The Family Era pipes were certainly excellent smokers. But there is a persistent myth that quality immediately went into the crapper after the family sold the business. Forget about Hacker's telling of the story. A lot of info has surfaced since his day, and the picture is much different.
While the family did sell the business in October of 1960, they continued to run it until mid 1962. So a lot of "Pre-Transition" pipes were made while Finlay owned the business and as the nomenclature didn't change, nobody can identify them.
And, the "Barling's Make" pipes that have a 4 digit model number beginning with a number other than "1" were made while the family still ran the business in 1962, using the same stock that had been aging since the late 1950's, by the same craftsmen. But they're not "Pre-Transition" because of the model number, and go for lesser prices as a result. The quality is exactly the same. It would seem that people can recognize nomenclature better than they can quality of materials and workmanship.
Even after the Barling family was given the boot in mid 1962, quality did not immediately go down. It was a gradual process, and excellent pipes continued to be produced. You just need to know what you're looking at with the later periods.
Following Imperial's absorption of Finlay in early 1963, quality began to slip as the factories were turned to making a wider range of products with a less experienced staff.
In the 1970's, Barling pipes were outsourced to Charatan and Cardogan. The Barling Presentation grade pipes made by Charatan are very good quality.
Later, the pipes were made in Denmark by Nording.
So the picture is more complex than previously thought.
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