Falcon Pipes?

[quincy]

Ok guys. I have to admit I'm terribly curious about these. Can anyone explain the benefit/difference this provides compared to a normal briar pipe? What are the smoking qualities like? If you have one, do you like it and recommend them or is there a better brand?

 

[crazypipe]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYRUY-xAsnI

 

[huntertrw]

quincy:
I have two Falcon "frames" (for lack of a better term), one old American and one later English, plus a variety of briar bowls for them. Because the frames are fabricated from aluminum they are lightweight and disperse heat well. The frames are also durable.
My Falcons smoke well, and I recommend them. Rather than using their Dry Rings at the base of the bowl, I simply used clipped pieces of pipe-cleaner formed into an appropriately sized circle. This helps to prevent gurgle with blends which tend to smoke wet.
Falcon was the original brand of this style of pipe, but a number of competing brands subsequently appeared. I have not tried any of them, and so cannot comment on their smokability or lack thereof.
Regarding the interchangeable frames and bowls, Richard Carleton Hacker once calculated that (at the time of the publication of his book titled "The Ultimate Pipe Book") there were 13,680 possible combinations!

 

[quincy]

Holy cow! That's a lot of combinations. Does the frame get hot easily? You say it disperses the heat well>

 

[huntertrw]

"Does the frame get hot easily?"
That depends upon your puffing cadence. The old adage about sipping is always appropriate; however, there are some blends upon which (because of greed on my part) I tend to puff hard. In briar pipes I find that they tend to hold the resultant heat, whereas a Falcon does not.
Incidentally, the pipe was invented in 1936 by an Engineer named Kenley Bugg from Fort Wayne, Indiana.

 

[quincy]

Well, now that I live in Indiana... Yeah. That's interesting. I was always under the impression that they would heat up faster than the briar being metal. The video above was helpful too.

 

[wyfbane]

I have a couple Falcons, including a really cool twisted shank shillelagh style pipe.
They smoke cool and well.

 

[warren]

I like mine and have no complaints. I can pre-pack three bowls and have, for all intents and purposes four pipes in my pocket when I head out for a day with the cameras. Some might consider them gimmicks but, they smoke nice and are easy to maintain.

 

[huntertrw]

Concerning the frames, if you look on the bottom it will be stamped either "Falcon" (American made) or "Falcon Made in England." Being a nostalgic fellow, I find that I favor the American made frame.

 

[puffy]

Back in the day I smoked a pipe so much at work that if I wasn't smoking one folks would ask me where it was.The problem with that was while I was working I dropped several of them and had to replace tenons or stems.I solved that problem by switching to Falcons for my work pipes.

 

[cmdrmcbragg]

I'm a Falcon fan. I own one and would really just like some extra bowls for it but they cost as much as a pipe.

 

[quincy]

Yeah... I think I'm going to look around for one...

 

[tuold]

Quincy, here's a nice looking one: Ebay Falcon

 

[mrenglish]

I love my Falcons. At one point, that is all I smoked for a couple years when I finally broke down and purchased a black shillelagh stem at my local B&M. The only drawback is the bit is not removable as they are crimped in the stem. They are really good smoking pipes, I was really surprised.
Kathy Hunt, the granddaughter of George Hunt, wrote a book called Back from the Ashes. Its a really good history of the brand. Not sure if its still in paperback form, but you can get the Kindle version for a couple bucks.

 

[toby67]

I myself also have a Falcon from England, it's very similar to the one pictured in Freddy's clip above. As mentioned I also use a bit of pipe cleaner under the bowl as I find the oil builds up very easily. As also mentioned it depends on the tobacco and puffing method. Overall I love the pipe, I would love to try a wooden shank Falcon without the aluminium to see the difference.

 

[jcsnaps]

I have a couple Falcons, and like they way they smoke. This is my current seasonal Falcon.

 

[CherokeeBilly]

I want a falcon bad! I like the looks, heard good things about them, and love the fact that you can have multiple bowl styles.

 

[huntertrw]

"Kathy Hunt, the granddaughter of George Hunt, wrote a book called Back from the Ashes. Its a really good history of the brand."
George Hunt owned the Diversey Machine Works, Inc. of Chicago, Illinois, the manufacturer of the Falcon pipe in America after World War II.

 

[tallguy]

That's an interesting tread... Myself was wondering about the Falcon system...
I'll look with more interest into it! I might consider buying one! :puffpipe:

 

[johnnyreb]

"Does the frame get hot easily?"
Hunter,
Do you think the frame stays cool enough to hold a good quality powder coat paint job? The paint could be kept out of the base where the bowl sits. I can envision all kinds of wild colors!