My Ebay win
- Thread starter jaysin
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Ah, so you're they guy who sniped me! :evil:
:rofl:
All kidding aside, those look like quite serviceable pipes. Not knowing your hammer price, or anything about the brand, collectability, etc, I'd smoke the heck outta them. I love Meers. Especially with VaPers. Lets me taste pure tobacco goodness. I've never smoked a meer lined pipe. If you haven't, it might be worth the tuition!
:rofl:
All kidding aside, those look like quite serviceable pipes. Not knowing your hammer price, or anything about the brand, collectability, etc, I'd smoke the heck outta them. I love Meers. Especially with VaPers. Lets me taste pure tobacco goodness. I've never smoked a meer lined pipe. If you haven't, it might be worth the tuition!
Very nice pipes mate. Pipes are for smoking, and that is that. lol Never owned a pipe i didn't smoke.
Considering what you paid for them (took me less than 30 seconds to locate item), I couldn't bring myself to smoke or sell them. I'd have to put them away and preserve them exactly how they are for all time.
Here is some info on the Mastercraft pipe it seems like they were not a pipe maker but had the pipes made by other makers. heres the info i found on them
To most pipe smokers Mastercraft Pipes are small cheap pipes, signified by the oval aluminum "MC" on the shank. Absolutely nothing special.....But Mastercraft was much more. A importer of finished pipes M/C worked with many of the worlds foremost pipe makers and had in inventory finished product from the likes of......England, Hardcastle and Orlik. France, Ropp, Jeantet, Jean LaCroix. Italy, Lorenzo, Gasparini, Federico Rovera, Emilio Rovera, GIGI Pipe, Brebbia, Santambrogio, Fratelli Rossi. Israel, Shalom and Alpha.
And I got them cheep.
To most pipe smokers Mastercraft Pipes are small cheap pipes, signified by the oval aluminum "MC" on the shank. Absolutely nothing special.....But Mastercraft was much more. A importer of finished pipes M/C worked with many of the worlds foremost pipe makers and had in inventory finished product from the likes of......England, Hardcastle and Orlik. France, Ropp, Jeantet, Jean LaCroix. Italy, Lorenzo, Gasparini, Federico Rovera, Emilio Rovera, GIGI Pipe, Brebbia, Santambrogio, Fratelli Rossi. Israel, Shalom and Alpha.
And I got them cheep.
They were cheap when they were new, but they look like they will smoke great. I would smoke them in a heart beat! Good find, neat box, but I do not know of any Master Craft collectors. I did look on pipedia and they have a blurb that mentioned Bing Crosby smoked a Master Craft and was featured in the company's print ads.
A well placed phonecall to a friend got me some info as he is related to someone who held serveral positions in master craft these pipes are eithe Meerschaum Lined from M. Gasparini, and later GIGI PIPE. These were originally imported by M/C for Grabow and stamped Grabow, but also stamped ITALY.
heres the full story i got in a email.
Jason,
My name is Ted (edit for privcy) My nephew just called me in reguards to a set of Master Craft pipes you just acquired. From 1974 till 1984 I had several positions with Mastercraft including Executive Vice President. I also worked for Grabow From 66 till 74 and from 84 till I retired in 91. In 91 , with retirement, I was President and COO for the corporation that was called "Sparta Industries". I have seen both sides of the "fence", and even though I never left the "employ" of Grabow, My loyalties for 10 years were with M/C. United States Tobacco(UST)(Skoal and Copenhagen) bought Grabow in 69' from the Lavietes family. In 74' they bought M/C from Bernard Hochstein and moved it into the EXACT facility Grabow occupied. I was named "operations manager" and we were in the basement of a 4 story building in Sparta, NC. M/C was STRICTLY an importer of pipes and pipe related merchandise. In 74' when M/C moved from NYC to NC the inventory of finished goods was stored in a facility in Winston Salem, NC. Lentz Moving and Storage. Stacked 10 feet high the inventory covered 180,000 square feet....FINISHED. In my time at Grabow I had never seen that much finished stock, and the shapes, manufacturers,finishes. Heaven for a pipe smoker.....Damn right. You would have had to slap me really hard to get the grin off my face. I'll just list a few Manufacturers/names of the inventory.England....Parker/Hardcastle(Dunhill)..Orlick...France..Jeantet...Jima...Cherrywoods....Italy..GIGI pipe...Radica....Rossi...Federico Rovera....Emilio Rovera....Santambrogio.Brebbia..Meerschaums from Austria....Strambach....Lighters from Japan....Pouches and accessories from Hong Kong...and the Israeli pipes from Mr. Hochstein's sons. Trust me...This is only a small sample of the things M/C had, and bought into inventory. Now the connection. Since M/C and Grabow shared a building, and I was an employee of Grabow we compared notes. Grabow copied a BUNCH of M/C items fully with my help and some skills I had developed.
