In his book titled "Rare Smoke - The Ultimate Guide to Pipe Collecting" author Richard Carleton Hacker mentions an intriguing brand which caught my fancy: G. Huybrecht. In the chapter titled "The Collector's Compendium of Pipe Brands" Mr. Hacker had this to say of them: "One of England's most secretive pipemakers, this firm is so obscure that most pipe smokers in Britain are not even familiar with its name." Thus baited, I have been looking for one of their pipes ever since. This morning I purchased a late London Castle model (pictured in the images below) from a seller on eBay.
According to the "London Castle Pipes" entry on pipedia.org:
"Founded in 1919, it was originally known as Davies & Huybrecht. One of the smallest and most obscure of the older British pipe makers. Their specialty was the making of pipes with flawless wood in traditional British shapes from Algerian briar. Their pipes were available only from Smith's Snuff Shop in London. Each pipe was offered without the stem and the customer then specified the stem he wanted.
"In the late 1990's the last Mr. Huybrecht retired and passed away a few years later. He left over a 100 bowls. Many were unstained and without stems. In June of 2006 we located the old bowls and are now having them stained and stemmed. The mouthpieces are hand cut Vulcanite and every pipe is stamped "London Castle, G. Huybrecht".
"We are extremely pleased to offer a limited selection of London Castle pipes by the late G. Huybrecht. The bowls we have are the last of an 80 year old tradition of British pipe making. They are classic British shapes and smaller pipes, averaging Group 3-4 size."
How are these pipes as smokers? If you have (or have had) one, please let me know.
According to the "London Castle Pipes" entry on pipedia.org:
"Founded in 1919, it was originally known as Davies & Huybrecht. One of the smallest and most obscure of the older British pipe makers. Their specialty was the making of pipes with flawless wood in traditional British shapes from Algerian briar. Their pipes were available only from Smith's Snuff Shop in London. Each pipe was offered without the stem and the customer then specified the stem he wanted.
"In the late 1990's the last Mr. Huybrecht retired and passed away a few years later. He left over a 100 bowls. Many were unstained and without stems. In June of 2006 we located the old bowls and are now having them stained and stemmed. The mouthpieces are hand cut Vulcanite and every pipe is stamped "London Castle, G. Huybrecht".
"We are extremely pleased to offer a limited selection of London Castle pipes by the late G. Huybrecht. The bowls we have are the last of an 80 year old tradition of British pipe making. They are classic British shapes and smaller pipes, averaging Group 3-4 size."
How are these pipes as smokers? If you have (or have had) one, please let me know.
