Marxman AAA logo pipe

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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,723
13,690
Humansville Missouri
Today the mail brought this $19 delivered Marxman, and it’s nearly new, smoked a time or two. There’s a crack not all the way through the bowl, a lot of fills and gouge carving to hide flaws, but the AAA logo the stem indicates this is a gift pipe the American Auromobile Association gave away free with a membership.

This is how tan an original Marxman was from the factory, less only a few smokes.

Here’s a beater pipe anybody should be proud of, imagining the original owner rolling down the road in his Packard with his gimmie pipe clenched in his teeth.:)48D7B0F2-F5D5-4C81-BC89-867407D06C9C.jpegDBCBB904-2907-476D-AA6F-BCF0BA067F7F.jpeg15D858F2-24C3-4019-A01E-2CCBC139EF83.jpeg4A83D2F3-93F9-4623-A81B-714EF204A7DF.jpegA4C803EB-2808-4953-9A28-7A502B941206.jpeg2448C179-0481-41EA-B243-73D36C5E09C0.jpeg73C2CAE2-0232-4F0F-8021-DABC35110CEF.jpeg3FDE326F-B44A-4339-9DFB-6476FA3EF7FA.jpegC115B40D-D13E-4FEF-907F-D1CEA99DDB0E.jpeg

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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,723
13,690
Humansville Missouri
Do you have a picture of the Marxman logo? I think I see it near the top.

That pipe is in poor condition. I can't imagine that it is clean enough to not impede the tobacco taste.

Before I smoked it I cleaned it throughly with 190 proof Everclear, and discovered it had been smoked half way down of one bowl

The first bowl I smoked was maybe a third high, the second half full.

Algerian briar really sucks. No way it can breath, those are made up fairy tales!

This damned thing won’t hold the tan color. Just two partial smokes and it’s seeping oil in two places and turning turd brown all over.

No wonder folks hate Algerian briar!

It’s a myth it was the best.

I’d avoid anything by Marxman, if I wanted a good pipe, I tellya.:)

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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,723
13,690
Humansville Missouri
That pipe had to have been smoked more than one bowl. Maybe it didn't have cake all the way to the bottom. But char and a crack like that says it was smoked a lot!

The char wiped away to tan, using only an alcohol soaked paper towel.

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But you are correct old Marxman pipes just suck big ones, look at all the attempts made on stamping:

By the way three smokes and look what a shade of cow pile brown the shank has turned. I just wasted $19, on this.

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Algerian briar was just too soft and spongy for good pipes.

I learned that thirty years ago from the Charlie Rich looking pipe seller at Springfield.

He claimed that only his top grade of meerschaum was more light than Algerian briar, which by then wasn’t available, yet meerschaum was.

I’m done with them there Marxmans, I surely am.

 
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telescopes

Pipe Dreamer and Star Gazer
I’m done with them there Marxmans, I surely am.
I'm fairly certain your love of the cheap low brow and low grade pipe has a lot to do with it. Dunhill used Algerian and they command an Estate Price in the hundreds.

And they hold their color.

I have a Castello Sea Rock on the way to the house.

I have absolutely every confidence it will not let me down.

But there are plenty of other Italian pipes that have.

Yes, you can get a great experience from a cheap pipe, but more often than not, it won't be consistently great like you might from a Castello. Marx made some great pipes. But he also made some, like that AAA pipe, that were NEVER meant to be smoked and were likely a tax write-off. I am shocked he put his name on it.
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,723
13,690
Humansville Missouri
Just kinder by accident I splurged $30 on this big Marxman, before I realized how soft and inferior the Algerian briar Marx used truly was.

EA6FBECF-FFD5-4B44-9A04-D1453065CBC0.jpeg913BEC49-340E-40E1-8458-35BB5046F961.jpeg

At least this new one has the better stem Marx put on a few of his supposedly high grade pipes like the 400.

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The listing said no returns, so I guess I’ll be sort of stuck with a mate to my favorite Marxman I’ve nicked named Old Speedy.

Maybe I’ll call this one Old Charlie, I haven’t decided yet.

There won’t be anymore of these, at least for awhile, you know?

 

bobpnm

Lifer
Jul 24, 2012
1,543
10,400
Panama City, Florida
Today the mail brought this $19 delivered Marxman, and it’s nearly new, smoked a time or two. There’s a crack not all the way through the bowl, a lot of fills and gouge carving to hide flaws, but the AAA logo the stem indicates this is a gift pipe the American Auromobile Association gave away free with a membership.

This is how tan an original Marxman was from the factory, less only a few smokes.

Here’s a beater pipe anybody should be proud of, imagining the original owner rolling down the road in his Packard with his gimmie pipe clenched in his teeth.:)View attachment 206014View attachment 206015View attachment 206016View attachment 206017View attachment 206018View attachment 206019View attachment 206020View attachment 206021View attachment 206022

View attachment 206010View attachment 206011
That’s a working man’s pipe! I love seeing the pics of your old pipes. Reminds me of all the blue collar men I knew growing up.
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,723
13,690
Humansville Missouri
Four smokes has visibly discolored this pipe!

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B8FD2FE0-9A63-48B4-A4DF-E5C0A047F429.jpeg48D08072-6C67-404E-9808-95467AFC1B2B.jpeg5BD0CD62-9CF8-4332-87DC-60A75ABAE7D2.jpeg
Also, the soft and spongy Algerian briar somehow makes any tobacco smoked in it rich and strong.

I got a good nic hit from Velvet.

I think folks should avoid these ugly old Marxman pipes in favor of Castello, Dunhill, Former, and other prestigious brands.

Anything with briar so soft you can etch it with a fingernail ain’t fit for a pipe rack display.

84612F7E-3948-47E1-A5DF-3E5CDA985285.jpeg
 
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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,723
13,690
Humansville Missouri
Seems like really deep pits and the oils are seeping through the tiny holes. Glad your atleast enjoying it!

I own over a hundred Lees and the ones made in the middle of the run, are of the supremely best quality.

The last ones kind of look sorry,,,not nearly as sorry as my AAA Marxman, but not on par with earlier pipes.

My AAA Marxman nearly had to be a 1953 effort to make the payroll.

But I’ve learned something today.

The very softest Algerian was really too soft to be made into marketable pipes.

I will never live to see so many puttied and gouged places in a pipe. Dr Grabow would have thrown it in the shop stove.

But the lighter and softer Algerian briar was the better it smoked.

This is an utterly fantastic smoker.
 
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telescopes

Pipe Dreamer and Star Gazer
I think you are being facetious, but ...
I think folks should avoid these ugly old Marxman pipes in favor of Castello, Dunhill, Former, and other prestigious brands.

Anything with briar so soft you can etch it with a fingernail ain’t fit for a pipe rack display.

One does never know just how a hillbilly solicitor will argue to win over his jury. 😂
 
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