Show Off Your Hardcastles Here

[MilesDavis]

Four pre-Dunhill (1936) Hardcastles from top to bottom:

"OLD BRUYERE" #173
"DE LUXE" #45
"JACK O' LONDON" #172
"JACK O' LONDON" #811(?)

The "DE LUXE" is one of the very first pipes I worked on, as I recall.

 

[doctorbob]

How do you know they date from before 1936? Genuinely curious.

Bob

 

[beefeater33]

I have an interesting one. This is "The Crown" model, shape #92. It appears to have been sold in Bermuda, or on a ship named "Bermuda".
Notice the tenon has a metal lining. If this pipe has been smoked, it was probably only once......... it's really hard to tell.

 

[doctorbob]

This is the only one I have. An Old Bruyere Liverpool, shape 74. Nice pipe, pretty good grain, no fills that I can see.

It has a metal stinger with a corresponding metal tube mounted in the mortise. Stem is stamped HAND FINISHED.

 

[MilesDavis]

How do you know they date from before 1936? Genuinely curious.

Bob

From what I read on Pipedia, Hardcastle was family-owned until 1936 when Dunhill bought 49% of its shares. The "Family Period" pipe names include Straight Grain, Supergrain, Leweard (sp?), Nut Bruyere, De Luxe, Royal Windsor Sandhewn, Royal Crown, The Crown, Phito Dental, Old Bruyere, Jack O'London, Dental Briar, Phito, Dental, Dryconomy, Drawel, Phithu, Telebirar, Camden, Lightweight, The Table, Dovetail, Dental, Crescent Extra, Lonsdale, and Welard De Luxe

 

[mso489]

New Hardcastles used to be offered by Iwan Ries for moderate prices, and when they were no longer on the IR page, Cup'O'Joes offered them along with Parkers for some years. I don't see them offered new anymore, and not that often as estates, though I don't shop eBay (too much hassle). I have a Britannia, another English brand, a Parker, and up-market a Ferndown, but not a Hardcastle. It's possible IR still has them in their inventory of 15K pipes. The ones I remember had copper bands and somewhat matte finishes.

 

[doctorbob]

I think the family era lasted until Dunhill fully purchased the company in the 60s and amalgamated them with Parker. My Old Bruyere is nowhere near old enough to be a 30s pipe.

Bob

 

[MilesDavis]

I think the family era lasted until Dunhill fully purchased the company in the 60s and amalgamated them with Parker. My Old Bruyere is nowhere near old enough to be a 30s pipe.

Bob

The information out there is somewhat ambiguous. Did Dunhill/Hardcastle continue making the Hardcastle family brand names? If so, until when? I see that whoever makes Hardcastle pipes now has reissued pipes with the Jack o' London and Supergrain names. Further reading from Pipedia: "John Loring states in "The Dunhill Briar Pipe - 'the patent years and after'" that in the absence of sales receipts, or other items of provenance, Hardcastles cannot be accurately dated. Loring further states that he knows of no way to distinguish the briar source when looking at Hardcastle, Parker, or Parker-Hardcastle pipes. We should not expect to find any actual Dunhill production in these lines, and while one might be there, it is doubtful we will ever be able to determine it."

I have a Hardcastle Old Bruyere #78 in the shop for repair. It has an old look and feel to it. How old? Only the Shadow knows!

 

[PipeIT]

I didn’t know Hardcastle was being made now, hmm

By Ben Wade now...

Hardcastle Pipes

Hardcastle Pipes

mysmokingshop.co.uk

 

[mikethompson]

@MilesDavis nice little set. I like Prince one on top.

 

[jguss]

From what I read on Pipedia, Hardcastle was family-owned until 1936 when Dunhill bought 49% of its shares. The "Family Period" pipe names include Straight Grain, Supergrain, Leweard (sp?), Nut Bruyere, De Luxe, Royal Windsor Sandhewn, Royal Crown, The Crown, Phito Dental, Old Bruyere, Jack O'London, Dental Briar, Phito, Dental, Dryconomy, Drawel, Phithu, Telebirar, Camden, Lightweight, The Table, Dovetail, Dental, Crescent Extra, Lonsdale, and Welard De Luxe

In a sea of ambiguity a few islands of clarity poke their heads above the surface. I've never bothered to spend much time on Hardcastle but can say with certainty that after 1936 and for many years a number of the models you mention were made and sold under the Hardcastle name. From the June 1948 edition of Tobacco World Retail Prices, for example, we find the Straight Grain, Supergrain, Nut Bruyere, De Luxe, Crown, Phito, Old Bruyere, Jack O' London, Drawel, Phitu, and Camden:



A half a dozen years later we also find the Dental Briar, the Dryconomy and the Lightweight. By the way, you shouldn't take the absence of a given model too seriously. Most pipe companies had many more models than they bothered to feature in annual price lists or advertisements (Comoy is a classic example of this). On the other hand the inclusion of a model is a decent sign that it was being sold by the manufacturer at that time.



And finally here is a list from 1969, after the consolidation of Parker and Hardcastle, showing many of the models you cite were in production at least as late as the end of the 1960s:



I'm not looking to make a global point, and certainly if there is a way to definitively date Hardcastle pipes I for one haven't a clue as to what it is. What is true, however, is that finding a pipe with one of the model names you mention on it isn't proof that it predates 1936.

So in sum I'd categorize my contribution as a step towards regress rather than progress.

 

[MilesDavis]

Good research! Looks like the internet is NOT the end-all of knowledge!

 

[capitano]

Good research! Looks like the internet is NOT the end-all of knowledge!

High,
pipedia clearly tell that 1936 is date of 49% sale to dunhill BUT remaining under HARDCASTLE control and quality-aspects. In the fortees Dunhill took the rest but Hardcastle remain more or less independently until the 1960s.
By this i agree that the lovely pipes are really old but manufactured between the 1930....until approx. 1960 ...
Forgotten treasures (working on this estates you will get the smell of the old wood)