Real or Replica?

[Old_Newby]

Need some advice. I recently purchased a pipe on eBay. It caught my eye and it was unsmoked and a pipe brand I did not have in my collection. I landed it for $35.01 and looking online it sells for $90.

It is the White Elephant Ebony and Ivory Sandblasted. I dipped a cleaner into Isopropyl alcohol and cleaned it and black paint/stain came out of inside of pipe (see pics).

Regardless if real or replica I like the pipe and will use it once nothing is coming out of it (its clean), but I was curious if anyone else has experience like this or knows if this is normal?

Thanks

 

[SmokeyJock]

Fake/replica pipes are so rare (if you're going to all the effort of making a quality pipe in the first place, you'd be better just starting your own brand) that it's not really worth worrying about. A lot of pipe makers will stain the inside of the bowl, removing it with alcohol is probably best before you smoke it as it often tastes bad and makes the break-in harder, but it's not any kind of indication that you've got a dud. Sounds like you got a bargain!

 

[AirOne]

You might geat fake / replica on high end pipes. So nothing to worry about here, except for a good cleaning (which should always be done with a new pipe anyway)

 

[cosmicfolklore]

This brand doesn't exactly bring a premium high end price, so most likely it was dip stained, which explains the stain inside the draft.

 

[Alejo R.]

Fake/replica pipes are so rare (if you're going to all the effort of making a quality pipe in the first place, you'd be better just starting your own brand) that it's not really worth worrying about. A lot of pipe makers will stain the inside of the bowl, removing it with alcohol is probably best before you smoke it as it often tastes bad and makes the break-in harder, but it's not any kind of indication that you've got a dud. Sounds like you got a bargain!

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[HeavyLeadBelly]

Yeah, of course there’s a non zero chance of it being fake but let’s use common sense here. The brand isn’t a luxury brand, and imo probably doesn’t come close to higher quality machine made pipes from Savenilli and the likes, so I don’t know why someone would go to the lengths to spend time and money on making counterfeit White Elephant pipes especially one that’s dressed up like the one pictured here. Who knows why you got it cheap but I doubt it’s a fake.

 

[Alejo R.]

The pipe looks real. For that price, it was probably mass-dyed by submersion in ink. Once cleaned, there won't be any problems. The price difference seems to be the result of specific online marketing, which works by setting a high price on the brand's website and selling for a fraction of that on eBay or Amazon. About 20 years ago, when the first Chinese watches appeared (they were passed off as German and called Germasians), they used this marketing technique. Invicta also started using it.

 

[Old_Newby]

Thanks everyone. Sounds like I got a deal. I now know I am “non luxury” which I already knew I guess. Maybe one day I will get there. LOL !!

 

[Alejo R.]

Thanks everyone. Sounds like I got a deal. I now know I am “non luxury” which I already knew I guess. Maybe one day I will get there. LOL !!

If you persist in the hobby, you'll eventually end up with some so-called luxury pipes. But it's absolutely unnecessary; the important thing is to enjoy it.

 

[Briar Lee]

If about forty or fifty years ago the owner of the Loewe brand could fake up these magnificent nice genuine briar pipes, I’d say a $35 White Elephant is an outright forgery.



Pipes made in London England are very proud of that hallmark, you know?

So is anything in the world that’s actually Made in Germany.

 

[BingBong]

If about forty or fifty years ago the owner of the Loewe brand could fake up these magnificent nice genuine briar pipes, I’d say a $35 White Elephant is an outright forgery.

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Pipes made in London England are very proud of that hallmark, you know?

So is anything in the world that’s actually Made in Germany.

I still have tools "Made in West Germany".

 

[crashthegrey]

Surprisingly, there are some people out there making pipes and stamping them some of the bigger names to get more money. I know of someone with an entire set of stamps from a historic brand, specifically, someone never associated with said brand. White Elephant does not usually make the list of counterfeit pipes, though. Regardless, if made well and you enjoy it, no loss. I do believe this is real.

