About as handcut as this stem…
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There were lots of pipes made of Algerian briar back in the day. Doesn’t mean they were “high grade” nor “oil cured”…
I own two French made (Mastercraft Era) Marxman pipes and each one is marked Algerian Briar. None of my “real” New York City Marxmans are identified as using Algerian briar, but they did.
Marx danced all around advertising his pipes as “Hand Made” but never used the words “Hand Made”. They were “hand cut” and used “small volume production methods” and such. The $25 400s likely were entirely hand made by one guy at a bench, but the $3.50 Mel-o line used machines every step machines could be used.
In the 1934-54 era Dunhill and Barling and other high end British brands were using oil cured Algerian briar, and hand cutting stems, and more or less were hand made, using machines as much as possible. It wasn’t extraordinary at the time.
I have one LHS pipe and it’s miles above the polish and finish of my other American factory pipes.
There had to have been different grades of Algerian briar when it was commercially available.
Marx selected and cured the kind that smokes the best.
Again, there really were no bad briar pipes on the market, regardless of brand, if the briar was from the Mediterranean, and was properly cured and aged.
Marxmans had a distinctive, consistent, extraordinarily rich and robust taste. The Dunsboro was advertised as oil cured in stained oil, but a Marxman was usually tan as found in the box. They’ll color almost as well as a meerschaum, quickly turning brown. They don’t smoke hot, nor wet, and like a Lee, really don’t need a break in, but use improves them. Marx made high dollar, excellent, luxury items.
And the vulcanite used on stems was often not the best, although some look moulded and others hand cut.
