"Smoke the Pipe That Hef Smokes" Ad

[boomerbrs]

Hi there- new guy here! Let's see: Hef smoked Dunhills, he had bowls full of them laying around the mansion in Chicago- they were constantly being taken by guests and eventually he started giving them to visitors as gifts...Legend has it he smoked Dunhill Black Billiards, but pretty much every picture I saw looked more like an apple bowl with a long straight stem. The closest I can find is a Dunhill-Shell-Briar-3101-2013-002-015-2226...He smoked Mixture 79 exclusively, and that ad makes sense (although that is not him in the ad) since just about every red blooded American male of a certain age wanted to be him in 1968- including yours truly!! LOL! Hef had a stroke (very much covered up I the media) in 1985 and was told to stop smoking (and his 20 Pepsis a day habit)- hence the lack of pipe the last few decades. I actually had one of those pipes in the ad (my first!) and I just loved it- perfect size and weight for me. My understanding at the time was that they were knock-offs made by Kaywoodie...
PLEASE, if anyone has more facts or ideas, let me know; I am considering buying the mentioned Dunhill ($450!!) for a special birthday of mine, but I would love to know more if possible...
Cheers!
P.S.- As you may have gathered, I was involved with Playboy back in the day- but that is another story...) ;->

 

[cortezattic]

Hi, Boomer, and welcome to the forums! :clap:

 

[cmdrmcbragg]

I have no problems with Hef either. Playboy has some damn good articles and that is really the only reason to have copies, the nudes are a bonus. It really is a good publication that holds more legitimacy than a Penthouse or Hustler. I can't say that I know a ton about Hugh, but I'm not going to hold him against the magazine though. I do know that the associated costs of the mansion are a drag on the organization as a whole though ... but it is part of the image at least until Hef dies. Be very interesting to see what happens.

 

[mso489]

I admire Hugh Hefner's business acumen and competitive sense in merchandising. Personally, he seemed

to suffer from a stern religious upbringing that all of his would-be hedonism attempts to defy. Sitting around

in pajamas all day and sponsoring an unending pool party for people courted only because of some kind of

superficial fame they have acquired depicts a nightmare to me, bunnies or no bunnies. Hugh himself always

seemed stiff as a board. Not much joie de vie nor real humor or warmth. Somewhat a cardboard cut-out.

But he built a business empire and he passed it along to his daughter, and that is admirable. I grew up

under the Playboy bunny shining down from one of the taller buildings in downtown Chicago and always

somewhat resented the guy. As for the pipe, we see it's French; I wonder which maker. The worst horror,

for those not closer to the case, were the Playboy Clubs -- what a rip-off for would-be hot shots. Don't

buy your drinks or your evenings with friends on hormones, if you know what's good for you. Incidentally,

of course, though $15 seems paltry today, at the time the add was printed it was more -- a raw guess,

about $70 -- not a high-priced pipe, but not a $15 pipe in today's money.

 

[saint007]

One has to recognize the hidden suggestion in the ad. Smoke the pipe Hef smokes and "bed the women Hef beds". Geez, if I smoke the same pipe Hef smokes, I'll have a bed full of Playmates :wink:

 

[saint007]

Sorry double post, which happens on these dated forums formats.

 

[numbersix]

Hef smoked Dunhills, he had bowls full of them laying around the mansion in Chicago- they were constantly being taken by guests and eventually he started giving them to visitors as gifts...Legend has it he smoked Dunhill Black Billiards, but pretty much every picture I saw looked more like an apple bowl with a long straight stem. The closest I can find is a Dunhill-Shell-Briar-3101-2013-002-015-2226...He smoked Mixture 79 exclusively,
My understanding at the time was that they were knock-offs made by Kaywoodie...

Welcome to the forums boomerbrs. Great info you supplied here - thanks! The only thing I wonder about is if Kaywoodie was the maker - only based on the above photo Al supplied - which says on the pipe "Made in France".
But in any event, I appreciate the post - learn something new every day!

 

[mso489]

These legends lead a life of their own, but if it is true that Hef's Dunhills were Kaywoodies, that is pleasing.

He was such a marketer of upscale merchandise and licensing Playboy merchandise and selling it for

extra high prices, the pipe switch would be a wicked ruse. The man knew how to make money, though

the publishing empire has declined somewhat. If I had his gift for business, I'd keep my face out of it.

I don't think Hef, especially after the age of fifty or so, contributed much to the image of his magazine

and other products.

 

[settersbrace]

I'm surprised his tobacco choice to be "mixture 79" and if I'd've had to guess, it would have been a custom blended Aro called, "LBB". That would be an abbreviation for Large Breasted Blondes.

