Show Off Your Dr. Grabow Pipes Here!

[davet]

Very nice, sooo many different shapes. 8O I should have picked something easier to collect, MM Hardwoods perhaps.

 

[ejames]

Very nice, sooo many different shapes. [8O] I should have picked something easier to collect, MM Hardwoods perhaps.

These pics are the front and back of a 1988 chart that shows what shapes each line was available in.You may need to blow it up a bit to read it.

 

[scrooge]

So Mr Dave what are the 4 pipes you still need? Just curious. :lol:

Thanks Ed for the charts.

 

[davet]

My latest acquisition, Westbrook Canadian

Very nice shape, lightly smoked. Loaded up with 3P's and very well may become a favorite.

 

[pagan]

Freestyle

 

[piffyr]

Here's what's currently spinning around in the rotation...
Wire-Carved CDL

Belvedere (originally a 44, but it's been modified a bit due to damage)

Regal 83

Modern Era Rusticated Savoy

Modern Era Smooth Savoy

Lots more in the to-do bin waiting for some attention.

 

[davet]

Wire-Carved CDL

Very cool, haven't come across any like it. Any background/history from the Gurus?

 

[piffyr]

Here's Tom Douglas' (former exec VP at Grabow/Mastercraft) take on the CDL:

MY recollections of the CDL...
I started working at Sparta Pipes (Dr. Grabow) in January, 1966.

Every year our President, Paul Fish, would travel to Spain, Italy, and Greece to place orders for the next years briarwood. In 1967 he came back with a funny looking pipe that was just a bowl, aluminum rod, and a cheap plastic bit.
He put that pipe on his desk and there it stayed till' his death in 1971.
A few years after his death we decided to copy that "funny looking pipe". We decided to make the tube black anodized with a place for a filter, add a carburetor, and make the stem nylon. The stem was easy because we already had a molder for our Viking bits. Best I recall, we made 500...
At the time we were redeeming thousands of RJ Reynolds coupons for Westbrook, Sculptura, etc.

For 500 orders for any RJR coupon pipe we included our version of this "funny looking pipe" free of charge... with a letter of explanation and a survey form. We knew we were putting the pipe in the hands of real pipe smokers.
About 80% of the survey forms were returned and about 80% of the returned forms loved the pipe. "Its the coolest pipe I've ever owned". "Its the driest pipe I've ever owned". "Its the lightest pipe I've ever owned". Yep, it became the Dr. Grabow CDL..
With that information we made several thousand of them.
Remember that Grabows were mostly sold off large overhead displays, smaller rotating displays, and a (twice a year) promotional counter card. There wasn't really a place to put the CDL.
We put it on a 1 dozen counter card and sold a BUNCH. Unfortunately the consumer wouldn't buy anything this radical when he had all those traditional Grabows to choose from. A great many of the cards were returned to us for credit.

The CDL was a great pipe if it could be put in the hands of the smoker, but that same smoker wouldn't pay $4.95 to try one..
In short, The CDL flopped............
We tried it in 3 different catalogue offers, calling it the Slim Jim, and again, the smoker wouldn't buy it.
When I retired in 1991 there were still thousands of CDL's left at the factory. Most have been closed out to ebay sellers. I've probably bought 100 for other folks and as "freebes". Still probably 1000 left at the factory.
If you are able to buy a CDL, I highly recommend it for its smoking qualities.. not for its looks..

 

[pagan]

GRABOW BELVEDERE
Just acquired for $4, my next restore

 

[davet]

Here's Tom Douglas' (former exec VP at Grabow/Mastercraft) take on the CDL:

Thanks for the info, I would have thought they would have been a good seller.

 

[piffyr]

Nice one, @pagan. I have a smooth Belvedere in the to-do bin as well. They seem to be much harder to come by than the wire carved ones.

 

[davet]

My latest linkman's, a little cleaning and it'll be good to go

 

[davet]

Davet, you will find a bent Viking on eBay.

Thanks for the heads up, I need a bent or should I say " I don't have a bent Viking " ? :mrgreen:

 

[ejames]

Thanks for the heads up, I need a bent or should I say " I don't have a bent Viking " ? [:mrgreen:]

You might contact the factory. Last time I was there--2-3 years ago-- they had a bunch of bent Viking bodies with stems they were selling as seconds. The nomenclature on the bottom had been ground off. Seems like there was some problem with the plating. They still looked decent and I used 6 of them on my Skyliner until I managed to pick up better examples--with the nomenclature. The seconds smoke just fine. They may also have some CDL's laying around.

 

[davet]

You might contact the factory.

I'll try contacting them, I did once before about a replacement stem but never did get a reply. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[davet]

This threads getting more traffic than a Penzance available thread, what's up with that? 8O

 

[Chasing Embers]

My patent era Linkman's Dr. Grabow De Luxe zulu.

 

[davet]

Very nice Zulu :clap:

 

[pagan]

Nice one embers

 

[Chasing Embers]

I took a big risk on that one. Shiny Pipes had it, and they wanted $95 for it. I watched it for about two months, and the price slowly, but progressively dropped. When it got to $45, I grabbed it. Made in the early '40s, it sports both the Linkman's and Dr. Grabow stamps, plus it has serial numbers for the pipe and stinger. Nice little featherweight, and very fine smoker.