Calling The Bard: My Barling PAD Acquisition.

[jaytex1969]

My sickness has been, for the most part, under control.
But, I was on eBay, minding my own business, when....

It attacked me. I ran. It pursued. I added it to my watch list as a delay tactic. That bought me a day or so.

I justified my avoidance by mentally attacking the seller. Others have said they suck, after all. But, 917 feedback this year, all good except one neutral?? It's hard to please that many keyboard commandos in this day and age. Besides, all the accusations I read were kind of old. And, a few people I respect have said good things.

It lunged at me again from the shadows. Before I knew what happened, I had removed my credit card and stabbed it in the heart. The battle was over. In 5-45 days, we shall see who really won.
LINK with more pics.
Give it to me straight, Jesse. I can handle it. :P

 

[dmcmtk]

1950's...no. 1970's...yes. The seller's dating is incorrect, and if it were correct, would they sell it for $35...

 

[jaytex1969]

Dave, as I am ignorant on the matter, could you explain further? Did I get a great deal or screwed?
Either way, Barlings are reputed to be reliably good smokers, so for that price, it can't be too bad.
(famous last words...)

 

[sablebrush52]

Hi Jay,
When you mentioned that the seller was somewhat controversial I knew who you meant. Dave is correct that the pipe is from the 1970's not the 1950's. It was made after the Barling factories were closed, at a time that Imperial was subcontracting to several British companies, including Charatan and Oppenheimer, to produce pipes stamped with the Barling name. Also, the BB&S pipes were seconds. The stem is molded, not handmade. It may be a very good smoker. It looks to have not been abused. A Barling it is in stamping only.

 

[owen]

Is it known when things changed? I have a Barling pipe which has all the same features as my Barling's Make. Great grain same button construction.

 

[jaytex1969]

So the stamping to the right of the make, the C3/1, what is that indicating? Shape?
Thanks.

 

[disinformatique]

Lol you bought from Shinypipes, lmao. :rofl:

 

[jaytex1969]

Yes, I did. Fully aware of their reputation and willing to take a calculated risk.

 

[sablebrush52]

Is it known when things changed? I have a Barling pipe which has all the same features as my Barling's Make. Great grain same button construction.

I'd need to see the nomenclature on the pipe to which you are referring to offer any information about it.
The factories were shuttered in 1968 or 1969, IIRC. Pipe making was then outsourced to several London based companies before being outsourced to Nording. In some cases the outsourced pipes are pretty good replicas of Barling made pipes. In others the shapes are clearly in the style of the house making them. In 1980, Ron Harden rescued the company from oblivion by organizing an investment group to buy the rights and set up operations on the Isle of Man. A few years ago, Cup O Joes featured "Barling" pipes that were clearly made by Peterson.

 

[scloyd]

What's the deal with Shiny Pipes? I have looked at their pipes on eBay. Never purchased though.

 

[sablebrush52]

So the stamping to the right of the make, the C3/1, what is that indicating? Shape?

Maybe. It doesn't relate to any Barling shape number of which I'm familiar, but my knowledge of the later period is a bit sketchy. I'm slowly gathering information to attempt to provide more information for this period. Some of the Charatan made Barlings had something similar stamped on them, a G followed by numbers.
I have a few of these outsourced pipes and they've all been great smokers.
Here's the bottom line when looking for a Barling family made Barling pipe:
The logo is one of three options:
1. A block letter BARLING'S MAKE with the word Barling arched over the word make.

2. A cursive BARLING'S, which is used only for the Guinea Grain grade and finish - NOTE that this is possessive with an apostrophe and an "s".

3. A cursive BARLING that was used ONLY for a few filtered models and NOT for the Guinea Grain.
If the logo isn't one of these three types it's not a Barling family made Barling pipe.

 

[sablebrush52]

What's the deal with Shiny Pipes? I have looked at their pipes on eBay. Never purchased though.

Let's just say that a couple of threads regarding them became so caustic that they were wiped from this site.

 

[scloyd]

Gotcha! Thanks

 

[owen]

Thanks for the informative Sablebrush. I will post some pictures tomorrow. On a side note I have a severely beaten up Londoner which gets a lot of use.

 

[owen]

Double post. Bloody phone.

 

[sablebrush52]

On a side note I have a severely beaten up Londoner which gets a lot of use.

The Londoner was a lower priced line of pipes. They can smoke quite well. Some of them were made by Nording.

 

[owen]

Sablebrush if I may, are there any big Barling questions left to answer or is it now a matter of just confirming hunches and narrowing down details?

 

[mso489]

jay, so the lineage isn't so much Barling. You didn't spend a lot. If it smokes well, it's a rather pleasing rendition of the classic cylindrical pot, managing to be lithe rather than blocky, and I think the saddle stem complements the package. It's about basket pipe price, so could be good if it smokes well. Some of those old English factory pipes are pretty good.

 

[disinformatique]

Jay,
I was merely pulling your leg. That Pot looks fantastic.
Cheers,

Chris :puffpipe:

 

[sablebrush52]

Sablebrush if I may, are there any big Barling questions left to answer or is it now a matter of just confirming hunches and narrowing down details?

There are a lot of unanswered questions. New pipes and markings are still showing up. I'm trying to lock down when the model numbers were changed in the 1920's to the Nichols numbers and the 4 digit numbers that begin with a 1. I have a pretty good idea, but don't have enough info to have it locked. Also, Barling changed the numbers on some of their models in the '20's, but not all of them. There are references to catalogs going back as far as 1904, but the only one that has surfaced from the era before WW1 is the one that I restored and published. What might we learn from other company print sources? Dating a Barling that lacks hallmarks is still a matter of hunches, however informed. There's the question of whether the Barling Nibblick listed in a 1917 tobacconist's catalog is sandblast, like the late 1930's Nibblick that showed up a couple of years ago. At least we now know what a Barling Nibblick is. Proof that Barling was sandblasting as early as 1917 would be very interesting. One of the stories circulating in the collectors world is that Barling was the earliest to use sandblasting and that Dunhill stole the credit. Until a Barling sandblast dateable to 1917 shows up, that remains a question. So, yeah, there's lots more to learn and a lot of answers being kept out of view.