Hardcastle Dating Question

Unfortunately dating anything but a Dunhill is not an exact science.

Try here.....Hardcastle

I have a 1930s Hardcastle - a fantastic smoker. A Phito is pre-cadogan, so means it's probably a very well-made pipe.



Anyway, this is what I information I could find:
A short history of HARDCASTLE

1903: Edmund Hardcastle establishes the brand.

1936: the family sells 49% of the Hardcastle Pipes Limited shares to Dunhill.

1946: Dunhill buys the remaining shares. The family continues to manage the company.

1967: Dunhill merges Hardcastle with Parker. The new Parker-Hardcastle Limited company absorbs the Masta Patent Pipe Company.
Hardcastle's seconds: Argyle, Royal Crown, Royal Bruyere, Royal Castle and probably Oxford
Pre-Cadogan Era: Straight Grain, Supergrain, Leweard, Nut Bruyere, De Luxe, Royal Windsor Sandhewn, Royal Crown, The Crown, Phito Dental, Old Bruyere, Jack, O'London, Dental Briar, Phito, Dental, Druconomy, Drawel, Phithu, Telebirar, Camden, Lightweight, The Table, Dovetail, Dental, Crescent Extra, Lonsdale, Welard De Luxe

I have a 1930s Hardcastle - a fantastic smoker. A Phito is pre-cadogan, so means it's probably a very well-made pipe.

Click to expand...

I like it.

Hi Dave:
Sorry I missed this before, but better late than never...
The story behind your pipe is actually pretty cool. It was invented by Eddie Hardcastle, son of the company's founder Edmund, as a result of preparations for a Hardcastle exhibit at the 1936 British Industries Fair. Eddie was putting together a display built around his idea of illustrating "a day in the life in a pipe, showing them catching the train in the morning, going to work, sitting in the arm-chair at home at night. But he [Eddie] just couldn't get a pipe to sit properly in a chair!"
Eddie solved his display problem by bending the mouthpiece of a pipe so that it could rest on its own stem. Out of curiosity Eddie tried the pipe in his own mouth, and found that it "rested perfectly on the chin and saved a lot of 'jaw effort'". Hardcastle wound up marketing the pipe and supposedly it sold well, especially for "fireside and motoring".
This account is drawn from a 1947 issue of a trade journal (Tobacco). Like many non-contemporaneous accounts it's a bit suspect. For one thing the Phitu appears in price lists at least as early as 1930. My personal guess is that the story is in essence true, but that the BIF referred to was an earlier one, say 1929 or 1930. The Fair was annual for a number of years.
Enjoy your pipe; it's a real piece of history.
Rgds,

Jon