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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,765
13,789
Humansville Missouri
A nice little 2-star Zulu I just cleaned up. Hard to beat for under $20 (including S&H). [Got my lightbox back out and forgot how much static it generates…dust and fuzz.]
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Lee never advertised his pipes as hand made, but could that be because of all the wartime attempts by Kaywoodie to pass off bottom of the barrel briar pipes as Handmade.

But what kind of machine could have made such an object of art as that Zulu?

It’s very close, but most days I think the five pointed star second series pipes were the best.

That Zulu and others like it is why.
 

TheWhale13

Part of the Furniture Now
Aug 12, 2021
803
3,417
Sweden
Lee never advertised his pipes as hand made, but could that be because of all the wartime attempts by Kaywoodie to pass off bottom of the barrel briar pipes as Handmade.

But what kind of machine could have made such an object of art as that Zulu?

It’s very close, but most days I think the five pointed star second series pipes were the best.

That Zulu and others like it is why.
The bowl was probably shaped in a lathe and the shank manually sanded to shape. I still wouldn't call that handmade, since that is what every factory pipe maker does basically.
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,765
13,789
Humansville Missouri
My $25 Lee large squat Bulldog came today. Jackpot!

B7E47A97-4F5F-4A98-92EF-60FF79D86C79.jpeg590F5903-54BF-4E7D-AB10-0EFC91EC2CFD.jpegD7B2F74A-BBCD-4036-B89C-58FB280B4714.jpeg
Look at the differences between two of the same shape and size. A lot of hand work was involved making a Lee.

D2B7AD5C-7EC0-4F08-8FE7-7DDD53FB6D02.jpegA1063C62-2FEA-4175-83E1-5BA3DAEA56EC.jpeg In 1946 these big, nice, perfect briar pipes cost $10 each, or $150 in modern money.

You could not begin to buy an identical quality pipe today for only $150 new retail. No way.

A Lee isn’t just a bargain today, it was a bargain in 1946.
 

Parsimonious Piper

Can't Leave
Oct 12, 2019
324
898
Another one with stamped 7-pt stars? Picked up a 2-star saddle-stem Dublin. Before I cleaned the stem—with Magic Erasers, nothing highly abrasive—I thought I’d find the 7-pt metal stars under the grime.
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To my chagrin, those were just empty holes, and they all but disappeared even with just the Magic Erasers.
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The indentations looked too shallow to have held metal unless it were still there. So…stamped or just missing?


At any rate, the internals cleaned up nicely…
9F427AB4-B4EF-44A0-8DB7-D950AA497118.jpeg
…and it smokes just fine.
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,765
13,789
Humansville Missouri
Here is an oddity, a stamped star era (?) fine line Lee that cost $20 delivered. Look at the top of the rim. That’s as close to a sandblast Lee as I’ve seen yet.

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Also note the well made button on the stem.

Lee used good briar, good vulcanite, and right down to the button craftsmanship was top notch.
 

Parsimonious Piper

Can't Leave
Oct 12, 2019
324
898
Here is an oddity, a stamped star era (?) fine line Lee that cost $20 delivered. Look at the top of the rim. That’s as close to a sandblast Lee as I’ve seen yet.

[…]
Also note the well made button on the stem.

Lee used good briar, good vulcanite, and right down to the button craftsmanship was top notch.
I like the carving. I have a 1-star that‘s similar. Also, the rim looks like it’s carved and buried under lava. I have another 1-star with a carved rim like that. Both are 5-pt metal star pipes. Does that stem fit? It doesn’t look flush. You might have a middle-years 1-star with a replacement stem.
 
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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,765
13,789
Humansville Missouri
I like the carving. I have a 1-star that‘s similar. Also, the rim looks like it’s carved and buried under lava. I have another 1-star with a carved rim like that. Both are 5-pt metal star pipes. Does that stem fit? It doesn’t look flush. You might have a middle-years 1-star with a replacement stem.
The stem is slightly proud on top, which might mean it’s a last of the bunch push stem upside down, or a screw stem that needs reclocked, or a replacement stem.

The vast majority of my Lee pipes are smooth.

The best polished and smoothest of those, tend to have five pointed stars.

I think there’s a curve of quality in Lee pipes, high at the beginning, higher yet in the middle, and lowest at the end.
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,765
13,789
Humansville Missouri
Pipes by Lee are so undervalued, that an early 7 or 5 pointed star perfect condition Star Grade may only cost $5 more than this stamped star $27 Lovat, that shows a little dinging on the rim, and the three (?) gold stars are long ago rubbed off.

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When it comes I’ll bet it’s an early stamped star era example that will clean up to like new.

I think there’s a stepped curve of quality in Lee Star Grades.

The quality of the first 7 pointed star production was, grade for grade, better than post war Kaywoodies, and excellent.

5 pointed star examples are scarce, and the quality of briar and finish is increased to almost Pre War Kaywoodie high grades. This is Lee at the peak of quality.

Then one day, the stars get stamped, but the rest of the pipe remains of superlative quality.

Then gradually, quality suffers and falls below the early 7 pointed star era pipes.

But even the last stamped star pipes, some found with push stems, are high quality pipes. Lee never made junk.
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,765
13,789
Humansville Missouri
It turned out a 5 star era that cleaned up to perfection.

But in the tenon I found a plastic object that restricted airflow I’ve never seen before.

