Royal Duke of Dundee

[tuold]

I came across this listing last week for a "Royal Duke Air Conditioned" pipe. I thought Royal Duke was a Doctor Grabow pipe, but this thing seemed completely different and thus, interesting.
Here's the before:

And here's after some spit and polish:

I managed to get all the tar off the rim but there was some char left. I'm not sure if it would be worth sanding deep to get rid of it so it stays for now.

The metal tenon with the strange looking metal filter got my attention. It's not really even a filter since I can pass a pipe cleaner through it. Looks like I could pull it out and replace it with a Grabow filter if I wanted to.

The bowl is equipped with a Carburetor hole in the front which probably does nothing other than mar the look of the pipe.
From what I am able to research on the Net these Royal Dukes predate the Dr Grabows by ten years. Does anyone have one of these in their collection or have more information?

 

[danielplainview]

Good looking resto. I have a Dundee bent. I can't find much on these pipes.

On the Grabow forums there are a few mentions of this name. They also said it was pre-Grabow.

If anyone would know, I bet ejames would.

 

[tuold]

It's turned out to be a nice little pipe. I have since found this ad for Duke of Dundee pipes in a 1938 Pittsburgh Press ad:

I love reading these old newspapers. Here the link if anyone is interested:
1938 Pittsburgh Press

 

[newbroom]

That certainly looks like a SOLID burner. I don't see the carburetor hole? What's the weight?

 

[tuold]

@newbroom, it weighs in at 1oz. Almost forget I have it clenched sometimes

Here's a shot of the carb hole. They could have least gold plated it or something....

 

[wyfbane]

That is a neat old pipe and I bet she smokes great! Congrats.
Great job on the cleaning too!

 

[huntertrw]

Where's the outside condenser and fan?

 

[huntertrw]

Tuold:
On a more serious note, can you tell if the overall height of the bowl has been reduced? The reason for my queston is that it looks rather squat in the images.
Regardless, you did a fine job of restoring this relic. How does it smoke?

 

[tuold]

I can't find any evidence that bowl has been topped. I have a couple estates which have and the rim either has saw marks or is slightly uneven. This pipe seems to be a squat pot by design.
It's a good smoker, but because of its small size it has to be puffed gently. I use it for aromatic blends. At $3.50 it was bargain.

 

[tuold]

Just got another of these oddities. It has the same metal condenser cartridge as the pipe in my original post. Recognized it right away when I saw it on ebay. This is a Royal Duke of Dundee with all the bells and whistles such as in this 1943 ad:

Here's the the pipe as it arrived from the seller:

Pretty nasty and very difficult to get in that chamber to clean that tar out of there. I did my best, but the 70 year old plastic is in pretty delicate condition.

So now at least it's smokable. I'll give it a try just for old times sake tomorrow evening.