I came across this big pipe on eBay and it looked interesting. The seller said it was 9" long! Somehow I didn't think an old KB&B could be that big, but for $14.99 with free shipping I took a chance. Well, it was indeed that big and it looks rather old too. I believe it pre-dates the Kaywoodie pipes, and it has an orifice button, which I believe was on earlier pipes. I can't seem to find anything about this pipe as it has no name. It just has the KB&B in the clover stamping on the shank and band, and it is also stamped French Briar, and Nickel Plated on the band, and that's all.
It took some doing to clean it up, but I didn't want to get carried away and refinish it, just give a good cleaning and polish. There was a fill, right by the nomenclature of course, that had partially fallen out. I fixed it up a little but just to make it less noticeable. There are a few dings here and there, and the inside front of the bowl top was badly charred. I didn't want to top the bowl to get rid of it, so I just cleaned and polished it as good as I felt it needed. This thing is a monster appearance wise, but outside of it's length, it's just a large billiard. Weighs in at only 58g! Still, you're not going to be clenching this pipe, not with the tiny button and all the weight at the other end of 9".
So the question remains, why would they make a pipe like this? I've seen the giant Wellington pipes, but this seems older and why a straight pipe? It's not really a churchwarden. Any KB&B or Kaywoodie scholars out there care to comment?
Before:
After:
It took some doing to clean it up, but I didn't want to get carried away and refinish it, just give a good cleaning and polish. There was a fill, right by the nomenclature of course, that had partially fallen out. I fixed it up a little but just to make it less noticeable. There are a few dings here and there, and the inside front of the bowl top was badly charred. I didn't want to top the bowl to get rid of it, so I just cleaned and polished it as good as I felt it needed. This thing is a monster appearance wise, but outside of it's length, it's just a large billiard. Weighs in at only 58g! Still, you're not going to be clenching this pipe, not with the tiny button and all the weight at the other end of 9".
So the question remains, why would they make a pipe like this? I've seen the giant Wellington pipes, but this seems older and why a straight pipe? It's not really a churchwarden. Any KB&B or Kaywoodie scholars out there care to comment?
Before:
After: