Determining Age of Pipe

[OutofOffice]

EDIT: Fixed Capitalization in Title (See Rule 9)

Perhaps this is a silly question, but bear with me.

I am just curious if there are any "easy tips" for determining the approx. age of a pipe.
Lets take stingers. They weren't always around, were they? Surely they have evolved from simple designs to highly machined and one could say machined versions did not exist prior to say 1950 (I don't know if this is true). So, one could say with some confidence that a pipe with a machined stinger is post-1950.
Clearly Vulcanite has been around for a very long time (1850's or so) but could someone look at a different stem material and make some assumptions?

I hope this makes sense.
That's my silly question of the day.

 

[bullet08]

Nomenclature seems to be the best way to identify the age of a pipe. If it's made in UK and has silver band, hallmark can give a ballpark age. If none of any specific indications are available, I heard they are doing free carbon dating at Harvard (just kidding).

 

[Chasing Embers]

Cut it in half and count the growth rings.

 

[ashdigger]

Kaywoodie was using machined stingers since the late 1920’s.

Definitely go with Nomenclature

also go on Pipephil.eu I believe. Great info for dating pipes. (What to wear, places to go, which cologne is more attractive and a simple guide to which bases when)

 

[OutofOffice]

Cut it in half and count the growth rings.

Haha. I’d prefer NDE.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Haha. I’d prefer NDE.

NDE?

 

[OutofOffice]

NDE?

Non-destructive Examination

 

[Chasing Embers]

Nomenclature, pipe brand and shape. Stem material can be a bit iffy.

 

[sablebrush52]

Dunhills are fairly easy to date from the nomenclature. A lot of artisan made pipes have date codes. If the pipe has an orific bit it dates to the late 1920's and earlier. Hallmarks will give you a very close dating. Stingers have been around since the teens of the last century. Other than that it's a matter of knowing when specific nomenclature was used for a specific make.

 

[OutofOffice]

Ok, let me change tacks.
How would you proceed with trying to identify a pipe with no markings or with markings that are not found on some of the indexes online?

 

[Chasing Embers]

Ok, let me change tacks.
How would you proceed with trying to identify a pipe with no markings or with markings that are not found on some of the indexes online?

Got any photos?

 

[OutofOffice]

Got any photos?

I'll get some this evening. Should I move this discussion to a different forum page?
Perhaps "Pipe Talk" or "Show us your (fill in the blank) pipe"

 

[OutofOffice]

Got any photos?

 

[OutofOffice]

Got any photos?

 

[Chasing Embers]

View attachment 43929

Interesting piece but I'm drawing a blank. Not even anything about a country of origin in its nomenclature.

 

[mikethompson]

How to Determine an age of a pipe:

1) Acquire Pipe
2) Take photo of nomenclature
3) post to forum
4)read posts

At least that's how I do it, is there another way?

 

[OutofOffice]

Interesting piece but I'm drawing a blank. Not even anything about a country of origin in its nomenclature.

Yeah, you can see my frustration. It's not about trying to determine value or anything. Its likely a cheap pipe, but what intrigues me about these old estate pipes is the potential story behind them. The person that owned them, the rocking chair that they sat in when they smoked it, the problems they solved sitting down at the end of a long day enjoying their pipe. Lets face it, pipe smokers are inherently interesting people.

 

[ashdigger]

Your pipe says “imported briar” that means it was made predominantly in the US. Also, since it says imported, I’d place it being made in the 1930’s the 1940’s.

 

[OutofOffice]

Your pipe says “imported briar” that means it was made predominantly in the US. Also, since it says imported, I’d place it being made in the 1930’s the 1940’s.

I know I'm like a 4 year old asking "why" to everything, but can you briefly explain how you come to that conclusion or is it more involved than that?

 

[ashdigger]

If you go to pipephil.eu or pipedia.org there are plenty of articles but here’s the cliff notes.

Advertising is a thing and imported briar was a marketing tool since there isn’t any natural briar in the US it was used as a marketing tool. England also had some imported briar stamping.

Then World War 2 happened and imported didn’t mean the same thing.

The timeline comes predominantly from Kaywoodie. In the 30’s Kaywoodie was king. They were more desirable than Dunhill.

I hope that helps. Those two websites will give you hours of deep research.

Good luck and keep asking questions.