Marxman question

[Indygrap]

So after seeing some recent posts about people signing the praises of Marxman pipes, I went looking on the bay for them. There’s several that I like but I’m a little confused. Are they all made from Algerian briar, or are some made from other briars? If so, how do these other briars compare? Is there a way to distinguish between the “good” ones & the “others” if they aren’t stamped as such? TIA

 

[Bbailey324]

I did the same thing and have many of the same questions with fairly few answers. I will be watching replies and learning things.

 

[TheIronMonkey]

I have seen Marxman pipes made in Italy, France and the USA. I suspect sources varied wildly related to what was available or how/where contracts were made for production.

 

[Briar Lee]

So after seeing some recent posts about people signing the praises of Marxman pipes, I went looking on the bay for them. There’s several that I like but I’m a little confused. Are they all made from Algerian briar, or are some made from other briars? If so, how do these other briars compare? Is there a way to distinguish between the “good” ones & the “others” if they aren’t stamped as such? TIA

There is no proof Robert Marx used briar from French Algeria. But without any doubt every Marxman made at 27 West 24th Street New York City used a tan, pale briar all Marxman addicts think was a certain grade of Algerian briar.

The insulating and fire proof qualities of a Pre 54 Marxman are just off the charts better than other brands.

And whatever briar Marx used colors quicker than a meerschaum, soon becoming a reddish brown shade normally associated with dog turds.

I own several Marxman pipes made in France after Marx sold out to Mastercraft. They are stamped Algerian Briar. They are beautifully grained. But they don’t have the Marxman pixie dust the New York City production had. Good pipes, but if they say Italy or France they are a Marxman in name only.

Marx pipes were carved to disguise pits and fills.

My average Marxman costs about $20.

Do not worry about cake. Cake peels off the bowl walls like the outer skin of an onion. It is uncanny, how fireproof his briar was. It doesn’t seem to hold ghosts, either.

Marxman pipes, except for the rare high grades, are ugly as original sin. Get over it.

What you want are $15 huge “Big Boy” pipes like this one.





Much more common are the $7.50 B size.

 

[Briar Lee]

I have seen Marxman pipes made in Italy, France and the USA. I suspect sources varied wildly related to what was available or how/where contracts were made for production.

You only want New York City made Marxman pipes. Strangely, the way to know is the pipe WILL NOT have any country of origin.

Normally, the top of the line pipe was a $10 “C” size.




There’s not a lot of size differnce between A, B, C, and “Big Boy”



The $3.50 line was named Mell-o.

Still a substantial, excellent pipe, that came stained with umber so it was ugly on day one.



Remember there was a huge Depression going on and even a $3.50 pipe was an extravagant luxury.

Wages in factories were about $10 a week, if you were lucky enough to have work.

 

[Indygrap]

There is no proof Robert Marx used briar from French Algeria. But without any doubt every Marxman made at 27 West 24th Street New York City used a tan, pale briar all Marxman addicts think was a certain grade of Algerian briar.

The insulating and fire proof qualities of a Pre 54 Marxman are just off the charts better than other brands.

And whatever briar Marx used colors quicker than a meerschaum, soon becoming a reddish brown shade normally associated with dog turds.

I own several Marxman pipes made in France after Marx sold out to Mastercraft. They are stamped Algerian Briar. They are beautifully grained. But they don’t have the Marxman pixie dust the New York City production had. Good pipes, but if they say Italy or France they are a Marxman in name only.

Marx pipes were carved to disguise pits and fills.

My average Marxman costs about $20.

Do not worry about cake. Cake peels off the bowl walls like the outer skin of an onion. It is uncanny, how fireproof his briar was. It doesn’t seem to hold ghosts, either.

Marxman pipes, except for the rare high grades, are ugly as original sin. Get over it.

What you want are $15 huge “Big Boy” pipes like this one.



View attachment 264984

Much more common are the $7.50 B size.

