House Pipes Should Have Informative Stamping

[mso489]

Although it is heresy to suggest, I think house pipes should include the house-pipe brand but also the manufacturer, city, nation and year of manufacture. If pipes are really being made on the premises, that will certainly be advertised and celebrated as it should -- Blatter & Blatter for example. But Tinder Box and everyone else who sells house pipes should be proud to reveal their source, for clarity, honesty, and historical interest. We shouldn't all be guessing -- including the retailers who contract for these -- a few years later trying to decide from whence they came. The mystery attached is not impressive, only annoying.

 

[deathmetal]

Does the pipe industry have a trade publication where such things could be announced?

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I think that the crux is that house pipes are considered (by most) cheap, non-celebrated bucket pipes made to be like pens or mugs with company names on them. Not that I don't think that some of these are quite awesome, but these places, pipe shops, are actually in the business of moving the high dollar pipes to connoisseurs and collectors. Selling these cheap pipes is not their mainstay, but a great way to get a beginner into a pipe. Advertising the maker distracts and draws too much attention away from their Dunnies and Castellos, which is why most go into the pipe business anyways.

But, yeh, I feel what you're saying. It would be nice to be able to at least know a little something about these unsung heroes of the buckets.

I know that The Briary has a very very well known pipe maker finish out his house pipes, but the stummels are all from a GFB lot from about the early 1900's. He just grinds off the nomenclature and has the artist fit them to stummels. But, I know for a fact that all involved do not want it revealed who does this.

 

[pipestud]

There are, in fact, many B&M's, etc, who announce who makes their house pipes. McCranie's has been doing it for decades as has Iwan Ries. Tinder Box has utilized the Ascorti's (the late Peppino and now Roberto) for decades as well. Maybe they now have other companies making their house pipes that are anonymous, I just don't know. Both smokingpipes.com and Briar Blues have commissioned special "house pipes" in the past and have named the makers, too. I am sure there are others that I am forgetting.
The most famous "anonymous" house pipes of all time may the the old Astley's in London. There was (and still is), much mystery and intrigue regarding who all made the various Astley's pipes. It was known that Ashton, Ferndown, Savinelli, etc, made a variety of them, but their names were never stamped on the pipes and Astley's would never reveal the makers. In that instance, I always thought the mystery was fun.
mso489, I am curious as to which house pipes are annoying you due to their anonymity? Maybe some of the folks here on the forum can solve a mystery or two for us. I love a mystery. I'm just no good at solving them. :puffpipe:

 

[tuold]

I do a lot of bottom feeding on ebay looking for the diamonds in the rough or just nice anonymous pipes. So I do have a lot of pipes in my collection that have no markings, or sometimes if I'm lucky, just a country of origin stamp. If the pipe really intrigues me I'll post questions about them from time to time. It would nice if pipe makers were registered by an alpha numeric code they could easily stamp on their product. I suppose it's a little late for that but it would have been nice.

 

[mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast]

What @pipestud said. I have nothing to add. ::

 

[mso489]

I guess I should focus my "campaign" to include all pipes, for more informative stamping. Iwan Ries was good about telling, for decades, how their house pipes were made by Benton. Now they're Italian made, but the maker not designated, but that's okay, after all the years of telling. I once bought a house pipe from them, stamped Italy, that didn't have any brand, not even the Iwan Ries stamp, in the interim while they still sold Bentons. Tinder Box, in response to my inquiry, guessed that a pipe I described was French, maybe Chapuis-Comoy from the mid-1970's. I do wonder, would it diminish a give-away pen if it were subtitled Parker or Bic? In small print, under the promoted business? I think all pipes should, by newly established "tradition," give the same general info, not much but enough. I think it would enhance the "pipe fancy," not diminish these house pipes. Brand, maker if not the same as brand, nation and city, year of manufacture/carving, and shape number. Not so much. As said in another post, it would be nice to be able to buy a birth year pipe in many brands.

 

[sallow]

I have an Iwan Ries Benton in my rotation. It never lets me down.

 

[hawky454]

My local B&M Heroes & Legacies once, a long time ago, sold house pipes with their name in the nomenclature along with "Savinelli Procuct". I bought three and to this day they are some of my best smoking pipes. Unfortunately they no longer sell such pipes and in fact, they hardly have a pipe selection at all anymore.

 

[judcole]

Not commercially viable.
my own dumpster-diving has resulted in a big handful of Comoy-made shop-branded pipes. They were the result of two forces intersecting:
1) the shops' need for good quality but less expensive pipes than "Comoys."
2) the makers' necessity of selling their overproduction to at least recoup investment (hopefully profit). Especially "sliders" (those with tiny faults).
If they'd all have been marked Made by Comoy, too many people would have stopped buying "Comoys" in favor of the cheaper option. Not commercially viable.
my own dumpster-diving has resulted in a big handful of Comoy-made shop-branded pipes. They were the result of two forces intersecting:
1) the shops' need for good quality but less expensive pipes than "Comoys."
2) the makers' necessity of selling their overproduction to at least recoup investment (hopefully profit). Especially "sliders" (those with tiny faults).
If they'd all have been marked Made by Comoy, too many people would have stopped buying "Comoys" in favor of the cheaper option.

This sums it up in a nutshell. The manufacturer has something to say about this, you know. Why should they want to tell the world, "Hey, instead of paying $100 for the pipe with my company's name on it, you can buy the pipe I made for Bill's Pipe Shop for $75." ::

 

[owen]

It is frustrating to find a really nice anonymous pipe as there is no way of adding another to the collection.