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milk

Lifer
Sep 21, 2022
1,104
2,822
Japan
I haven’t looked into all the Reiss-Premier models very carefully but every reference I’ve seen to R-P’s Premo dates to 1923 & 1924; in the latter year it was the subject of a determined promotion by the United Cigar Stores Company. Assuming the Premo was introduced after the formation of R-P (as seems reasonable) it would by definition have followed the introduction of the Kaywoodie pipe by at least a few years. But of course remember that in any case at that time the two pipes were made by unrelated companies; Kaywoodie was made by KB&B, which had not yet been acquired by Reiss-Premier. Of course if you have a patent number that might help with the dating too.

The Premo was a dollar pipe (cheapish by the standards of the day) and made from Italian briar which was supposedly “specially selected, very old fine grained, and extraordinarily well seasoned”. Such boasts were common and should be taken with a grain of salt. The color of the Premo was “somewhat lighter than the usual Italian briar - more of a mahogany tint”, and it possessed an “aluminum inner tube for easy cleaning”. Finally the ads boasted that the Premo, by virtue of its patented aluminum tenon, could not be broken:

View attachment 206595
I wonder if I might indulge you with another question. I see pipes coming up on eBay: Premier pipes of various names that never show up on pipedia or tapatalk like “Greenbrier” or “Eaglerock.” Some of these have sleeves that have KB&B “Kaywoodie” insignias on them which is kind of confusing. Is there any way to date these and ascertain what level the pipe was in terms of its value at the time? Are there so many KB$B Premier lines, too many to know them all still? It seems like they were running off lots of various pipes with different stamps.
 

milk

Lifer
Sep 21, 2022
1,104
2,822
Japan
I haven’t looked into all the Reiss-Premier models very carefully but every reference I’ve seen to R-P’s Premo dates to 1923 & 1924; in the latter year it was the subject of a determined promotion by the United Cigar Stores Company. Assuming the Premo was introduced after the formation of R-P (as seems reasonable) it would by definition have followed the introduction of the Kaywoodie pipe by at least a few years. But of course remember that in any case at that time the two pipes were made by unrelated companies; Kaywoodie was made by KB&B, which had not yet been acquired by Reiss-Premier. Of course if you have a patent number that might help with the dating too.

The Premo was a dollar pipe (cheapish by the standards of the day) and made from Italian briar which was supposedly “specially selected, very old fine grained, and extraordinarily well seasoned”. Such boasts were common and should be taken with a grain of salt. The color of the Premo was “somewhat lighter than the usual Italian briar - more of a mahogany tint”, and it possessed an “aluminum inner tube for easy cleaning”. Finally the ads boasted that the Premo, by virtue of its patented aluminum tenon, could not be broken:

View attachment 206595
I also wonder about the prospect of inflation making a pipe cost 15 or 20$ in today’s terms. It’s hard to believe if we just follow inflation. It seems like there’s something missing, some other hidden inflation metric. Maybe it’s about the hobby and the culture and the way things were produced and paid for?
 
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Sobrbiker

Lifer
Jan 7, 2023
3,931
51,180
Casa Grande, AZ
Nice Pipe, Flame Grain Meerschaum shows up sometime around 1955. So your pipe is likely from late 50's into the 60's.
Pipephil.eu says “Pipes of the Flame Grain grade with Meerschaum inlaid bowls are already mentioned in Kaywoodie's 1947 catalogue. The inlay was initially made of solid Turkish Meerschaum.”

Regarding the logo on stem, there’s this from their page:
“Up until the late 1940's/early 50's, the logo was on top of the stem. After that the logo was moved to the side of the stem (exceptions exist).

Maybe ‘47 to early 50’s??

I bought it from Doug Valithcka, who I later recognized as a prolific contributor to pipededia (at least his distinct photo settings are). I asked him about age and hit “more likely 1953-72 era”

Definitely an interesting journey that one quick “I need this” eBay purchase led to.
 
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Sobrbiker

Lifer
Jan 7, 2023
3,931
51,180
Casa Grande, AZ
As I posted previously, I was thinking my little Flame Grain Meerschaum 40 was 1947-55, due to Pipedia’s dates on the meer lined ‘woodies starting at 1947 catalog and the top of stem black clover in white dot logo.

A member on the Farcebook Kaywoodie Pipe Smokers Group referenced ad materials showing meer-lined back to 1939, and furthermore stated being a push-tenon with no hardware is a dead giveaway that I have a wartime ‘woodie.

I’m pretty excited about that, may reach out to the Pres over at SM Frank to confirm.

1943 Kaywoodie advert:
123C76A3-931B-492D-96C4-B450711281C8.jpeg97168772-B8E6-493F-BC02-0DB882120A1B.jpeg
 
Jun 9, 2015
3,970
24,838
42
Mission, Ks
As I posted previously, I was thinking my little Flame Grain Meerschaum 40 was 1947-55, due to Pipedia’s dates on the meer lined ‘woodies starting at 1947 catalog and the top of stem black clover in white dot logo.

A member on the Farcebook Kaywoodie Pipe Smokers Group referenced ad materials showing meer-lined back to 1939, and furthermore stated being a push-tenon with no hardware is a dead giveaway that I have a wartime ‘woodie.

