Recent Buys on Ebay

[tuold]

In my never ending search for cheap but interesting briar I bought these old relics of Americana.
First is a Medico Guardsman which actually just arrived today.

I believe it's from the late 50's or early 60's. It is made of briar, (not Brylon) has a ceramic sort of insert in the bowl and comes equipped with an odd metal "grate tube" that is supposed to prevent moisture build up. I was surprised to find that this pipe arrived virtually unsmoked with the complementary Medico filter still installed. It's in mint condition. Here's an old ad for it:

And here's a Douglas Air Cooled pipe from around 1937.

And an ad from a 1937 Life magazine. Note how the pipe is made of compressed briar, an early form of Brylon!

So I'll be working on all these this coming week. I'm also expecting a Dr Grabow Belvedere and a Supreme Briar this coming week. I know, not that exciting for most, but it does keep me occupied. Cheap and fun.

 

[beefeater33]

Very Nice! I've never seen a Douglas before. I love those old relics too. Cool finds!

 

[philobeddoe]

The Douglas Air Cooled is essentially a reverse calabash.....sixty years ahead of its time!

 

[tuold]

Got the Douglas this afternoon and did a quick clean up on it. I've never seen so much oxidation on a pipe stem, and I still have more work to do in that regard.

 

[woodsroad]

Great find!

 

[mso489]

Love that panel Medico. Some of the American machine pipe briars are really fetching, even

the new ones. I recently bought a Yello-Bole Checker briar and a Kaywoodie Saxon push bit

that are great little pipes, good bowl size for the over all size of the pipe, and very solid, and

smooth draws. Not bad at all. They hold their own in rotation with pipes many times the prices.

 

[newbroom]

I'm waiting to rec'v 9 Medico briars from the auction site. Got them all for just over $50.00 incl. shipping.

They're all stamped with imported briar...and look very clean to my inexperienced eye. I also went for an estate butz choquin regate...a billiard style I think...really fine birdseye...I paid a tad more than $20 for that one. I started this 'hobby' a couple of months ago and have only bought one pipe that was new. It was an MM Legend I still use. (like pretty much, a lot of folks) These meds will rotate nicely with the few others I've acquired, I hope.
I think that grate may act as a radiator...providing cooling surface and maybe double as a trap of some sort.

 

[sablebrush52]

Love the Douglas!

 

[tuold]

@newbroom, Nine Medicos?! I'll be very interested to see pictures after you've gotten them all sorted out. I haven't been disappointed with a Medico estate yet. Here's a Medalist I'm inserting into the rotation today:

The grate in the Guardsman would be very difficult to clean had the pipe been used. I would have used a small wire brush, I suppose. For that reason, I'm going to let it be a display piece for now.
The Douglas pipe was a surprise since I expected those "pinhole" air vents to have long ago sealed shut. But when I opened it up by unscrewing the cover on the bottom it was all in pretty good shape. The inside was much easier to clean then the grimy, oxidized outside. I wonder where it's been these past 77 years? Anyway, it's got a great draft. I'm going to take it out for a test smoke this evening.