Ok. So avoid overpaying for Marxmans stamped Italy or France.
I get that they’re uglier than a mud fence, but that’s what kinda draws me in.
Look for Big Boys. Are Jumbo & BB’s the same thing?
Sorry if this has been covered in other threads, Im intrigued.

 

[Briar Lee]

Ok. So avoid overpaying for Marxmans stamped Italy or France.
I get that they’re uglier than a mud fence, but that’s what kinda draws me in.
Look for Big Boys. Are Jumbo & BB’s the same thing?
Sorry if this has been covered in other threads, Im intrigued.

The line up—-

At the end, there were $2.50 pipes marketed as Selected Grain, Dunsboro, and Morocco. Rare.

There were giveaway pipes for the American Automobile Association, marked AAA.

Marx seemed to only use one certain grade of extremely fireproof, soft, and porous Algerian briar. They all are dynamite smokers, even the smaller ones.

The bottom pipe in the line up was the $3.50 Mello

Above that at $5 were the Benchmade line. Those could be any standard shape.

Also at $5 was the Jumbo shape, in A $5, B $7.50, and C at $10. Sometimes there’s listed a larger size. Those are $15 Big Boys.

Marx sold $5 Super Briar pipes in standard shapes, with fancier briar. There was a $7.50 grade Deluxe and a $10 grade Royal.

At the top was the $25 400.



And today I learned Marx could make some over the top specials as beautiful as the highest grade of custom pipe today.




But here’s a good representative of a $15 to $25 grade of Marxman sold on eBay.

A size Marxman Jumbo, $15 delivered.

 

[Indygrap]

Let’s just say I had to see what all the fuss was about. Thank you @Briar Lee for answering my questions & enabling my PAD! This beauty showed up today & I’ll take her for a spin in a bit.

 

[telescopes]

Let’s just say I had to see what all the fuss was about. Thank you @Briar Lee for answering my questions & enabling my PAD! This beauty showed up today & I’ll take her for a spin in a bit. View attachment 266010

Make sure the stummel is nice and clean down to the bare briar. Algerian briar is VERY absorbent. By the way, Marx stated he used Algerian Briar.

As stated above, any Marxman pipe that says Imported was actually made by some other factory and important to the USA by Mastercraft after Marx sold his factory in 1953.

Marx invented the freehand as a commercially sold pipe line.

Marx invented the pipe smoking contest.

Marx raised the level of advertising pipes to a whole new level and marked the pictures of the pipes as "actual size".

Marx challenged the conventional shapes that pipes were generally made and challenged the status quo.

Marx hired named artist to create pipes that were works of art. He owned the world's most expensive pipe.

Someone on this forum continues to post the uglier pipes, but Marx made many conventionally shaped pipes with nice grain. I have many of them. They just aren't as interesting as his freehand pipes.

By the way, his factory consisted of a small cadre of loyal carvers who really were the heart of his shop. Cowan was one of them and his pipes are just as interesting if you care to google them and have a look.

They are NOT the BEST pipe by any measure. But they are interesting and you can be sure they will smoke reliably well. But you will need to keep them clean to make sure that is the case.

 

[telescopes]

FWIW, Mel-O is spelled with only one L.

 

[telescopes]

I have seen Marxman pipes made in Italy, France and the USA. I suspect sources varied wildly related to what was available or how/where contracts were made for production.

Those are Marxman in name only. He had already closed his factory and sold the name to MasterCraft.

 

[Indygrap]

Make sure the stummel is nice and clean down to the bare briar. Algerian briar is VERY absorbent. By the way, Marx stated he used Algerian Briar.

As stated above, any Marxman pipe that says Imported was actually made by some other factory and important to the USA by Mastercraft after Marx sold his factory in 1953.

Marx invented the freehand as a commercially sold pipe line.

Marx invented the pipe smoking contest.

Marx raised the level of advertising pipes to a whole new level and marked the pictures of the pipes as "actual size".

Marx challenged the conventional shapes that pipes were generally made and challenged the status quo.

Marx hired named artist to create pipes that were works of art. He owned the world's most expensive pipe.