I’m pretty excited about that, may reach out to the Pres over at SM Frank to confirm.

1943 Kaywoodie advert:
View attachment 208342View attachment 208343
Kaywoodie used meerschaum bowl inserts all the way back to 1919 and possibly even earlier. I have a 1926-29ish meer lined sandblasted Canadian. KB&B/C.P.F. made loads of meerschaum pipes so they definitely had the means and materials to do so.

Your pipe being a two digit with a round logo could not be from any earlier than 1939ish. But I think your probably correct about it being a wartime push tenon. They are fairly uncommon so most people haven't seen them. There was an aluminum shortage during the war so pipes were produced without stingers.
 

Sobrbiker

Lifer
Jan 7, 2023
3,931
51,180
Casa Grande, AZ
Got my unsmoked White Briar Campus in!
0.6 ounces of American pipe goodness!!
There was some excess epoxy or other clear material on interior of chamber that I flat-bladed and sanded out.
Can barely make out stamping under paint, but it’s Kaywoodie over Campus over Imported Briar. The side stem white dot with black cloverleaf tells me it’s a little age, I’ve got no idea how old…

Would this be a billiard?

Gonna break it in here in a minute with some “yucky” 2018 Carolina Red Flake here in a minute, but thought I’d get “as received” pics.196BB2F2-C52D-451D-A325-35CE39603D61.jpeg9743E7EF-A1CD-4915-B3B6-FA91E23673BC.jpeg19CFEE27-8E28-4553-ABB8-612CFFEED8E9.jpeg
 
Jun 9, 2015
3,970
24,838
42
Mission, Ks
Got my unsmoked White Briar Campus in!
0.6 ounces of American pipe goodness!!
There was some excess epoxy or other clear material on interior of chamber that I flat-bladed and sanded out.
Can barely make out stamping under paint, but it’s Kaywoodie over Campus over Imported Briar. The side stem white dot with black cloverleaf tells me it’s a little age, I’ve got no idea how old…

Would this be a billiard?

Gonna break it in here in a minute with some “yucky” 2018 Carolina Red Flake here in a minute, but thought I’d get “as received” pics.View attachment 208519View attachment 208520View attachment 208521
Does it have a shape number? Definitely not a billiard, most likely a Belgique. 1960’s I’d say.
 
Dec 3, 2021
5,442
46,739
Pennsylvania & New York
This is an unfinished Kaywoodie, probably from the the mid-’80s–1992 when Thomas Cristiano was making them in Tampa, Florida. I’m not sure if it was intended to be a paneled pipe or just a screw up. I love how the stem was drilled for the logo, but doesn’t have one. It’s unsmoked.

IMG_20230313_011024__01.jpg

IMG_20230313_011031__01.jpg
 
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milk

Lifer
Sep 21, 2022
1,104
2,822
Japan
Hi folks. This pipe is shape # 5105 with a 4-hole ball type stinger (drinkless). It’s a Supergrain over Kaywoodie. I wonder if someone could tell me if I’m correct that the date would be ‘37-‘40? I couldn’t understand why this was only 20$ on eBay. It seemed like real luck to me. What do you think? I worked all day cleaning it up. IMG_0644.jpeg
IMG_0647.jpeg
IMG_0654.jpeg
IMG_0659.jpeg
IMG_0663.jpeg
 

didimauw

Moderator
Staff member
Jul 28, 2013
10,664
37,349
SE WI
Hi folks. This pipe is shape # 5105 with a 4-hole ball type stinger (drinkless). It’s a Supergrain over Kaywoodie. I wonder if someone could tell me if I’m correct that the date would be ‘37-‘40? I couldn’t understand why this was only 20$ on eBay. It seemed like real luck to me. What do you think? I worked all day cleaning it up. View attachment 219490
View attachment 219491
View attachment 219492
View attachment 219493
View attachment 219494
I love looking at the old Kaywoodies. They used some really beautiful briar!
 
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Jun 9, 2015
3,970
24,838
42
Mission, Ks
Hi folks. This pipe is shape # 5105 with a 4-hole ball type stinger (drinkless). It’s a Supergrain over Kaywoodie. I wonder if someone could tell me if I’m correct that the date would be ‘37-‘40? I couldn’t understand why this was only 20$ on eBay. It seemed like real luck to me. What do you think? I worked all day cleaning it up. View attachment 219490
View attachment 219491
View attachment 219492
View attachment 219493
View attachment 219494
Yeah I think your date range is pretty spot on, 4 digit/4 hole Super grain would late 30's early 40's. Does it have a clover stamped on the shank or a reg number on the stinger?
 
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Sobrbiker

Lifer
Jan 7, 2023
3,931
51,180
Casa Grande, AZ
Hi folks. This pipe is shape # 5105 with a 4-hole ball type stinger (drinkless). It’s a Supergrain over Kaywoodie. I wonder if someone could tell me if I’m correct that the date would be ‘37-‘40? I couldn’t understand why this was only 20$ on eBay. It seemed like real luck to me. What do you think? I worked all day cleaning it up. View attachment 219490
View attachment 219491
View attachment 219492
View attachment 219493
View attachment 219494
It cleaned up nicely, and it looks like you’ve gotten the stem properly clocked. To my limited knowledge the date info seems solid. Nice pipe!
 
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