First was Omega...A copy of a well pipe made by Federico Rovera(FERO.com)....Freehand by the Alpha/Shalom factory..Meerschaum Lined from M. Gasparini, and later GIGI PIPE. These were originally imported by M/C for Grabow and stamped Grabow, but also stamped ITALY. Later models..better finish were made in the USA. Bucko...copied from M. Gasparini...(Gasparini, to my knowledge is the only maker of leather covered in the world) If you buy a leather covered pipe it was, most assuredly covered by M/G. And you thought the wood in the Grabow COLOR was bad.....outta unrap one of these scrappers. There is a lot more. Questions will be answered following the presentation. Now the other way. Grabow to Mastercraft. M/C never really had a source of continuing supply. The foreign manufacturers would make a line for a while and then quit. Never do it again, no matter how well it sold, no matter the demands we put on em'. Grabow gave M/C a source of stability, and a nice profit for both companies. A lot of these you will not have heard of, but maybe....Seville, for M/C all smooth, for Grabow all rustic Hillcrest.... Freehand, For M/C Andersen and (a few Mastersen), for Grabow, Freehand with a DRB tampon. New finishes...New shapes, New bits.....Mastercraft showed Grabow how to use LUCITE for stems....Royalton....Again, these are just examples.
Well folks there you have it info from the man his self.
heres the full story i got in a email.
Jason,
My name is Ted (edit for privcy) My nephew just called me in reguards to a set of Master Craft pipes you just acquired. From 1974 till 1984 I had several positions with Mastercraft including Executive Vice President. I also worked for Grabow From 66 till 74 and from 84 till I retired in 91. In 91 , with retirement, I was President and COO for the corporation that was called "Sparta Industries". I have seen both sides of the "fence", and even though I never left the "employ" of Grabow, My loyalties for 10 years were with M/C. United States Tobacco(UST)(Skoal and Copenhagen) bought Grabow in 69' from the Lavietes family. In 74' they bought M/C from Bernard Hochstein and moved it into the EXACT facility Grabow occupied. I was named "operations manager" and we were in the basement of a 4 story building in Sparta, NC. M/C was STRICTLY an importer of pipes and pipe related merchandise. In 74' when M/C moved from NYC to NC the inventory of finished goods was stored in a facility in Winston Salem, NC. Lentz Moving and Storage. Stacked 10 feet high the inventory covered 180,000 square feet....FINISHED. In my time at Grabow I had never seen that much finished stock, and the shapes, manufacturers,finishes. Heaven for a pipe smoker.....Damn right. You would have had to slap me really hard to get the grin off my face. I'll just list a few Manufacturers/names of the inventory.England....Parker/Hardcastle(Dunhill)..Orlick...France..Jeantet...Jima...Cherrywoods....Italy..GIGI pipe...Radica....Rossi...Federico Rovera....Emilio Rovera....Santambrogio.Brebbia..Meerschaums from Austria....Strambach....Lighters from Japan....Pouches and accessories from Hong Kong...and the Israeli pipes from Mr. Hochstein's sons. Trust me...This is only a small sample of the things M/C had, and bought into inventory. Now the connection. Since M/C and Grabow shared a building, and I was an employee of Grabow we compared notes. Grabow copied a BUNCH of M/C items fully with my help and some skills I had developed.
First was Omega...A copy of a well pipe made by Federico Rovera(FERO.com)....Freehand by the Alpha/Shalom factory..Meerschaum Lined from M. Gasparini, and later GIGI PIPE. These were originally imported by M/C for Grabow and stamped Grabow, but also stamped ITALY. Later models..better finish were made in the USA. Bucko...copied from M. Gasparini...(Gasparini, to my knowledge is the only maker of leather covered in the world) If you buy a leather covered pipe it was, most assuredly covered by M/G. And you thought the wood in the Grabow COLOR was bad.....outta unrap one of these scrappers. There is a lot more. Questions will be answered following the presentation. Now the other way. Grabow to Mastercraft. M/C never really had a source of continuing supply. The foreign manufacturers would make a line for a while and then quit. Never do it again, no matter how well it sold, no matter the demands we put on em'. Grabow gave M/C a source of stability, and a nice profit for both companies. A lot of these you will not have heard of, but maybe....Seville, for M/C all smooth, for Grabow all rustic Hillcrest.... Freehand, For M/C Andersen and (a few Mastersen), for Grabow, Freehand with a DRB tampon. New finishes...New shapes, New bits.....Mastercraft showed Grabow how to use LUCITE for stems....Royalton....Again, these are just examples.
Well folks there you have it info from the man his self.
I have a very large bowl Mastercraft that I re-bored the stem on to accept a Brigham rockmaple filter. It is a great smoke.
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