Anyone can go out and buy a highly rated pipe from a highly rated pipe maker. I've done it, it's easy. But what about the sleepers? The needle in the haystack? The diamond in the coal mine? What is your nominee for the most under rated pipe or pipe maker?
The Most Under Rated Pipe Maker In The Galaxy
- Thread starter woodsroad
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Some of us recall with reverence the name of Fred Diebel, a tobacconist and pipe maker in Kansas City. His pipes were stamped Diebel – bench made. He made them right there in the shop as you watched, and along with his GBD's and other namebrand pipes, there would be a few of his own pipes for sale. I have three of them. Mary and Mike McNeil recall him with great fondness. Carl Ehwa worked for him as a blender, and the tobaccos were blended and stored in a cave in the south end of town where the temperature and humidity were constant. It was the glory days of pipe smoking, and in my opinion Fred was at the top of that pantheon of the Olympians. Anyone else recall him?
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John Marshall still makes a grand pipe at reasonable prices. Am I the only fan of Millvilles in the US? Maybe he's only really known in England. I do love his style though. All of his pipes, that I've fondled, are light, well fitted and nicely finished. He maintains a conservative eye that I really appreciate, even in his free hands.
You have to really want to find him. Last March he was still haunting the St. James Market, two or three blocks away from James Fox. It's a small booth with a nice selection of pipes from kind of expensive to really expensive. Just to listen to him is worth going a bit out of your way if you are in London.
You have to really want to find him. Last March he was still haunting the St. James Market, two or three blocks away from James Fox. It's a small booth with a nice selection of pipes from kind of expensive to really expensive. Just to listen to him is worth going a bit out of your way if you are in London.
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