Factory Pipes Versus Hand Made

[Briar Lee]

There’s a lot of hand work finishing every briar pipe, but there is a difference between a production factory pipe, where there are many many made to sell, and a hand made pipe that is also made to sell, and might still be made in a factory, but it’s made with a certain look, feel, and overall aura of righteousness that’s hard to describe.

I was excited to order a GBD Colossus earlier this week, and it arrived today.

A friend here advised me my GBD was a Post Corrigan pipe and not as high of quality as older GBD pipes.

That was an understatement.

My unsmoked GBD Colossus had a precarbonized bowl. It’s stained nearly black, as to hide any blemishes in the briar. The apple shape is simply carved.. The stem is cast lucite. The chamber doesn’t utilize all the briar. The water well doesn’t have a reservoir. The briar does shine, but it’s the shine of a cheap suit. The GBS logo is painted on. Although Colossus was GBD’s largest size, this is a big, but no where close to being a truly colossal pipe. And although the briar is stamped London England the original pipe sleeve says made in France, and the sleeve was for a sub brand sold in Germany.

I consider this worth the $100 I paid.

It looks like a million bucks, it’s a large and fancy looking pipe, it hangs and clenches perfectly, and it ought to be a good smoker.

But where is the line, where a pipe is truly hand or bench made, and a pipe is a good quality factory smoker like my new GBD?


Can hand made quality be defined?

 

[Morrison Jeremiah]

The difference it is hard to define but easy to recognise when you have have the actual thing in your hand and are smoking it.
In general I do prefer artisan made pipes, but also have to confess a love for dunhills, even though the dozen or so I have are all seconds.
I can find no fault in them, and as far as I'm concerned they are the real thing.

 

[OzPiper]

there is a difference between a production factory pipe,.........., and a hand made pipe



A friend here advised me my GBD was a Post Corrigan pipe and not as high of quality as older GBD pipes.

That was an understatement.



Can hand made quality be defined?

You have made 2 completely unrelated statements and tried to tie them together in this post !

GBDs were always "factory", never "artisanal hand made" pipes, so why throw the "hand made" bit into your query ?

Re: quality of pre- and post-Cadogan pipes -
There has been lots of opinions already in previous threads. I think the general consensus is look for pre-Cadogan ones - better briar/workmanship/finish/quality control etc.

Thank you for your critique of your GBD Colossus. I collect old BritWoods and don't have any post-Cadogan GBDs, so I can't comment on their quality, or lack of.

I do have a Civic-era silver spigot Loewe, and while it is a handsome pipe, it is heftier and lacks the svelte looks of the older generations of Loewes, which I love. It smoke fine however - absolutely no complaints there.

 

[Briar Lee]

You have made 2 completely unrelated statements and tried to tie them together in this post !

GBDs were always "factory", never "artisanal hand made" pipes, so why throw the "hand made" bit into your query ?

Re: quality of pre- and post-Cadogan pipes -
There has been lots of opinions already in previous threads. I think the general consensus is look for pre-Cadogan ones - better briar/workmanship/finish/quality control etc.

Thank you for your critique of your GBD Colossus. I collect old BritWoods and don't have any post-Cadogan GBDs, so I can't comment on their quality, or lack of.

I do have a Civic-era silver spigot Loewe, and while it is a handsome pipe, it is heftier and lacks the svelte looks of the older generations of Loewes, which I love. It smoke fine however - absolutely no complaints there.

Correction, this GBD is post Cadogan.

And you are correct I’m contradicting myself, because there is a lot of hand work in both a Dr Grabow and a Dunhill. Maybe my old phenolic The Pipe was made by somebody watching a machine spit out parts, but even the cob pipes at Missouri Meerschaum have to be made one at a time, by hand, by a craftsman using a machine.

Any Lee Star Grade pipe, especially the 7 and 5 pointed star era pipes, but even the last push stemmed stamped star Lees, are a factory pipe but they are righteously individually made, by hand, and I can see and feel the difference handling them. No two are exactly the same. Whether he actually was or not, the man that made a Lee Star Grade believed he’d made the Finest Pipe in the World when his work earned five stars, and even if he’d made a Two Star it was the finest $5 (or later $10) pipe in the world.

