New/Old? Ben Wade Pipe

[hotshot]

I just bought a new, old? Ben Wade pipe. It's a monster sized pipe.

I'm not really a collector, so I'm smoking my first bowl of Mississippi River in it right now. Did I say this is a BIG pipe? Wow. Not something you can tote around with you. LOL

 

[hotshot]

Anyone know anything about this beast?

 

[papipeguy]

Here's some info and maybe a bit confusing. It's like there were 2 Ben Wades; the English and the Danish by Preben Holm. I have 2 Danish by P.H.

The English pipes have a storied history and were closely aligned with Lane Ltd. Enjopy your pipe and the following story.
http://pipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Wade

 

[hotshot]

Thanks papipeguy, great info. I'm a little confused over the pipe bag had Danish on it. The pipe says made in London, Englad. At any rate, I'm smoking it and it is smoking well for the first bowl to ever be run through it.

I really appreciate the info.

 

[sfsteves]

I'm a long-time Ben Wade fan ... got my first two close to 40 years ago and have half a dozen today, all good smokers ...

 

[hotshot]

SteveS, this pipe is really smoking well, first bowl, I'm impressed. I feel this Ben Wade and I will have a long relationship.

 

[hotshot]

I'm gonna have to get me some extra long pipe cleaners. A standard pipe cleaner won't reach all the way into the bowl. But even as big as it is, it's not terribly heavy. I'm impressed.

 

[fnord]

Hotshot:
Enjoy that beast. I like billiards with thick walls because I huff too quickly. Yours is definitely in my wheelhouse.
Fnord

 

[dixie]

Hotshot, I have a Lane Era Ben Wade and it is a great smoker. Mine is also a "Standard" but a large canadian. My pipe bag does say London England so perhaps you just got a bag from another Ben Wade Danish pipe. Mine was in the box so I thought I would share the pamphlets from the original purchase.

 

[sablebrush52]

Ben Wade's are very nice pipes, whether English or Danish. The Danish bag isn't original to the English pipe. Yours is probably one that was made by Charatan.

The original factory was in Leeds, I believe.

 

[hotshot]

Here is a photo with a size comparison to one of my Peterson K&P's. The Pete is a big pipe, this really shows the size of the Ben Wade !!

 

[blendtobac]

I agree with sablebrush. Back in the seventies, the shop I worked at sold the English Ben Wades, and they were Charatans that didn't make the grade, grain-wise, to be a Charatan. Both were imported by Lane at the time, and the BW pipes didn't get the double comfort bit. I owned a number of them, and they were great smokers.
Russ

 

[hotshot]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the info. I got about $75 in this. Figured I didn't get too badly hurt. It smoked the first bowl very well. This is the kind of pipe that you can load up and smoke for awhile. .

 

[durham270]

That is a very nice Ben Wade, Standard! They are excellent smokers. I have a 'Standard' Ben Wade in the same 'BIG' pipe family as yours. Due to the large bowl and thick walls I smoke aromatics in this one. Happy Smokes!!

 

[foggymountain]

Papi: thanks for the link. I have often wondered about Ben Wade and knew nothing about them. I bought one new in 1973 in New York. It must have been one of the early Danish models. Honestly it was a terrible pipe which I smoked when everything else was soggy. I didn't have many pipes back then so it did get smoked a lot. It cost about $50 new. When I started to add to my pipe collection about 6 years ago the Ben Wade was no longer needed so I sold it to smoking pipes. I was surprised that they sent me a great deal more than I paid for it, about $200.