Someone on this forum continues to post the uglier pipes, but Marx made many conventionally shaped pipes with nice grain. I have many of them. They just aren't as interesting as his freehand pipes.

By the way, his factory consisted of a small cadre of loyal carvers who really were the heart of his shop. Cowan was one of them and his pipes are just as interesting if you care to google them and have a look.

They are NOT the BEST pipe by any measure. But they are interesting and you can be sure they will smoke reliably well. But you will need to keep them clean to make sure that is the case.

I think I got a great little pipe for ~$40 after tax & shipping. It’s clean, the stem is shiny, the bowl has been reamed & honestly it looks like it was well kept. There’s not a “Made in Italy/France” stamp, just Marxman & Jumbo. There’s even a removable arrow stinger.
All that aside, it smokes great & is deceptively light.
That being said, I ran an alcohol dipped cleaner thru it & it came out clean too. I’m happy with it & look forward to many a bowl with it.

 

[Bbailey324]

Back to ebay for me it seems, at least armed with additional knowledge. Looks like a good find @Indygrap!

 

[Tate]

Back to ebay for me it seems, at least armed with additional knowledge. Looks like a good find @Indygrap!

You won't regret it! If you are patient you can find some great deals on the Jumbos B or C sized that smoke great!

 

[Tate]

Let’s just say I had to see what all the fuss was about. Thank you @Briar Lee for answering my questions & enabling my PAD! This beauty showed up today & I’ll take her for a spin in a bit. View attachment 266010

Enjoy buddy!!

 

[telescopes]

Finding and rediscovering old American pipe brands is such a trip. Learning about the history of these old brands add lots more of meat to our knowledge of the world of pipe smoking. WDC and so many other list brands made some really wonderful pipes. I’ve been thinking about parting with my Pioe Maker brand pipes but want to make sure they find a good home. Both are fine little smokers. My Marxman pipes really do smoke well. I have about 5 or 6 Lees. Three are at my vacation home, but all are dependable smokers as well.

 

[Briar Lee]

Some brands of the golden era of American pipes were Kaywoodie, Weber, LHS, WDC, Royalton, Hessian Guard, Medico, Yello Bole, after 1946 Lee and EA Carey, Fisher, Dr Grabow, Filter King, Williard, Pipe Maker, and Marxman. Right before the war over thirty million briar pipes a year were made and sold in the USA.

Dr Grabow, Carey, and Kaywoodie alone survived. Grabow still makes a couple of hundred thousand pipes a year.

Marx catered to the high end of the market, from $3.50 to $25.

I’m sitting here with a larger than a C size Big Boy full of Prince Albert.

All Marxmans are dynamite good smokers but at B size and up they are atomic bomb good smokers.

The only possible explanation why is Marx selected the best Algerian briar for smoking qualities.

Algeria was a big place.

Not all Algerian briar was created equal.

 

[Briar Lee]

What made a Marxman worth $2.50 to $25 when a London Made pipe of high quality was $2 to $5, and a quality imported briar no name briar pipe only fifty cents?


First, Marx only used a certain grade of the densest, oldest, best briar harvested from the mountains of Algeria and which passed inspection and was graded by Algerian French briar inspectors.

Marx had a modern factory with fraising machines. But each pipe was hand cut, and the Benchmade and Jumbo (and the no grade stamp $15 Big Boys) and all 400s were hand made according to the grain of the block, no two the same.

Then, from the cheapest Morocco or Dunsboro to the 400, each pipe received at least nine emery sandings and was finally polished using tripoli by hand.

Pipes under five dollars were stained with umber. At five dollars and up they came natural, and soon will turn a reddish brown shade like they were umber stained.

The carvings, gouges, zig zags and rustication were all hand tooled. The putty Marx used for fills colors along with the coloring of the briar.

The real bargains are Big Boys.

When they were all new, Marxman pipes were sold in displays with the biggest ones at $15.

Today those sell for about the same price as any other Marxman pipe.

$26 delivered



In the mail for $34 delivered:




In the mail for $36 delivered



$16 delivered