I own a Golden Duke Dr. Grabow with a White Spade with flashier briar than any Lee I own, but I had to strip the varnish from it to see the grain. A hand made pipe, even one made in a factory, has a hand made finish.

The bowl of a hand made pipe is not coated, it’s finished down to the air hole. The air hole in the chamber of my new GBD Colossus had some splintering roughness I could feel.

A Dr. Grabow and a Dunhill are both pieces of Mediterranean briar root and vulcanite made into a pipe you can smoke.

But even a blind man could tell the difference by handling each, and those of us with eyes can easily see the difference.

I’m wondering if words, can describe the difference?

It seems a contradiction.

 

[telescopes]

Why not pull the trigger and order a custom pipe made to your liking by a custom pipe maker?

 

[Briar Lee]

Why not pull the trigger and order a custom pipe made to your liking by a custom pipe maker?

I’ve thought of that, but first I have a friend who I want to custom engrave a firearm for me.

I have a couple of gross of pipes, perhaps, I own over forty years worth of accumulation.

My loose guide for any factory pipe, even the best, is paying thirty dollars.

My very special pipes, of which I only own a few, I pay about one hundred dollars.

My $100 GBD Colossus is sitting here gurgling because the factory worker didn’t drill out a proper water well.

My engraver friend is an expert woodworker and gunsmith, and he can improve it.

Or I might fix it myself, like I’m redoing this $20 factory smoker E A Carey. It’s a genuine large piece of briar made into a pipe using as many machines and shortcuts you can name. I’ve stripped the varnish and stating to stain it red, and it’s going to look better than it did.


One of the best things about smoking twenty to thirty dollar pipes, is you never shed any money.

Now and again I’ll sell a bunch on eBay for about what I paid.

All I pay for is tobacco.

 

[OzPiper]

The bowl of a hand made pipe is not coated, it’s finished down to the air hole. The air hole in the chamber of my new GBD Colossus had some splintering roughness I could feel.

You should not make generalisations like that above. These unsubstantiated statements may be confusing to the neophytes to our hobby.

I have a yet unsmoked factory made 1917 BBB pipe with an uncoated bowl. I don't believe that this is an exception.

I have artisanal handmade pipes that come with coated bowls. I have just now checked my new Tom Eltang Polonius that lobbed in a couple of days ago, and guess what ? It HAS a coated bowl.

In any case, a piece of sandpaper or an alcohol soak, followed by some twisted paper towels will get rid of that coating, if so wished.

 

[Briar Lee]

You should not make generalisations like that above. These unsubstantiated statements may be confusing to the neophytes to our hobby.

I have a yet unsmoked factory made 1917 BBB pipe with an uncoated bowl. I don't believe that this is an exception.

I have artisanal handmade pipes that come with coated bowls. I have just now checked my new Tom Eltang Polonius that lobbed in a couple of days ago, and guess what ? It HAS a coated bowl.

In any case, a piece of sandpaper or an alcohol soak, followed by some twisted paper towels will get rid of that coating, if so wished.

A factory drilled pipe with a coated bowl is a factory smoker. An artisan made luxury pipe with a coated bowl is something the artisan believes helps give repeat business.

Whatever coating my GBD Colossus had worked perfectly. It required no break in.

But it did require about ten minutes with my handy little drill to ream out the end of the stem, to ream out the air hole, and most critically opening up and deepening the water well. Now it doesn’t gurgle and draws much better, and a pipe cleaner runs through everyplace it should.

And several sessions of using 4/0 steel wool and olive oil have removed that cheap and quick polish job the factory gave a pipe they probably made a huge order all the same way.

My GBD Colossus is a lot better pipe now than when I unboxed it.

But it’s going to always be a factory smoker.

A very nice pipe and well worth the money, but made to a price point to sell.

A hand made pipe, even one hand made in a factory is also made to a price point, to sell.

The hand made one, is made to a higher standard by more careful hands.