Kaywoodie Topped Dunhill in Price

mso489 · Mar 25, 2014

Someone mentioned on Forums that in the 1950's Kaywoodie pipes were generally priced

higher than Dunhills. This is a dazzling thought, and Kaywoodie's briars are still pretty good

pipes, made in Tampa. Something to think about when encountering those Dunhill's that

cost $700 plus for a medium sized briar. I think Kaywoodie briars now sell for around

$25-$30.

foggymountain · Mar 25, 2014

I doubt it. My 1958 Dunhill panel cost $22 new.If a Kaywoodie costs $30 now (I am useing your number) it would have cost about $2-3 in 1950s money. But maybe they downgraded since then and the 50s pipes were much more expensive adjusted for inflation. Kaywoodie was a drugstore type pipe though, and those didn't cost more than $5 in the 50s.

mso489 · Mar 25, 2014

foggy, I wonder if Kaywoodie had a higher level, higher priced pipe at some point. I think they have

some handmade pipes today that are more mid-level, around $100, I've seen at the pipe show. How

does the $22 Dunhill translate into today's money, about $150 or $200? Anyway, you bought when

the prices were much better than now, I think. It is possible the pipes were better, or as good.

Your photo of all nine of your Dunhill panels evoked waves of admiration. It's a collection in itself,

except you go ahead and smoke 'em, which is only right.

7ach · Mar 25, 2014

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1755&dat=19471218&id=EiAhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pGQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6237,7930140
1947 ad

Dunhill 17.50

Kaywoodie 35.00

misterlowercase · Mar 25, 2014

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1755&dat=19471218&id=EiAhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pGQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6237,7930140
1947 ad

Dunhill 17.50

Kaywoodie 35.00

Awesome link 7ach!

Thanks!
I'll take 3 $5 Parkers please!

cynyr · Mar 25, 2014

And remember, those Dunnies had to be imported, and might even have faced a duty.
I have heard it said that upper-grade pre-war Kaywoodies were the equal of the Dunhill and sold for about the same price -$15 or so. I dunno. I've never smoked a Dunhill, but I have a couple of older Kaywoodies that give satisfaction.
All that goes out the window when comparing the current offerings from each company.

rx2man · Mar 25, 2014

From what I have read Kaywoodie had insane ammounts of briar. Anything that was not up to Kaywoodie standards went to the Yello Bole line. The high grade Kaywoodies back in the day were up there with any other companies high end stuff.
http://chriskeene.com/kwg-toc
the link below is the same but seems to have moe info in a pdf form
http://www.otcpipes.com/files/Collector_s_Guide_to_Kaywoodie_Pipes.pdf

pitchfork · Mar 25, 2014

I'm not sure about relative prices c. 1950, but a couple of decades earlier they were more or less on par. Notice that the Kaywoodie prices reflect a wide range in that 1947 ad. Probably that upper price was for top of the line Kaywoodies, while 3.50 would get you the standard model.

sablebrush52 · Mar 25, 2014

From the late '20's thru the beginning of WW2, Kaywoodie reigned as the most popular and best selling line of pipes in the world. The quality of their briar pre-war was the equal of anyone else. Their literature for that period speaks of century old algerian briar that was air cured for years. Remind anyone of another legendary English company, one whose name begins with a "B"?

When James Stewart wanted to thank his agent for an especially nice deal, he bought a cased set of matched Kaywoodies to present as a gift.

Unfortunately, after S & M Frank bought Kaywoodie, they turned it into a cheap drugstore pipe, and that's how collectors still define these pipes. Buy good examples while they're still reasonably priced. Prices are showing signs of rising over the past few years.

plateauguy · Mar 25, 2014

Back in the 20's-30's, Kaywoodie beat Dunhill to the $100 mark. Sadly, time, company ownership changes, and quality have taken their toll in recent history.

ssjones · Mar 25, 2014

All that goes out the window when comparing the current offerings from each company.

Not so fast. I have a Kaywoodie Pipe of the Year that is pretty well built. These run $150 to $200 and offer a lot of pipe for the money. The downside is that the majority of them are really large. I was at Park Lane last night, they had about 10 hand-mades in their display.
My 1930's Supergrain smokes as well as my Comoys, Upshalls or Dunhills that I've owned.

http://cigarsandpipes.com/pipes/pipes-a-m/kaywoodie.html

youngsterpuffer · Mar 25, 2014

Even today the kaywoodies, in my opinion, are not bad at all. Bought one today, smoked it on my way home from work, and it smoked perfectly fine for not being broken in. Though personally it's new to me because this is the first pipe I've had that hasn't had a filter. (Save for one but it smokes very poorly. ) I believe for the price, kaywoodies still have something to them. But of course I would love to own a pre ww2 era one.

foggymountain · Mar 26, 2014

MSO: $22 in the 1950s would be about $330 today. The gov't says the inflation was about 9 times the cost, but every item I have compared costs about 15 time 50's prices and is slipping higher. The Dunhill pipe was a #4 panel with what appears to be an amber root finish. The problem is that Dunhill didn't use the amber root finish until the 90s, so this must have been a predecessor. The taste was not as good as a recent amber root. I saw a similar shape, year and finish Dunhill on Ebay bid up to about $2500, which is ridiculous. The fact is the pipe was never as good as my Wilkes and Charatans, despite the prevalent belief that the old Dunhills were better than the recent production. In the 1950s about the best pipe you could buy in NYC was a Wilke in the $20-$100 range once it was broken in .My friend and I hung out at all the major pipeshops except Wally Frank which did not have much space, and I worked in one, Petersons.

numbersix · Mar 26, 2014

Excellent thread everyone.

Awesome link 7ach!

+1
I've never tried a Google archive search before - thanks for that.
Here's some others I just tried and the results are fantastic - looking forward to trying more searches...
site:google.com/newspapers "desi arnaz"
site:google.com/newspapers "lucille ball"
site:google.com/newspapers "1964 world's fair"

mso489 · Mar 26, 2014

foggy, my pipe smoking friend in Sunnyside Queens has a Wilkes, which I now know to admire even more. I'm

intrigued by you assessment of the old Dunhills compared to your Wilkes, and the fact that you hung out and

worked at the pipe shops in the city. It's down to a paltry few shops today, but it's still worth making the rounds on

the rare occasions when I'm both there, and have the time. Even $330 for a Dunhill is less than half what a

Group 4 (medium sized) Dunhill costs today. I'm impressed at what good smokers some of the really low-end

pipes are today, and mid-levels too, but I don't like to drum it up too much. Some of the pricier pipes, especially

the artisan-made, are works of art along with being excellent smokers, I believe.

ejames · Mar 26, 2014

http://pipepages.com/49rtda13.htm

http://pipepages.com/49rtda15.htm
From Chris's pipe pages--1949 RTDA catolog.
How 'bout some matched sets-- http://pipepages.com/37kaycat5

portascat · Mar 26, 2014

Ed James ^^^^ above cleaned up my 1938 Kaywoodie Bulldog (with carb) a year or so back. I bought it off Ebay for about $15 about 3 years back. Reclocked the stem and cleaned out the carb, myself.
IIRC, the pipe itself sold for about 6-7 bucks in the middle of the Depression. Based upon on the rate of inflation from 1938 to 2014, it would be about a $100 pipe, which is what a high end Kaywoodie would cost today.
Not Dunhill in price, but certainly in the "decent pipe" range.

Kaywoodie Topped Dunhill in Price

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