Curious to how people here would rank various British pipe brands, past and present. Any underrated brands that are often overlooked?
Hierarchy of British pipe brands?
- Thread starter greatdane
- Start date
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I don't have a lot of experience with any of the British brands in general, but I have three pipes made in England:
a Ferndown artisan pipe, a smooth bent billiard made by former Dunhill pipe metalsmith and carver Les Wood; a Britannia factory pipe twin bore slightly bent smooth Dublin; and a Parker poker. The Ferndown and Britannia are especially good pipes, and the Parker is a good serviceable work horse. By comparison, I have about a dozen Savinelli and about a dozen Petersons and a wide variety of other pipes of a variety of brands. English pipes haven't been my focus.
a Ferndown artisan pipe, a smooth bent billiard made by former Dunhill pipe metalsmith and carver Les Wood; a Britannia factory pipe twin bore slightly bent smooth Dublin; and a Parker poker. The Ferndown and Britannia are especially good pipes, and the Parker is a good serviceable work horse. By comparison, I have about a dozen Savinelli and about a dozen Petersons and a wide variety of other pipes of a variety of brands. English pipes haven't been my focus.
My favorite British factory pipes are Barlings. Then Comoy, Charatan, Sasieni, Ben Wade - Leeds Era, BBB, Loewe, Dunhill, GBD, James Upshall, Ashton. Frankly, they're all fine makers. As for overlooked? Weingott, Charles Mass, Delacour, Imperial, Orlik, Parker, Hardcastle, Salmon & Gluckstein, and Tilshead, to name a few.
I’ve edited Jesse’s list.
^^^^ This
I'd add Ferndown (Les Wood) to that list
Underrated brands: Blakemar. Good pipes at very fair prices.
My favorite British pipe currently in production is Northern Briars (Ian Walker).
Northern briars are very good at an extremely low price. Great value.
I'd think you'd have to account, not just for makers, but for eras. Pre- and post-Bill Taylor Ashtons; earlier and Ezrati-era Upshalls; and the numerous iterations / ownership shifts throughout the Charatan, Sasieni, and Dunhill life spans. &tc. Pretty tricky task.
To me, early Upshalls are as near to holy grail as I know of. All other pipes are evaluated on their individual merits.
To me, early Upshalls are as near to holy grail as I know of. All other pipes are evaluated on their individual merits.
So nobody thinks they’re collectible. It’s a Kiwi Power move.
The majority of my collection are probably English. I enjoy them all, though, and wouldn’t want to try ranking them. My favorites are Charatan, Comoy’s, Dunhill, GBD, and Sasieni. To be fair, they’re also the only British pipes I’ve tried so far. If I were to expand, I’d also like to add Upshall and Ashton at some point.
I have a couple of English marque pipes.
My favorites are Loewe, BBB, Barling and Peterson (some Pete’s were made in England)
My favorites are Loewe, BBB, Barling and Peterson (some Pete’s were made in England)
My Dunhill, Upshall, and Charatan's Make pipe represent my best in British Class. However, the vulcanite stems on the last two have everything not to be desired.
While I’m not entirely sure whether they did anything other than stamp and band on French imports, I’ve found Albert Baker pipes to be good burners, both those released under the shop’s marquee or those made for other tobacconist
Upshall used the same Vulcanite supplier as Charatan, which was bought from the US. It was a cheaper grade, not top quality para rubber, but both companies were more concerned with the quality of the briar than the stem.
The Vulcanite arrived in big sheets which were then cut into strips for use in making pipe stems.
I learned the above from Ken Barnes, whose early duties at Charatan included cutting up the Vulcanite sheets on a table saw.