Pipe Sighting at the Movies

[Butter Side Down]

I just saw the new Wes Anderson movie Asteroid City last weekend. Six word review: It's okay, but not his best. Anyway, one of the characters played by Jason Schwartzman smokes a pipe for a lot of the movie. Thankfully none of the other characters even mentions it. It's just there as a fact, which is probably about the most positive pipe portrayal that could be hoped for in the current age.

I can't identify the pipe, but it looks like a Peterson style full bent. His lighter is definitely a Nimrod Commander (the flip-top zippo-esque one). We never see him load the pipe, so who can say what's in it, but since nobody ever complains about the smell, I dunno... Captain Black? If I remember right, I think he uses the ubiquitous Czech style pipe tool.

One thing I can say is I don't think he received much coaching on how to do it properly because he tamped down, with excessive force, quite often. Like every six seconds every time they showed him puffing. And yet despite all that careful maintenance, his pipe kept going out. I wonder why...

Oh well, at least it wasn't a negative portrayal.

 

[Peter - CCB]

I worked on the upcoming Oppenheimer movie (or did it come out) spent a lot of time identifying his pipes, locating vintage models, getting multiples of those and staining, stressing them to be alike. Findin triplicates of each, etc.

Unfortunately, I had to back out due to family health issues at the time but I’ll say the prop department and prop master I dealt with only was very serious about pipe accuracy and there are plenty in this movie. I’m bummed I didn’t get to complete it and not sure who is now but it’ll be a great pipe spotting movie to watch.

 

[kcghost]

Hopefully, Oppenheimer will turn out to at least be as good as the PBS serial was.

 

[Briarpuffin]

Very much looking forward to seeing Oppy in IMAX.

 

[Sidehatch]

Hey Butter Side Down. I just saw this post. I started a thread about the movie and the pipe action in it. Appreciate your input on the pipe. I couldn’t quite tell what it was. I thought lighter was pretty sweet though. I enjoyed the use of the pipe and my kids actually nudged me about him lighting up.

Regardless. Wasn’t trying to duplicate a topic on it.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Endeavor (PBS or Britbox, in its final season) has a character who seems to know how to smoke a pipe (Inspector Thursday) A few other characters smoke as well.

 

[Searock Fan]

What do ya think? Could that be a Castello? Notice what looks like the "diamond" logo on the stem.

 

[Searock Fan]

What do ya think? Could that be a Castello? Notice what looks like the "diamond" logo on the stem.

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Just came across this link... Oh, well....

https://entertainment.ha.com/itm/movie-tv-memorabilia/props/michael-richards-prop-pipes-and-tobacco-pouch-from-seinfeld-a-pair-of-english-walnut-tobacco-pipes-and-a-leather-tobacco-total-1/a/648-22123.s

 

[jpmcwjr]

In one photo Richards is smoking a panel. Those don't look like panels!

 

[Searock Fan]

 

[Flatfish]

Could it be a Barber B Line?
Something like this.

 

[Flatfish]

Not rusticated obviously. Just trying to find roughly the right shape.

 

[Butter Side Down]

What do ya think? Could that be a Castello? Notice what looks like the "diamond" logo on the stem.

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Kaywoodie maybe? Their logo wasn't a diamond, but it kind of has a similar shape when blurry. Not the pipe below. A little too short. Just provided for the logo

 

[Hillcrest]

I just finished watching the Collector's Edition of The Quiet Man with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara ... John Wayne seems to smoke Chesterfields throughout the movie. Barry Fitzgerald smokes either a straight sandblast apple or prince. Danaher the brother-in-law smokes a bent billiard meerschaum with amber stem. The catholic priest smokes a straight sandblast billiard. The alleged IRA guy smokes a System pipe with military stem and one local guy smokes a dublin.. Those are all the pipes I caught this viewing.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

Appears the two Kosmo Kramer pipes that sold at auction for $310 are two different makes, but both have the same stem - the white stem logo is either a M or a W. They're oriented differently on either pipe. There's also a visible spade or club stamp on the stems (only visible on the top pipe).

The top pipe has a brand name in cursive script but I can't make it out. Underneath it reads "Bel Air".

The bottom pipe shows a "Made in England" stamp with "Walnut" below.

All stamps are fairly generic, without giving solid clues as to their manufacture.

Here's higher res images.

 

[Butter Side Down]

I think bluegrassbrain provided all the clues needed to answer the Kramer pipe mystery.

Willmer pipes made a pipe called the Bel Air. That would explain the bel air on the shank and the W on the stem. I have a feeling the M is just a W with the stem rotated 180°.

And it looks a whole lot like this one.

 

[Butter Side Down]

Everything else fits as well, including the logo.

 

[anantaandroscoggin]

Recently ran across "War of the Satellites" on YouTube. I only saw one character (the main character, I think) smoking a pipe, but the extremely bad (and unnecessarily stupid) writing put me off so I closed the tab about 15 minutes into the grade Z movie.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

I think bluegrassbrain provided all the clues needed to answer the Kramer pipe mystery.

Willmer pipes made a pipe called the Bel Air. That would explain the bel air on the shank and the W on the stem. I have a feeling the M is just a W with the stem rotated 180°.

And it looks a whole lot like this one.

Yep, I'd say so.



The black pouch is a "Peterson's".

 

[AJL67]

Errol Flynn was so cool he’d smoke his pipe while out on the courts.