My Pipe Maker Pipe: What is the Company's History?

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telescopes

Pipe Dreamer and Star Gazer
Why, other than I was intrigued by the little bullseye of a dot on the stem, did I purchase this pipe?

The price was right. I think I paid $10 for it. The pipe is literally made by a company that calls itself... Pipe Maker. Other than the words, 'Imported Briar' nothing else is written on the pipe.

The pipe appears to be little smoked as evidenced by how quickly the mortise and other inside areas cleaned up. It did not want to easily pass a pipe cleaner through the stem, but that may have had more to do with me trying to raise some suspicious pitting near the button area of the stem.

I cleaned up the briar with micro mesh and worked on the stem in the same manner. I used some black CS glue on the pitting and I can see that it needs a bit more sanding.

The pipe appears to be the quality of a lower grade Dr. Grabow. The stem is cheap vulcanite and the briar has noticeable fills. I had planned to send it out for a refurbishment, but I am positive I don't want to sink another dime into it - other than being used as a historical piece, this pipe may end up going to my brother. If it does, he will quickly burn a hole through it as he does all of his pipes. He has a massive case of ADHD and it is what it is.

So - pipedia had nothing on this pipe that I could find. Does anyone have anything to offer? I see them offered on eBay from time to time, often at ridiculous prices for really rotten examples. This one at least looks handsome enough, even if it is a dime store pipe.IMG_4540.jpegIMG_4541.jpegIMG_4542.jpegIMG_4543.jpegIMG_4544.jpegIMG_4549.jpeg
 

greeneyes

Lifer
Jun 5, 2018
2,126
12,193
If you check here: Filled rings -- Pipes : Logos & Markings (pipephil.eu) I think you'll find that it's a Red Dot, a sub-brand of Whitehall, which apparently is itself a sub brand of Ben Wade. I'd say it's about as low on the evolutionary scale as possible.
Yes, but this particular Whitehall was of American manufacture. The Ben Wade-manufactured Whitehall is much rarer. In fact, I've never seen a photograph of one on the internet.

Please follow these references:


And, importantly, this disambiguation by @jguss :

 

telescopes

Pipe Dreamer and Star Gazer
So Whitehall? Hmmm. I thought that might be the case. Thanks guys. Currently working on a nice six panel Marxman - unfortunately, I just broke the bit. Using black CS glue to repair the button on it now. I should have known how brittle it was going to be. Wrong tool will do it to you every time.
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,765
13,789
Humansville Missouri
I’ve been told Pipe Maker was another company besides Les.

If so, that company bought seconds, produced by Lee.

The more pipes I buy, the more I’m completely convinced Lee made thd Finest Pipes in the World.

It is extremely difficult for me to distinguish what made a Red Spot Pipe Maker not a full blown Lee Star Grade.

Lee had workers hand turn all production. Each one is essentially a hand made pipe. No stem fits another and will index, but all screw in. No stummel is exactly the same, no stem the same.

And just like a well known brand of imported pipe, all we’re finished to a certain unmistakable finish that only the very best handmade pipes have.

Here are six small Pears, one marked Red Dot Pipe Maker, two are later production stamped star Lee Three Star, and the two jewels are the five point inlaid star grades that I believe were truly the high water mark of hand finished Lee quality.

A Pipe Maker was given a Kaywoodie style front ring. The vulcanite stems I think were molded. But every one I’ve seen match a Lee shape, they all accept a Lee stinger, and the stems all interchange with all Lees, but since each Lee was hand made none will index, except maybe by accident.

Lee found some way to cure all his briar where it was the best, for a smoking pipe.

Then each pipe was hand made to the highest standards and you can tell the quality, by looking, holding, and smoking them.

The Pipe Maker stem is cheaper, but I think they were Lees.
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telescopes

Pipe Dreamer and Star Gazer
I just finished smoking my Pipe Maker Red Dot as I took a two mile walk. Not the best way to check out a pipe, but here is what I can report.

The pipe is recovering from a thorough cleaning and as such had a very small bite. That will disappear. It did not require a relight and the draw is quite open. You are correct that the vulcanite is molded, and unfortunately, so is the one on the Marxman I got today. Within 5 minutes I cracked the end of the bit as I attempted to open up the hole. I glued it back on with black CS glue and it shined right up. Now the question is, do I re-stem it or do I leave it as it is?

