Looking For A Great Old British Name Check Out Willmer

[cigrmaster]

I know many people do not know this name but Willmer is an old British company that makes some incredibly good smokers. You can read about them here, http://pipedia.org/wiki/Willmer. I own two of their AAA Straight Grain pipes and both are fabulous smokers. They are among the coolest smoking pipes I have ever owned, these things just do not get hot to the touch no matter how hot I smoke them. They do come with vulcanite stems that are very comfortable. They can be had for really short money(in comparison to Dunhill and other British makers) on ebay and on line dealers when available . I will say that they smoke better than my Dunhills, Ashton and Lane Era Charatans, as good as my Upshalls and maybe a tad better than my Ferndowns. They are that good. So if anyone is looking to score a great pipe for a fair price, I highly recommend them.

 

[jharvard]

Good information to know. Thank you for sharing. :puffpipe:

 

[numbersix]

Thanks Harris - that's great to know.

 

[tbradsim1]

. AAA Wilmer, one of 6 I have, Dark Horses. The old cajun

 

[cigrmaster]

roth, please check your PM.

 

[ssjones]

I've always been attracted to Willmer, but haven't found the right one. I did clean up a Willmer estate for a member here, but was turned off a little by the stem. It had a piece of rubber sticking out of the stem that I couldn't remove. I hid it by coloring the rubber black with a permanent marker. During the investigation of just what that was, a fellow restorer said sometimes Willmer didn't use good vulcanite stock. Has anyone else seen such a thing on a Willmer? They do turn up with some regularity and seem to be loved by their owners, but that one pipe experience turned me off.

 

[cigrmaster]

Al, I only have two and both my stems are very nice, but as with many of the older British pipes, they will oxidize quickly, thanks to Obidisian Stem Oil it is not a big deal for me. They are narrow like the older British style, so I use my thinner Dill's pipe cleaners for those. You should try one, I think you will really like how they smoke.

 

[tbradsim1]

Harris the Willmer I took a picture is a AAA but it was sold without a stem, I bought it because it was an unusuall shape , when I got it I had an acyrlic stem that fit it and never had one made, I have 2 AA, 2,AB , a standard and a Canadian special, they are good smokers. The old cajun

 

[cigrmaster]

Bradley, at first I thought that was the duck foot one but now I see it is totally different. You must have stole that one. I remember when you bought your first, you have been busy. I guess you like them. lol

 

[tbradsim1]

Harris a good story for you, pipe was sold without stem, seller advertised it as 7 inches long, when I got it it was only 3.5 inches long, so I asked the seller How long you been disappointing your wife? The old cajun :rofl:

 

[numbersix]

Harris a good story for you, pipe was sold without stem, seller advertised it as 7 inches long, when I got it it was only 3.5 inches long, so I asked the seller How long you been disappointing your wife?

:rofl:

 

[cigrmaster]

Bradley, that is too freaking funny.

 

[captainsousie]

I love the looks and descriptions of the Willmers so I was hunting and ran across a few different grades. Straight Grain (which I assume was the highest...and they're priced to match), Extra Grain, Blaze Grain, Antique collection and Bel Air. Pipedia mentions lower grade Willmers in a negative light but I can't seem to find a definitive grading guide other than the AB-AAA scale.
One of the reasons I ask is I just picked up a Blaze Grain which seems to have a few fills (don't have it yet so I'm going by sellers pics :roll: ) and I wonder if it's a really crappy grade, moderately crappy or an OK one. It went cheap enough that I'm not worried either way, I just want to have some idea what I might be getting.
Thanks

 

[tbradsim1]

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[tbradsim1]

plain old Willmer, sorry in previous post I sent the wrong picture, here is the excellent smoker regardless of grade, go get em. The old cajun