Question About LPI

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Aug 1, 2012
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I have had an LPI on my radar since seeing one at Edward's in Denver. The sad part about that one is that it was walking out the door as a recent purchase. In that same time frame, I saw a couple more and lost them only to see them in the hands of another board member (not a bad thing and I'm quite happy for him) in the threads here and here. In those threads it did have a bit of info that surprised me though. They were made by J.T. Cooke. I see the same claim on Briarblues and that only lends it more credence. Well, I ran across another one and managed to secure it.
The question is this: Were all LPI pipes made by him? I see other places that Barry Levin imported pipes from prominent Italian artisans and others. So, could they be from different artisans or are all LPI stamped pipes made by Mr. Cooke?
Here's a seller's pic of the pipe I won if that helps you reach a conclusion. The thing that gets me on this one and the second link above is the double-comfort-like stepped bit. Did J.T. Cooke ever do a stepped bit? Also, the rustication looks more Italian than American but that is not always the best indicator.
lpi-pipe-600x228.jpg


 

mrenglish

Lifer
Dec 25, 2010
2,220
72
Columbus, Ohio
I know they had pipes made by or with Cooke. They had a huge falling out when the son took over LPI and pretty much drove it into the ground.

 
Dec 24, 2012
7,195
456
JT told me he did a few along with a bunch of carvers who also worked on LPI pipes. So no, by no means did he work on all of them, and even the ones he did work on he couldn't recall if he did everything with respect to that particular pipe or just part of it.

 
Aug 1, 2012
4,587
5,131
Thanks guys. It doesn't surprise me that different carvers worked for LPI. I suspect it would probably be impossible to tell who did specific pipes with that stamping. Love it anyway and if this one works out, more of them will probably be in my future.

 

mrenglish

Lifer
Dec 25, 2010
2,220
72
Columbus, Ohio
I believe LPI is who we have to thank for the estate market. They were the first to really get the estate market going. They pretty much created the initial market. Originally, they would send out mailings with photos of pipes and you would order them that way.

 

pitchfork

Lifer
May 25, 2012
4,030
605
My understanding, in part from reading archived alt.smokers pages, is that Cooke made the LPI pipes, while a couple of other lines were made by folks in England and in Italy.
Peck, what did Jim tell you about the production process on the LPI line? Did he say that other folks worked on different steps and/or parts of individual pipes, or just that other people made pipes for Barry Levin? I wonder if he isn't thinking of the other two lines made for BL. One was made by Bill Taylor, as it happens. The other was someone in Italy.
In any case, to answer part of the OP's question, while I haven't seen a J.T. Cooke pipe with a DC bit, he did make replacement bits for Charatans, Comoys, etc. He was so good, in fact, that he started carving his name into the face of the stem so as to prevent collectors from being fooled by his replacements. The bit on the other LPI pipe that I had -- the one with the regular acrylic bit, looks just like the style of bit Cooke makes, now. Also, both of those were perfectly drilled. I mean absolutely perfectly drilled, and yet not too wide open, which is how folks describe Cooke's pipes, now. I assume that those two were at least partly made by Cooke himself.

 
Dec 24, 2012
7,195
456
He didn't go into much detail. When I sent him pics of your pipes, what he said was he "probably did work on those pipes. Those were the early days and there were other carvers involved too.". Read into that what you will.

 

pitchfork

Lifer
May 25, 2012
4,030
605
Capt., have you seen this LPI pipe? It's amazing. (HOLY CrAP, I think it's still for sale -- I thought it would have sold by now.) Anyhow, it just says LPI, but the seller believes it's simply a J.T. Cooke pipe.

http://www.finepipes.com/american/j.t.-cooke/j.-t.-cooke-smooth-bent-bulldog-straight-grain
As for the LPI that Briar Blues had up for sale a while back, he said that the seller (to him) had said that J.T. had done the "finish" on the pipe, whatever that means. If that's correct, it would suggest that Cooke was working with others on these or that some of the stummels came pre-cut (my leading hypothesis).
BTW, is that a blue dot on your stem, or just a reflection? And do you have a link and/or more photos? That's a really cool pipe in any case. Do I detect hints of the Briar Workshop-style Dublin? Maybe...

 

pitchfork

Lifer
May 25, 2012
4,030
605
He didn't go into much detail. When I sent him pics of your pipes, what he said was he "probably did work on those pipes. Those were the early days and there were other carvers involved too.". Read into that what you will.
Classic. dmcmtk (Dave) knows a lot about the Vermont pipe makers and he's continually amazed that they remember so little about the late 70s and 80s, or else have conflicting versions of who made which pipes when. It's a very thick plot, indeed.

 
Aug 1, 2012
4,587
5,131
Love that LPI on finepipes. Saw it earlier and regardless of maker it looks fantastic. Seems like the dot is just a reflection. Sent you a link to the pipe listing too.
Yeah, this pipe looked pretty cool and the LPI mystique just added to it.

 

pitchfork

Lifer
May 25, 2012
4,030
605
This is by no means definitive, but Michael Feldman (Marty's son) of the Smoker wrote back in the late 90s:
all of the LPI pipes where made by jimmy cooke and no

> > one else and where made for levin internal and all where and are jimmy

> > cookes pipes made to barry's spec's, and personal reserve pipes that

> > barry had made for him where only made for him by bill taylor, from

> > ashton, and all of the personal reserves from italy where made by radice

 

dmcmtk

Lifer
Aug 23, 2013
3,672
1,685
Well, just to muddy the waters further, from an interview with Jimmy Cooke in 2011,
"I was still working for other labels at the same time that I was working with Barry. And he decided that he would like to put out a reasonably priced American made pipe and he wanted it to be primarily sandblast. He went to Europe to see what he could have made and after we talked about it, he decided to give me a shot. That is where I started. I gotta tell you, my first exposure to sandblasting was not only eye opening but totally humiliating."
Of course, their is no indication in this quote if the pipes being talked about were those marked LPI, or had some kind of JT&D marking.

 
Aug 1, 2012
4,587
5,131
Do your homework and know what you're getting into.
Good advice as always. Thanks for the write-up Mike. I always enjoy and appreciate reading them. This is one of those mysteries (like the Astley's one) that will probably always remain murky. Pipes like this should probably not be bought for who might have carved them but instead for the enjoyment that they provide be it aesthetic, smoking characteristics, or the mystery that surrounds them. Personally I like 2 out of the 3 and will find out about the third soon enough.

 
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