1907 BBB "Own Make" Bent Billiard

[georged]

'Tis a lovely little thing. 4.75" long and 43 grams. Compact, rugged, comfortable, tastes good, and smokes great.
I've always had a soft spot for durable designs, even though I rarely put them to the test. Maybe it comes from fixing so many Canadians. :lol:
At one time BBB wanted---and tried---to take over the PipeWorld. Be the best available and be everywhere. That didn't happen, but it was for speculative/financial reasons, not a lack of product quality.
If interested in the brand, absolutely get this book. It's amazing. (450 pages!): http://briarbooks.com/BBB_1912_Catalogue.html
Also, I just realized I put "Best Make" in the thread header when I meant to type "Own Make"... :evil: (Hopefully a mod will take pity on me and change it. I hate that part of Life where people point and laugh at what a dumbass you are.)
.

 

[sablebrush52]

BBB was the top of the mountain at that time. Beautiful pipe!

 

[jguss]

great pipe; i really love the lines. a wonderful vestige of frankau's golden years, when blumfeld still ran the company and they were both independent and a market leader. thirteen years later blumfeld was dead. only seven years after that the company crashed and burned: overexpansion, bad management of cash flow, and a mini-recession pushed them into bankruptcy. oppenheimer et al picked up the pieces and used them as an important lever in their creation of "the merger" (i.e. cadogan investments). many great bbb pipes were still made after 1927, but in retrospect it was the first ringing of the death knell.

 

[danielplainview]

Lovely pipe.
What’s the story on this one? A keeper, refurb, or selling? I have a soft spot for these old BBB’s. That would look right at home in my pipe stand. ::

 

[georged]

A keeper, refurb, or selling?

I wouldn't post a fixer or a seller on the wrong board. Just wanted to share. My shop time's been spotty recently (a respiratory bug got me), so I've been posting otherwise-pointless photos to keep my head in the game.

 

[danielplainview]

Well don’t give up on posting your fixer threads.
Keep the “pointless” pics flowing. Show and tell are by far the most interesting posts for us old timers.
Get well soon

 

[sablebrush52]

George, I hope that you're feeling better soon.

 

[doctorbob]

I, for one, am eating these pictures up. Another wonderful example of Britwood at it's best. I sincerely hope you feel better soon.
Doc

 

[mayfair70]

a respiratory bug got me

You are not allowed to be incapacitated or pass away for at least ten years. That is probably how long it will take to get my Custombilt fixed at my current rate of savings. That is, if there aren't a hundred pipes ahead of me. :P Nice BBB by the way!

 

[ssjones]

I love those older, compact BBB's. Those old catalogs are full of similar shapes that never really caught on with other makers. Chris Asteriou and Mikhail Kyriazanos are starting to recreate some of those shapes.

 

[theloniousmonkfish]

That's a bully shape there, nice. Rugged and a beautiful smoke no less. Lucky dog.

 

[weezell]

Show and tell are by far the most interesting posts for us old timers.

Love the pics, but sorry you don't feel up to snuff! Get better Brother...

 

[kcghost]

These posts of old pipes are amazing.

 

[tschiraldi]

Great pipe, and a great piece of history!

 

[uperepik]

I'm becoming interested in the BBB, need to start learning which ones are worth acquiring.