Dr. Grabow heart colors

[irish]

I don't know if this is the right place for this question but what does the color of the heart on the stem of the Dr. Grabow mean ? If anything ? I have Grabows with white, yellow and blue hearts on the stems and then some with no heart at all . The yellow seem to be a better pipe to me . Maybe just me but the blues are always lacquer heavy and the whites are a little better maybe a little different grain . The yellows are actually very pretty grain , seemed to have a little better stem and smoke a little better. Am I just imagining this or can someone shed some light for me ?

 

[shaintiques]

Edjames our resident Grabow expert is sure to answer all of your questions.

 

[rigmedic1]

http://www.drgrabow-pipe-info.com/spades09aa.html
Blue is for filter pipes, white for adjustomatics, yellow for push stems.

 

[ejames]

Blue is for filter pipes, white for adjustomatics, yellow for push stems.

Yep. You'll also see orange,on Westbrooks only. Some of the early Grabows-Ringmaster, 50 Grand etc had red or green spades. A few Berwycks were made with aluminum spades.

The yellow spades were used in Larks,Riviera's and IIRC some baby Dukes and Savoy. As you noted they smoke fine,but they are the cheapest Grabows in the line up.

 

[irish]

Thank you very much Gentlemen for the info but I went and got out my box of Grabows to verify a few things and the ones that I enjoy the most are not yellow spades at all, sorry for the misuse of hearts earlier, thank you for the corrections, but are white and the models that I enjoy smoking are a Viscount, screw in stem with white spade and a Regal with screw in stem and white spade. I do own several of the yellow and blue as stated and enjoy some of them also but these are my favorites when it comes to my Grabows. I have a Starfire that is very nice also . Anyway thanks for the information and for the link to the Grabow websight.

 

[ejames]

The Viscounts ranked up near the top in the Grabow price line. The Regal and the Starfire could be considered mid-range. All three lines were discontinued some years ago.The Regal was the last line to have the Ajustomatic before it was discontinued.

 

[jah76]

Hey Irish. You know I've got a Starfire Dublin that smokes just as well as any of my $100 range pipes. It's really turned into one of those solid pipes that always gives me a good smoke.
It's been a really nice surprise and I wouldn't mind picking up another after I finish my vacation fund.

 

[werdna]

I recently won a Grand Duke bulldog on eBay and it has a lucite stem, without a spade on it, as an upgrade to the Grand Duke line. It supposedly was made in the 1990s during the Lane ownership. Can anyone confirm this? It's a nice smoking pipe, and the quality is very good. Thanks.

 

[rigmedic1]

My Viscount author from the 1970's is one of my favorite pipes. I had no idea it was one of the higher grade Dr. Grabows. I haven't been able to get the stem off in years, but it passes a pipe cleaner perfectly. I probably took out the stinger long ago.