Show Off Your Barlings Here

[dmcmtk]

Barling's Make YOW T.V.F. 37 EL, and Barling's Make 302 LF Fossil YOW T.V.F.

The Fossil was my father's from his college years, 1953-9.

 

[flakyjakey]

@dmcmtk, lovely pipes! How do they smoke?
I absolutely adore the 'Fossil'. I was born in 1953, and at any price I would rather have it than the 'usual' birth-date Dunhill. I am sure you would never part with it. But if you ever do, I am your man! I would cage-fight anyone for it !! LOL

 

[dmcmtk]

They both smoke very well. The old man had good taste in pipes. He stopped smoking a pipe in the early '60's, switched to cigars, which he still smokes. He gave me his pipes when I started smoking a pipe in the early '80's, some great pipes, Charatan's Supreme, Selected, a Blue Riband, some others, and this Barling's. I can't sell them, or at least they won't be sold until they are from my estate!

 

[flakyjakey]

@dmcmtk, of course you can't - they are family treasures!! lol The other names you mention also feature in my 'favourite pipes list'; they are the best of British pipe making as it was in its heyday. Where did your dad hail from, if you don't mind my asking?

 

[dmcmtk]

The Bronx, NY, he went to college in Glen Cove, NY, and Cambridge, Mass. Here is a funny story. When I was growing up my father traveled frequently overseas on business. When he came home the first thing he would unpack were his important files...legal size manila envelopes containing smuggled Cuban cigars.

 

[flakyjakey]

@dmcmtk, ha ha! A true tobacco connoisseur, your old man LOL

 

[rebornbriar]

Here is an unsmoked Barling from the 1890's. Stamped BARLING and then the name of the tobacconist, sablebrush believes this to be a rare stamp. In those days, Barling pipes were only distributed through tobacco shops. They brought the bowls in and added the silver work. These were in the days before they made the pipes themselves.

 

[ssjones]

Wow, would that stem be Amber?

 

[dmcmtk]

Alan, same question, what is the stem material?

 

[captainsousie]

I'm gonna guess horn for the stem but I am curious. Man that is one cool pipe.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

Guys, all of these Barlings are stunning. You actually had me on ebay checking out Barlings, lol.

 

[rebornbriar]

I believe the stem is horn. Pale cream in colour with only a shadow of darker colour near the stem bit. Peck, like most of these classic pipes, the earlier the better. Do a little reading on the pipedia page first

 

[flakyjakey]

@reborn, if you just sit and look at that beautiful pipe without smoking it I will gather a posse and raid your domicile !! We will tie you up and I will fill it with BBF and smoke it in front of you, oh yesh !! LOL

 

[sablebrush52]

Wow! Some really beautiful pipes! The Fossil has a beautiful blast! Nice group of pipes with which your father gifted you!

The stem on the unsmoked Barling looks like horn to me. I have a 1907 Barling bulldog that features a horn stem. The shape of the stem is virtually identical to the stem on reborn's pipe.
Flakyjakey made an astute observation about some early bits. The orific bits are not made to be clenched. They're just not stable between one's teeth. In that respect, they're like other makers' bits from the period. When I smoke one of those I have hold it in my hand.
As for the drawing quality of Barling pipes, I agree with flakyjakey. They may not be "open draw" like more recent artisanal pipes, but they draw just fine. Not being a pipemaker I can't comment from a technical standpoint. But the engineering of the patented design came about to improve the dispersion of smoke. I've noticed on a number of my Barlings that I need to twist together two tapered bristle pipe cleaners to get a good cleaning of the walls of the airway, so they may have used a slightly larger diameter, but I haven't tried to measure it. Clearly they took care to line up the components of the airway from the chamber to the bit.

 

[ssjones]

I was going to suggest horn as the material, but didn't know that material could be bent? This is a very interesting thread!

 

[rebornbriar]

Well Flaky, you will know that the pipe is not really mine to smoke It will be up for sale soon. But I do think that if something has survived over 100 years without being smoked that it should remain in some sort of collection in that manner. A future museum piece?

 

[flakyjakey]

@reborn, not mine. I couldn't resist smoking it!!

 

[sablebrush52]

@ danindayton - So how about posting a picture or three of your Barling workhorses? There's no better testament to a pipe's quality than a lifetime of use.

 

[dmcmtk]

Here are a few to bookend, from a dating perspective, Alan's pipe from the 1890's. Barling's Make 6109 from 1962, and Barling's Make 3759 Bullcap shape, also from 1962. Finally a transition pipe, Barling 4109 T.V.F.

 

[flakyjakey]

@dmctk, I LOVE that Bullcap shape Barling! Do you smoke all tobaccos in it, or is it reserved for a particular type?