 

[elvishrunes]

Fake/replica pipes are so rare (if you're going to all the effort of making a quality pipe in the first place, you'd be better just starting your own brand) that it's not really worth worrying about. A lot of pipe makers will stain the inside of the bowl, removing it with alcohol is probably best before you smoke it as it often tastes bad and makes the break-in harder, but it's not any kind of indication that you've got a dud. Sounds like you got a bargain!

Also they look poor. I saw some fake Neerups on ebay a few years back, could spot them a mile knowing the real.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Also they look poor. I saw some fake Neerups on ebay a few years back, could spot them a mile knowing the real.

I'm very surprised that someone would fake a Neerup. I love this brand, but they are some of the cheapest pipes on the market. That is like someone going to a lot of trouble faking a Ropp pipe.

 

[crashthegrey]

I'm very surprised that someone would fake a Neerup. I love this brand, but they are some of the cheapest pipes on the market. That is like someone going to a lot of trouble faking a Ropp pipe.

Maybe factory rejects someone slipped out in their lunch pail to make a buck on?

 

[woodsroad]

Having no idea who makes White Elephant, I looked them up. They are made by Kopp. Some are as ugly as a pimp's ass, but some are very nice. And at a decent price. They say they are made in Bavaria, but at that low price point, I have to wonder. Either way, the only way they are being counterfeited is if the factory is either running goods out the back door, or these are seconds.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Maybe factory rejects someone slipped out in their lunch pail to make a buck on?

Pedder's first pipes were very ugly as you could tell that he was fishing around for a style. I could see many of those early pipes getting pegged as fakes, but they probably aren't. Two of mine from smokingpipes came with no nomenclature at all on them, and one other one was stamped. I could see that with some inconsistency folks might be confused, but if I were going to fake a Danish pipe, I would be going for some of the big dog carvers bringing in the big bucks.

 

[Waning Embers]

Maybe factory rejects someone slipped out in their lunch pail to make a buck on?

Last I heard, Peder has a machine to copy a master shape that he made and then he hand finishes each piece himself.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Last I heard, Peder has a machine to copy a master shape that he made and then he hand finishes each piece himself.

That's very odd, since not a one of his pipes looks like another, maybe the stems, but the stummels are all so unique.

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As I scroll down the pipes, I see maybe just one shape that is a repeated stummel shape.
I'm not saying you are wrong, just that it would be very odd.

 

[Briar Lee]

I got the best deal online a few years ago.

When Eric Nording started out on his own it was just like the scrap between my old Grandmother and the Beverly Hillbillies over the use of the place name Bug Tussle for fictional hillbillies to come from.

And for a while, Eric Nording had to stamp his new pipes SON until he settled with his first partner and got the Nording name back.

But anyhow, there I was shopping in Eastern Europe on eBay and the seller had a slug of brand new old stock SON pipes, and I lucked out and gave $35 delivered for this here second SON Sailor Made in Denmark perfect straight grain Brandy Snifter.

Except, for the life of me, I can’t see why it was sold as a second. It was a 60 some year old brand new old pipe!

Lookie at my geniune SON Nording right beside a brand new $100 Nording Pickaxe Freehand #1 !



My ancient SON pipe was brand new!






I sure ama prayin and wishin that there seller feller over there didn’t get hizzelf kilt when hiz nashun got in vaded.

Ma Agee’s 1963 first editions are more faked than originals but me and my cousin Pammy can both tell the difference in a second.

Our family has the original illustration plates by Nanny Jenkins, and the cover is long out of production.







Beins how I’m her only living grandson with the hook nose to prove it, and the same jay bird heels, I can jest take right off where Ma and Pa ended her Remunishuns in 1963 with my Ruminations of a Hillbilly Lawyer

Iff’n I ever get a notion to, you know?

I can chase right after Colin Kelly II, and Colin Kelly III.