MARXMAN Pipes, Anyone?
- Thread starter shermnatman
- Start date
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
Site Sponsors
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
That was an interesting read. He sure must have been in some kinda shape. Said he was 76 when he won the award.
I can really see the influence that "Ted" brought to MM once he bought them. The pipes shown on that Pipedia article look very much like mine.
Yes, get use to it. Ad hominem blanket statements made without any evidence whatsoever are declared as if they were made by none other than Metatron. And who are you to question the very scribe of God, Enoch.
I don't recall every going by Robert, let alone Bob. Although...if you think about it, I have the perfect hillbilly name should I chose to use it.
Another odd custom of Scottish hillbillies seemed to be the use of Geraldine either as a given or middle name for girls.
Because of Robert the Bruce, all the Roberts and Bruces make some sense.
Another thing about Scottish women.
Two or maybe three kids, and that was all.
The men helped make the baby and after that, Mama did 100% of the raising, while Daddy earned lots of money.
Scottish men had a reputation for frugality.
They needed, to be frugal.
Another example of different stamps on a very highly finished and well made smooth Benchmade Dublin.
It looks hand made, and no letter size stamp.
Bob and Helen sold some very highly finshed pipes.
That pipe was sand color when sold.
Once you get used to these it’s hard to smoke lesser brands.
It looks hand made, and no letter size stamp.
Bob and Helen sold some very highly finshed pipes.
That pipe was sand color when sold.
Once you get used to these it’s hard to smoke lesser brands.
Last edited:
Head scratching.Another odd custom of Scottish hillbillies seemed to be the use of Geraldine either as a given or middle name for girls.
Because of Robert the Bruce, all the Roberts and Bruces make some sense.
Another thing about Scottish women.
Two or maybe three kids, and that was all.
The men helped make the baby and after that, Mama did 100% of the raising, while Daddy earned lots of money.
Scottish men had a reputation for frugality.
They needed, to be frugal.
Our ways are foreign to those who don’t grow up our way.
I just got off the phone to another hillbilly who has an engineering degree and and wife whose middle name is Geraldine and his middle name is Lee.
J.W. Ray was a shirtail cousin of mine and died from one swallow of bad moonshine and went to his grave not playing Judas.
We were debating over his middle name.
His first name would have been James and his middle name just about had to have been Westley, but our friend J.C. Is the authority on that and we’ll have to ask him to make sure.
I recall Marxman being the official pipe to smoke Buoy Gold!
President Rutherford B. Hayes endorsed Marxman as well.
Bottom to top- Dublins
Marxman Benchmade
Grabow Golden Duke Adjustomatic Patent # (Varnish stripped)
Lee 5 point inlaid Two Star
The Grabow has by far the fanciest grain, and is likely the newest and most expensive. This is the White Spade Golden Duke grade Harry Hosterman’s family bought him, until the quality declined. Late fifties and early sixties Grabows could be luxury pipes, at the top of the Grabow display. Most of these were smoked up and tossed.
All three are luxury pipes several times more expensive than common pipes of the day, and all are good smokers. All three are survivors that I bought unsmoked or smoked once or twice:
But if you’ll try all three you’ll pick the Marxman in two areas-
They had better construction. If the Marxman was machine shaped it feels and appears hand made. It’s just a better made pipe.
Algerian briar smoked better, or at least noticeably different, zestier, and stronger.
Marxman Benchmade
Grabow Golden Duke Adjustomatic Patent # (Varnish stripped)
Lee 5 point inlaid Two Star
The Grabow has by far the fanciest grain, and is likely the newest and most expensive. This is the White Spade Golden Duke grade Harry Hosterman’s family bought him, until the quality declined. Late fifties and early sixties Grabows could be luxury pipes, at the top of the Grabow display. Most of these were smoked up and tossed.
All three are luxury pipes several times more expensive than common pipes of the day, and all are good smokers. All three are survivors that I bought unsmoked or smoked once or twice:
But if you’ll try all three you’ll pick the Marxman in two areas-
They had better construction. If the Marxman was machine shaped it feels and appears hand made. It’s just a better made pipe.
Algerian briar smoked better, or at least noticeably different, zestier, and stronger.
Last edited:
Here’s an example of two Marxman 400 pipes, and the Big Boy $15 grade, a C $10 grade, and a B $7.50 grade.
On top is a B for comparison and the bottom two pipes are seconds, not branded Marxman. But look at all the variations in the four $5 A sizes. These are the most common I’ve found.
Early Marxman pipes were all hand made on bench by one craftsman if sold as a $5 an higher Benchmade or Jumbo.
None will be alike, but all will be somewhat Marxy.
In the late forties Bob Marx was spending $200,000 a year on glossy magazine ads which had every woman who wanted to be escorted by a rugged outdoor man of action running to fine department stores and asking the sales clerk about Marxman pipes.
No doubt Macy’s had these out in the men’s section by the neckties and cuff links and wallets and gloves.
The 400 series is ridiculously massive, even by our modern tastes in much larger pipes than 80 years ago.
The $15 grades are all clench-able, and are about the largest a pipe can be and fit the standard Marxman gift box.
