I object on the grounds of speculative "Hyperbole". Does consul offer themselves as a certified "expert" on the topic of "Post war American factory pipes?"
![Laugh :LOL: :LOL:](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
I used to have a dear friend named Jack, who was a philosopher, genius, inventor, raconteur, pilot, bon vivant, and manufacturer of the original and finest arial wire markers on this planet.
Anybody that ever wanted to, could take one of Jack’s wire marker balls and use it to make a mould, and make the exact product Jack sold in 162 countries around the earth. Some tried, and all failed.
Jack spent next to nothing on advertising, just a small advertisement in Trade a Plane and a power company journal that read:
YOUR BALLS SAVED MY LIFE
Says St. Louis pilot so and so, in a letter to the company. (Excerpt from letter from grateful pilot who pulled up and narrowly avoided a wire strike followed)
TANA WIRE MARKERS
(Address and phone)
Jack’s products were, and still are, perfectly designed, made of the finest materials, and each one has rigorous quality inspections before it ships. But you could do that too, if you liked.
In a further, audacious effort to dissuade counterfeiters Jack purposely left all obvious identifying marks off of a genuine Tana ball. Jack’s reasoning was that the customer could only be assured of getting the real coin, if he ordered direct from Jack or from one of Jack’s authorized dealers (that Jack sold at 75% retail price). And if a counterfeit ball arrived at Jack’s factory, returned because it was defective, it was easy to check the order list, and Jack had other ways to identify his goods. When a counterfeit arrived, Jack would have me inform the buyer that he’d been swindled,
and replace the ball with a genuine Tana ball free of charge.
This of course led to the power companies requiring whichever contractor won the bid for a new power line, they had to produce receipts they’d bought genuine Tana balls from Jack or an authorized dealer.
Jack only smoked Dutch Masters President cigars (that he bought by the box) unless you gave him a fine cigar, which his many friends did, constantly, in which case Jack allowed you to light it for him. But if there had been Pipes by Jack, it would have been about the same operation as Tana Wire Markers, I’d reckon.
Tana was Jack’s wife, 23 years younger, and more blonde and beautiful than words can describe here. Her and Jack are off somewhere now beyond the sunset, flying around in Jack’s V tail 1953 Bonanza he bought new. If you didn’t know them, you might doubt they ever existed. But Jack’s son still makes the balls, in the same factory, and sells as many or more than Jack did.
Go buy several early 7 or 5 pointed star era Pipes by Lee and several Kaywoodie Super and Flame Grain pipes that have three hole stingers, which means they are definitely post war. The differences are self evident. Anybody that knew about Pipes by Lee would have spent his five or ten dollars on the Lee, not the Kaywoodie.
Lee was another Jack, who made the world’s finest pipe.