Barling Ye Olde Wood Special 3386

[dmcmtk]

It's always nice when you find out that you have bought a pipe on ebay from another forum member. Peter (fluffie666) contacted me after the auction ended. Barling Special 3386, a Flat Prince shape, with grain that caused it to be graded a Special, and a "natural" finish. A post-transition pipe, so 1960's. Chamber was a little out of round, with some gouging from careless reaming, but that could be dealt with. A nice example of a Barling from the period. The shape 38 is shown in the '62 catalog, available in sizes 1-4. Pipe was an easy clean up, the chamber was sound, I just sanded out some of the knife marks on the inner rim. No stain, no topping, just thorough polishing of the stem and stummel by hand.

 

[dottiewarden]

Nice little pipe. I'm sure you'll many years of smoking pleasure out of it.
Congratulations!

 

[fluffie666]

Wow! Nice job Dave! I didn't ream the chamber at all so I didn't know about the gouging. I do returns for the genuinely unhappy. I just don't advertise that. I see you managed to keep the cross Barling logo on them stem. That's really great! I'm happy to see it restored too. I debated on keeping that one for myself. Great stuff :D

 

[beefeater33]

That's a great looking prince. I've grown quite fond of that shape lately. For years I shied away from them, not sure why.......

 

[sablebrush52]

Hi Dave,
Nice snag! 1960's for sure, before Imperial shuttered the Barling factories.

 

[dmcmtk]

I didn't ream the chamber at all so I didn't know about the gouging. I do returns for the genuinely unhappy.

It was just knife marks from the previous owner. I never considered a return. The pipe was in excellent condition, very lightly smoked, with a stem completely free of any bite marks. Trust me, I'm a very happy camper!

 

[fluffie666]

Terrific! You folks are a knowledgeable bunch and I am really interested in learning everything I can about as many brands and pipe makers that I can. Can anyone explain the TVF stamp on Barling / Barlings? I hit a wall there. I'm not sure if a TVF stamp means pre trans, trans or post trans.

 

[dmcmtk]

TVF, The Very Finest. It can be seen on pre-Transition, Transition, and post-Transition pipes, so in and of itself it's not the best way to date Barling's pipes.
Barling's, all you need to do is read and memorize all the details and information in the excellent article here, easy peasy... :wink:
https://pipedia.org/wiki/Barling

 

[fluffie666]

I think my memorization skills have deteriorated over the years. Lots of history there. I'll do my best.

 

[ssjones]

I saw that one, great grab!

 

[mawnansmiff]

"TVF, The Very Finest."
Off topic slightly but I have a glorious brandy bowled Danish made 911 TVF with stunning grain yet under the shank it is also stamped '2nd'.
I cannot see one fault with the pipe yet it is supposedly 'the very finest' whilst being a second at the same time...most odd :crazy:
Regards,
Jay.

 

[sablebrush52]

The Barling International was made by Eric Nording and were churned out by the thousands. They're nicely made, inexpensive pipes. By the time Imperial licensed Nording, the TVF stamp no longer indicated a quality grade. It was just part of the nomenclature.

 

[mawnansmiff]

Wahey, thanks for that little snippet Jesse, it has always puzzled me.
When you say made by Eric Nording by the thousand I assume you mean it is a machine made pipe.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[sablebrush52]

Hi Jay,
Yep, machine made. Nording commented that he must have made 100,000 pipes for Imperial, so I'd say machine made. There's no inherent superiority between machine and hand made. The "cut down" performed at the finishing stage of a handmade pipeline does lead to more firsts, but one can do the same thing to a machined bowl, and there's a lot of machining used in "hand made" pipes anyway.

 

[mso489]

Eric Nording trained as an engineer, so his machine pipes are excellent. I have one of his Eriksen pipes, strictly a factory product, but sound as a ship. That prince is an impressive pipe with a well-executed slender shank, obviously built to last.

 

[jerwynn]

I love that rendition of the Prince! Most enjoyable! :clap:

 

[colorduke]

Nice looking pipe.

 

[jpmcwjr]

A winner!