The C is bigger than a B which is bigger than an A.
And all the higher dollar pipes (before the Korean War price freeze) were natural sand colored tan and would turn a deep reddish brown oxblood color from smoking.
I truly believe a New York City made Marxman pipe, any of them are the best values in estate pipes today. But a B grade or higher is just off the charts a wonderful deal.
Adding beeswax speeds up the coloring, the same as it does a meerschaum.
Each one is a testament to the shop director Louis Cowan, the hard headed business sense of the business manager Helen Marx and of course, the bald headed gregarious body builder Robert L Marx who could sell arrowheads to Indians.
In the trough of the worst Depression in history Bob and Helen and Louis Cowan and the Seven Carvers outmaneuvered the humongous KB&B corporation which before WW2 sold 11 million Kaywoodie brand pipes a year!
Plus they sold out just before the 1953 Recession and all lived happily ever after.
On top is a B for comparison and the bottom two pipes are seconds, not branded Marxman. But look at all the variations in the four $5 A sizes. These are the most common I’ve found.
Early Marxman pipes were all hand made on bench by one craftsman if sold as a $5 an higher Benchmade or Jumbo.
None will be alike, but all will be somewhat Marxy.
In the late forties Bob Marx was spending $200,000 a year on glossy magazine ads which had every woman who wanted to be escorted by a rugged outdoor man of action running to fine department stores and asking the sales clerk about Marxman pipes.
No doubt Macy’s had these out in the men’s section by the neckties and cuff links and wallets and gloves.
The 400 series is ridiculously massive, even by our modern tastes in much larger pipes than 80 years ago.
The $15 grades are all clench-able, and are about the largest a pipe can be and fit the standard Marxman gift box.
The C is bigger than a B which is bigger than an A.
And all the higher dollar pipes (before the Korean War price freeze) were natural sand colored tan and would turn a deep reddish brown oxblood color from smoking.
I truly believe a New York City made Marxman pipe, any of them are the best values in estate pipes today. But a B grade or higher is just off the charts a wonderful deal.
Adding beeswax speeds up the coloring, the same as it does a meerschaum.
Each one is a testament to the shop director Louis Cowan, the hard headed business sense of the business manager Helen Marx and of course, the bald headed gregarious body builder Robert L Marx who could sell arrowheads to Indians.
In the trough of the worst Depression in history Bob and Helen and Louis Cowan and the Seven Carvers outmaneuvered the humongous KB&B corporation which before WW2 sold 11 million Kaywoodie brand pipes a year!
Plus they sold out just before the 1953 Recession and all lived happily ever after.
Last edited:
The Mell-o line was shown in lots of advertisements Marx put in glossy weeklies like the Saturday Evening Post and Equire.
It was $3.50. The customer could order shapes, so it was machine shaped. And it was stained using umber, so that the Mell-o quickly turned oxblood.
This one appears to have been a square panel Benchmade that needed a huge fill, shown top photo, so it only graded out Mell-o.
Maybe old bachelors bought the cheaper pipes and burned them up and tossed them, or maybe the lovely ladies went right up to the five dollar grade, but for whatever reason this is my only example of a Mell-o.
Like a One Star Lee, these are scarce today.
It was $3.50. The customer could order shapes, so it was machine shaped. And it was stained using umber, so that the Mell-o quickly turned oxblood.
This one appears to have been a square panel Benchmade that needed a huge fill, shown top photo, so it only graded out Mell-o.
Maybe old bachelors bought the cheaper pipes and burned them up and tossed them, or maybe the lovely ladies went right up to the five dollar grade, but for whatever reason this is my only example of a Mell-o.
Like a One Star Lee, these are scarce today.
Haven't been on much as I was taking a break from the forums.
I've been texting Karen the granddaughter of Louis Cowan.
Louis Cowans brother was Albert. And Robert Louis is NOT his name. Albert was from South Africa and spent time in England before coming to the United States. Cowan Hand Made are by Albert Cowan.
And apparently Marx sold the rights to Louis but before that they had pipes made in Italy and France. I am trying to get more info, but I've been texting her. I will try and call soon but I've been busy.
I've been texting Karen the granddaughter of Louis Cowan.
Louis Cowans brother was Albert. And Robert Louis is NOT his name. Albert was from South Africa and spent time in England before coming to the United States. Cowan Hand Made are by Albert Cowan.
And apparently Marx sold the rights to Louis but before that they had pipes made in Italy and France. I am trying to get more info, but I've been texting her. I will try and call soon but I've been busy.
Sorry - just to clarify - Louis was from South Africa, not Albert. My bad. Can't edit.
Of course his name wasn’t Robert.
. Still, if Cowan Hand Made are by Albert Cowan - that is revealing and new information. Well done.
Of course his name wasn’t Robert.
Well we know for sure now. She mentioned something about Louis carving ivory pipes, I've never seen one, or heard of one. I asked, "are you sure it wasn't meerschaum?" no, Ivory!
This business about Albert opens up a mystery now. Legacy information was always Louis carving those Briar pipes marked Cowan. Fascinating.