B9F270FD-7E3C-476F-B75E-BFC71D163564.jpeg44B86B57-A802-4F74-859D-2957BCEA406A.jpegD36E8E5C-A1D7-4312-BBAE-016723D74D20.jpeg

Another curious thing about this pipe is it was heavily caked, yet 100% of the cake come off leaving only brown briar in the chamber.

Out my obscene numbers of pipes, this one is among the absolute top few as a smoker. It’s a carved Lee medium slim billiard, like a dozen or more others I own, but it is just an indescribably cool, dry, sweet smoker. This good a pipe is usually a lot larger.

Sometimes you hit the jackpot, and this is a keeper.
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,765
13,789
Humansville Missouri
Check out this carving.

Did Lee set up tooling to produce a slug of these, are we’re each one hand carved?

This pipe soaks up grapeseed oil like a sponge. It seems very light, too.

Was this Algerian briar?

Whatever it is, I want more of these.
 

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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,765
13,789
Humansville Missouri
One of the joys of accumulating an enormous stash of Pipes by Lee is the variation between examples.

Right off at the start, this pipe is an inlaid gold 5 pointed star example. Maybe out of ten Lees I buy, one or two is a 5 pointed star era. I’ve never bought a 5 pointed star Lee and not seen it top of the heap for quality. The fishtail on this pipe is superlative, I think the carving was all hand done to a medium slim billiard, and it’s extremely nice, overall.

All Lees I own are excellent smokers, and this one is among the best of the best, which is the luck of the draw, I think.

But the most extraordinary thing about this pipe, is the plastic insert that fits all other Lee pipes. It’s interchangeable with the standard aluminum Lee removable stinger, and had to be made for a Lee pipe, likely at the factory. A skilled pipe repairer could turn this on a tiny lathe, but why? Lee stingers are a dime a dozen. I take almost all mine out, and stick them in a drawer.

97758325-B2C9-466F-9C6B-419FC035F511.jpegA6028D77-041B-4A55-8128-F007B2A6CBA9.jpeg0E549AD4-28BB-43CB-B236-60864D65122F.jpeg
One end is slightly proud to keep the insert flush with the top of the tenon. It pushes out using a pipe cleaner, and the hole does allow a pipe cleaner to pass.

3E14BC35-180A-435D-99C9-D85254FEA889.jpeg

The pipe came heavily caked, with the insert inside. The previous owner used it. I’ve tried it, and much prefer it out, but the restriction it causes seems to duplicate a standard Lee stinger.

I wish I knew, but I guess this vulcanite (?) insert was an experiment at Lee.

It would have eliminated machining the stinger, but no machine could have turned out those little plastic or hard rubber inserts without a lot of wastage.
 

condorlover1

Lifer
Dec 22, 2013
7,995
26,611
New York
I would hazard a suggestion that you have the modern version of the goose quill stinger I occasionally find examples that have survived, glued bowl facing into the bone tenons of late 19th century meerschaum pipes. I have posted pictures in the past as these rarely seem to survive.
 
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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,765
13,789
Humansville Missouri
I would hazard a suggestion that you have the modern version of the goose quill stinger I occasionally find examples that have survived, glued bowl facing into the bone tenons of late 19th century meerschaum pipes. I have posted pictures in the past as these rarely seem to survive.
That makes sense, this is some kind of special Lee made a limited edition of.

The walls on the bowl are unusually thin, the fishtail bit unusually wide, and hand carved Lees are so scarce this is my second, and the other one is a 5 pointed star era as well.

A special quill type stinger would ice the cake of a special.

I’ve heard or read somewhere, that Lee increased the price when the transition was made to 5 pointed gold inlaid stars, to five dollars a star.

Jguss notes his one star Lees are 5 pointed star era pipes.

This would mean the Lee customer still got a Lee for $5, just short one star.
 

Parsimonious Piper

Can't Leave
Oct 12, 2019
324
898
[…] hand carved Lees are so scarce this is my second, and the other one is a 5 pointed star era as well.
I don’t know whether they’re hand carved, but all 15 of my carved Lees are also 5-pt. The single rusticated one is 7-pt.
Jguss notes his one star Lees are 5 pointed star era pipes.
Both of mine are as well.

Not sure there’s any significance there, just additional data points.
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,765
13,789
Humansville Missouri
I don’t know whether they’re hand carved, but all 15 of my carved Lees are also 5-pt. The single rusticated one is 7-pt.

Both of mine are as well.

Not sure there’s any significance there, just additional data points.

There were changes at Lee about the time the 7 pointed stars became 5 pointed.

Every change I can see is slightly for the better.

A 7 pointed star looks like an asterisk.

Hand a kid some coloring materials and he’ll make a proper five pointed star, same as on the flag. It’s an improvement, to me.

The briar also gets just a bit better, on the 5 points. The polishing of stems is unquestionably better. And the fishtail bit on my carved Lee is a work of art.


Maybe Lee had some machine to carve the pipe, but it looks hand carved to me. It’s a gorgeous job, however accomplished.

Sometimes a stamped star Lee will have the full glory of a 5 point, only stamped stars.

At the bitter end Lee used varnish, Briarlee type screw stems that show a ring, even push stems, but always that aluminum stinger that came in many, many different styles of machining, and while there might be fills briar quality and construction remained high.

But that quill type plastic or hard rubber insert is unique to this pipe, of all my Lees.

Why?
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,765
13,789
Humansville Missouri
My stamped star era Lovat arrived today, and cleaned up nicely.

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It had a deteriorated rubber or plastic ring insert inside the tenon that fell all apart when I pushed it out.

This was at one time a Three Star, before the stars got rubbed off.
 
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