I'm very new to pipes, it's been like a month. My wife knew I wanted to start so she picked me up a Missouri meerchaum pipe. I've now got the bug. As much as I love smoking I also enjoy finding old pipes at antique malls and flee markets and cleaning them. Most of what I find are 8 dollar Grabow's. My last trip to a new place I picked up a Billy Ben pipe. I cannot find any info whatsoever on these. I assume it on the level of a Grabow but have no idea. Any ifo would be greatly appreciated.
Billy Ben pipes?
- Thread starter cbrand
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Welcome to the Forums cbrand! There are many knowledgeable people here and a great place to learn. All questions are welcomed. To your question: Billy Ben? Could it possibly say Big Ben? That would be a Scandinavian brand and a good one. The folks around here also love pics of the content in question. If you do not know how here is a link:
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/instructions-for-posting-pictures
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/instructions-for-posting-pictures
cbrand, welcome to Forums. Billy Ben isn't a well-known brand, to my knowledge. There is a Dutch made pipe called a Big Ben, but this isn't that. I don't know how much you want to spend, but I can say there are good pipes available at very reasonable prices. Our sponsors (listed in red at the right of Forums) have a number of them. pipesandcigars. com, just for example, has Stanwell brown brushed and black brushed pipes for $49.99, and unfinished Savenelli's for about the same price, both excellent brands and the perfect starter pipes. Or, you may be able to pick these up on ebay, used, for much less, but the condition is then not known. When buying a pipe, be aware if it is a filter or non-filter pipes. You might want to start with a non-filter and then make a decision on going to filters. Most Forums members don't use filters, but make your own decision. Good luck to you and welcome again.
It's really difficult to capture pictures of the nomenclature but when my gets home I'll have her do it with her fancy camera that I have no idea how to use. But it's possible the n could be another letter because of the grime on it. But on the other side it say made in London England 600. The words "made" and "London" form a circle around the word "in". England is below London.
Walt is right that the "made in London" in the "rugby ball" shape is Comoy's but the seconds brands listed at www.pipephil.eu does not list Billy Ben or anything close to it. Perhaps it was the name of one of artisans there and was a gift he made for someone.
Well, these pics don't help much, as the nomenclature can't be read at this size/resolution...
That said, I think it is no coincidence that this is a quarter-bent skater shape. A Comoy's #600 is also a quarter-bent skater. Methinks this pipe came out of the Comoy's factory!
Comoy's Shape Chart
That said, I think it is no coincidence that this is a quarter-bent skater shape. A Comoy's #600 is also a quarter-bent skater. Methinks this pipe came out of the Comoy's factory!
Comoy's Shape Chart
Thanks for the help, I resized the pictures and made them 3x's bigger and lost the resolution. I'm good I think calling it a Comoy. The nomenclature for its origin is identical to Comoy and the fact the do have a a 600 fitting the description of this makes it seem good enough for me. So this pipe is probably going to get some restoration work instead of a cleaning.
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