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Big Ben, A Poor Mans way to own a 7 Day Set August 19th, 2009

First Off, let me say that the term “Poor Mans” is in no way derogatory to theses pipes.

They are excellent smokers, I in fact own 14 of these, so I guess you could say I own a 2 week set.

I purchased mine in Holland and in UK, but I do see one or two in this series, on US Web Sites, but not the full compliment.

big-ben-filter-silverline1

In England they cost around £37.00 or US$47.00 (England is the little island west of Europe that is America’s favorite colony)….Sorry Pommies, but I had to put that little dig in as the Yanks are usually Geographically Challenged

Here are some sources for them:

http://www.smoke.co.uk/index.html

http://www.elbertgubbels.nl/default.asp?lang=EN

They come in 6 shapes and 5 different finishes.

The first one I bought was Shape 648 in a Rusticated Finish, but the Rusticated Finish seems to be discontinued.

The Largest Bowls are 647 & 649, Smallest Bowl is 651. I would guess that the 647 & 649 are mid size by US Standards.

I don’t use the filters, and the smoke flow is easy. A doubled up Pipe Cleaner easily goes through the stem into the bowl. They require little or no break in.

They are light weight and extremely comfortable in your mouth with nice wide Lucite Stems. Seems to me they would be ideal for smoking when working with your hands or doing some arduous task which occupy both hands such as fly-fishing, card playing, playing pool or nintendo games for the younger pipe smokers. They are my preferred pipes when typing on the computer.

They smoke better than some of my Brand Name Pipes that cost 10 times as much.

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In fact as a testament to what good smokers these are, I was recently visiting a friend and left my pipe on the table in the porch when I went to get something out of the car.

On my return, I could not find my pipe. My friend has two Beetham Hounds

The main garbage dump in Trinidad is located on the Beetham Highway, so any canines of no specific parentage, are referred to as Beetham Hounds.

Any way despite their lack of aristocratic lineage, the two beast obviously have decent taste and a sweet tooth. They were enjoying my BigBen, Natural Finish, Shape 649 with MacBarens Navy Flake on the lawn.

The bit was in multiple pieces, and the bowl had some nasty bites. I sent it off to England, and the bit was replaced sans logo, but all the digs bar one were nicely buffed out.

It cost me £30.00, for the repairs, but as an animal lover I could not be vexed.

I have never tried “Barking Dog” tobacco, but I should get some and reserve this pipe for it.

2 Responses to “Big Ben, A Poor Mans way to own a 7 Day Set”

Kevin said:

Those are all nice looking pipes John. Funny story with the dogs.

August 19th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
mate said:

Try one of them, I think they are really worth the Money

BTW all stories posted are TRUE, ODD but TRUE

August 19th, 2009 at 5:10 pm

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2 Responses to “Big Ben, A Poor Mans way to own a 7 Day Set”

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