Hmmm. To be continued later.

Anyway, I can't speak to Pipe Maker being a Lee product. Honestly, Pipe Maker comes across as rather cheap - more like a cheap Medico with a Dr. Grabow like stinger.

It is also full of MANY fills. Lee Star Grade pipes seemed not to be that way.

If anything, I tend to think it is a dumbed down version of a Whitehall, although who Whitehall contracted with in America is up for debate.

Would I keep this pipe?

No, I don't think I am inclined to do so, but... I went to a lot of effort to clean it up. I think I will keep it in my Laughlin condo with my other American dime store pipes, away from my "grown up" pipes for discriminating pipe smokers.

This pipe is just perfect for a Hillbilly.

You wouldn't happen to know any, would you? :ROFLMAO: :col:
 
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telescopes

Pipe Dreamer and Star Gazer
The more pipes I buy, the more I’m completely convinced Lee made thd Finest Pipes in the World.
I have Dunhill's from the same period as Lee.

I am positive that if you compared your Lee pipes with Dunhill's - although you don't have any to do that - you might reconsider that statement.

I have a Kaywoodie Silhouette that predates the Lees. My Kaywoodie is a few steps above the Lee I have and I think the Lee I have is pretty good.

My LHS and Petersons from that time period also more than hold their own.
 
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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,765
13,789
Humansville Missouri
I just finished smoking my Pipe Maker Red Dot as I took a two mile walk. Not the best way to check out a pipe, but here is what I can report.

The pipe is recovering from a thorough cleaning and as such had a very small bite. That will disappear. It did not require a relight and the draw is quite open. You are correct that the vulcanite is molded, and unfortunately, so is the one on the Marxman I got today. Within 5 minutes I cracked the end of the bit as I attempted to open up the hole. I glued it back on with black CS glue and it shined right up. Now the question is, do I re-stem it or do I leave it as it is?

Hmmm. To be continued later.

Anyway, I can't speak to Pipe Maker being a Lee product. Honestly, Pipe Maker comes across as rather cheap - more like a cheap Medico with a Dr. Grabow like stinger.

It is also full of MANY fills. Lee Star Grade pipes seemed not to be that way.

If anything, I tend to think it is a dumbed down version of a Whitehall, although who Whitehall contracted with in America is up for debate.

Would I keep this pipe?

No, I don't think I am inclined to do so, but... I went to a lot of effort to clean it up. I think I will keep it in my Laughlin condo with my other American dime store pipes, away from my "grown up" pipes for discriminating pipe smokers.

This pipe is just perfect for a Hillbilly.

You wouldn't happen to know any, would you? :ROFLMAO: :col:
Why do I think a Pipe Maker was produced at Lee?

Kaywoodies, at least after the war, are an excellent pipe. But they are a factory pipe, made with a shape number on machines, yet all finished by hand.


Lee was by comparison to Kaywoodie a small shop.

Lee had a catalog of shapes but no Lee I’ve ever seen is stamped with a shape number.

For every Pipe Maker I’ve seen, and I have them stuffed in car and truck and camper and milk barns and off road vehicles as everyday smokers, I’ve found a corresponding Lee shape. That small Red Dot Pipe Maker pear is at least to mr eyes, touched by the same master’s hands as this stunningly well made second series five point star Two Star small pear. Only the cheaper Pipe Maker stem and the cheaper Kaywoodie type front fitting condemned it to being sold NOT FOR SALE AS A LEE, because of some failing my eyes cannot see, in the grain of the briar.

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The Touch of the Masters Hand​

Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer thought it scarcely worth his while to waste much time on the old violin, but held it up with a smile; "What am I bidden, good folks," he cried, "Who'll start the bidding for me?" "A dollar, a dollar"; then two!" "Only two? Two dollars, and who'll make it three? Three dollars, once; three dollars twice; going for three.." But no, from the room, far back, a gray-haired man came forward and picked up the bow; Then, wiping the dust from the old violin, and tightening the loose strings, he played a melody pure and sweet as caroling angel sings.

The music ceased, and the auctioneer, with a voice that was quiet and low, said; "What am I bid for the old violin?" And he held it up with the bow. A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two? Two thousand! And who'll make it three? Three thousand, once, three thousand, twice, and going and gone," said he. The people cheered, but some of them cried, "We do not quite understnad what changed its worth." Swift came the reply: "The touch of a master's hand."

