a little about him a few years ago, but you don't often see his pipes for sale. He seems to favor low key traditional shapes with his own spin on them for the most part. Even new they are more affordable than many similar hand made pipes. I was very surprised to see this one for only $60.00, and I really liked the shape, which they called a bent apple, but I see it more as a prince. The rustication on the shank was interesting too, and it's very rough to the touch. I snapped it up, and then went to figuring how I was going to cover the money I took out of the bank account. Time to sell some pipes! The engineering on this is spot on, and it smokes like a dream. It has the bowl shape that I prefer most of the time, good width, and not too deep. I did some more reading and I discovered a little more about Bob and his relation to the family that is Cornell & Diehl. This of course led to the discovery of his pretty much number one fan, Captain Bob! I can see why he likes Bob's pipes so much, nothing real fancy, just nice looking great smoking pipes. Nothing left to do now but buy some of Captain Bob's Blend to smoke in it...