And many a man with life out of tune, and battered and scarred with sin, Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd, much like the old violin, A "mess of pottage," a glass of wine; a game - and he travels on. "He is going" once, and "going twice, He's going and almost gone."

But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd never can quite understand the worth of a souland the change that's wrought by the touch of the Master's hand.


Myra 'Brooks' Welch


I had the honor and privilege of being taught that poem and many dozens more like it as a child.

Sorter saved me a heap of money on pipes later on in life, you know?
 
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jguss

Lifer
Jul 7, 2013
2,417
6,227
this disambiguation by @jguss

I could disambiguate the hell out of Whitehall, its predecessors and successors, but I find it hard to believe anyone, including me, would find it worth the time and mental energy to review. The corporate history is both tangled and tedious; a genuine two-fer.

It is extremely difficult for me to distinguish what made a Red Spot Pipe Maker not a full blown Lee Star Grade.

I couldn't build the Great Pyramid of Giza, but that doesn't mean aliens did it (von Däniken notwithstanding). In case the point isn't clear I'm saying that because you (or I) can't do something doesn't mean it can't be done, and easily done, by someone else with greater genuine expertise.

Lee had workers hand turn all production. Each one is essentially a hand made pipe.

Not so. Lee, like virtually all other manufacturers in the US (and most in Britain) at that time used machines to help shape the stummels. Here's a quote from a classified ad Lee placed while looking for manpower in the months prior to the opening of his factory:

SMOKING PIPE MAKERS for modern streamlined factory, 320 E. 95th St., N.Y.C. Machinist to make models, cutting knives, set turner; Frasing machines particularly wanted. Also experienced workers in all other departments.

If you're unfamiliar with the term you can google it for yourself, but the frasing machine Lee was referring to and desperately seeking (also frequently spelling frazing and fraising) was used to help automate the rapid replication of various shapes, and was in common use at most if not all American pipe factories, including the one Lee spent almost twenty years at before founding Pipes by Lee. Remember we're talking about factories producing large volumes in the heyday of the pipe, not the varying methods of the individual artisans who figure so prominently in the pipe world today.

Here's the rather verbose definition on Pipedia:

A frazing machine has been used in the manufacture of Pipes. It's general structure is such that a pattern of the pipe or pattern of a section of a pipe is mounted in the machine and then the stummel is installed in the same machine. When the frazing machine is started the pattern pre-installed in the machine is then recreated on the surface of the stummel. In other industries of modern methods of manufacture they are referred to as pantograph machines and pattern makers. Some pipe makers do not use such machinery and rely on the person crafting the pipe as the three dimensional view provided is believed to produce a more acceptable and esthetic appearance. Such companies that do utilize frazing machines reserve them for "roughing in" the stummel only when manufacturing multiple pipes of exactly the same style. A partial view of a frazing machine can be seen in the book "The book of pipes & tobacco", authored by Carl Ehwa Jr., published by Random House, first printing 1974. ISBN 0-394-47000-1.

Here's a more succinct version from the dictionary of occupational titles:

FRAZING MACHINE A machine which guides briar block against cutters to duplicate preselected pipe shape. A clamp-fitted shaft and a cam follows a master model to shape shank and lower half of bowl.

It's also well worth reading this link to Milwaukee Vintage Pipes: Estate Pipe Restoration and Sales - MVP Pipes - https://www.stemandbriar.com/MVP-Pipes

As I said in another post the degree to which a pipe can be fairly labelled "handmade" is a rabbit hole with plenty of room for nebulous statements and artificial distinctions. I'll note in passing that in the 1920s-1950s true handmade pipes were sufficiently rare that models bearing (or said to bear) that claim to fame generally stamped it on the shank or stem (in the latter case look for "hand cut"). Lee, for all his aggressive marketing, never made that claim in advertisements or comments to trade journals; you've made it for him. On the contrary the classified ad quoted above makes it clear that Lee sought and used machinery in the production of his pipes, like virtually every other factory of the time.

A final thought: it's a mistake to assume that handmade is by definition better than machine made. Automation not only reduces cost it also reduces variability in performance against spec.