 

[irish]

I know nothing of Hef or his pipes and do not care one way or another. I do know of his magazine which I enjoyed very much as a young man and will still pick one up and thumb through today if I am given the chance, and NO I never once picked one up for the articles!!! I picked it up and looked at it for the beautiful naked women :lol: and after I had looked at every picture I might have looked back at an article but I doubt it!! 8)

 

[Perique]

I'm sending away for one of those pipes. At $15 bucks seems like a good deal....

 

[tuold]

In inflation adjusted dollars from 1968, fifteen dollars is equal to $102.00 in today's money. I'm not paying that much for an etched bunny on my pipe, then or now!

 

[andrew]

P.S.- As you may have gathered, I was involved with Playboy back in the day- but that is another story...) ;->

I'd love to hear it. Playboy is a gentleman's magazine, I remember my uncle gave me a bunch, and flipping through so many articles to get to the good stuff, which in terms of pornography wasn't all that good. Personally I think Larry Flint is a genius for making no qualms about what he was selling.....

 

[ravkesef]

Okay – let me confess to my age here. I've been a subscriber to Playboy since the early 60s and "reading" it since it first came out some years earlier. I still subscribe to the magazine. I find the site of the nude female form to be one of God's magnificent creations, and Playboy generally managed to display it in a rather tasteful form. In addition, playboy ran first works by many young and up-and-coming writers, articles and fiction pieces by many established writers, interesting food, travel, and other articles that were actually worth reading – yes I actually read them, and still do! The magazine also had something which he termed the "Playboy Philosophy," and if you manage to get past that bit of hype, as it wasn't philosophy at all by any stretch of the imagination, it nonetheless served to define the guidelines by which the magazine ran, and which it would like to see operative in America. Many of the guidelines which the magazine advocated have since become normative in American life, and much of the openness towards sex that we all have today is in great measure due to Playboy and it's willingness to open a formerly closed door. Prior to Playboy's coming upon the scene, sex was not only "naughty" – it was downright bad and filthy. Now I'm one of those who believes that the pendulum has swung a bit too far, but these things always happen. Playboy 2 inch guidelines of always being in the "softcore" category, leaving some things to the imagination. At the same time, Hef was anything but cool, though he tried to radiate that image over and over again. He was simply a fortunate businessman whose business allowed him to be surrounded by a large number of naked women and develop a hedonistic lifestyle that's some could only envy. The stroke that was covered up by most of the media was openly acknowledged in the magazine, and Hefner referred to it as his "stroke of good fortune" as it allowed him to change his lifestyle in a way that prolonged his life. How many men pushing 90 still managed to be surrounded by a bevy of naked women? Of course, at his current age, he doesn't get to do much about it, but it still sounds like fun in a way. Not the life I would have picked for myself, but it projected a certain image, sold a lot of magazines, brought in a lot of top shelf advertisers, and in terms of what the magazine was attempting to accomplish, worked after a fashion. Its shortcomings need not be delved into too deeply, as it's successes were the successes that the magazine was attempting to accomplish. Some of the lifestyle choices were a bit costly, and his handlers had to step in and manage some of these rather strictly to keep him from bankrupting the enterprise, but overall, it worked. If he attempted to speak extemporaneously, he displayed himself as a fool, but the fact is he had a business enterprise that worked and has worked for sixty years, something that few businesses today can state.

 

[metalheadycigarguy]

Not sure what Hugh was worth in 1968, and I don't know how a $15 pipe equates in value compared to today's market but I'm guessing that's not the pipe Hugh smoked. I have a feeling he smoked Dunhill's or something of equal quality at the time.

 

[romeowood]

I actually have this exact pipe and others. They were made by Genod of top quality briar, light as a feather, and I put them on par with Dunhills of the period easily. If you look back through some of my reviews you can see several pictured.

As far as Hef and the magazine go...they've stood the test of time. Some great authors graced the pages--Nabokov, Mailer, Bradbury, Garcia Marquez, Atwood...so many. He championed the first amendment, no matter what else he did.

 

[mso489]

Going back to the top on this thread, it is interesting that, although they use Hef's name, his image doesn't

appear in the ad. I wonder what the consideration was. Maybe they thought this anonymous thin guy

might relate to Hef wannabes better than the iconic man himself. Genod still makes a fine pipe.

 

[numbersix]

I actually have this exact pipe and others. They were made by Genod of top quality briar, light as a feather, and I put them on par with Dunhills of the period easily. If you look back through some of my reviews you can see several pictured.

Great info - thanks for sharing.

Going back to the top on this thread, it is interesting that, although they use Hef's name, his image doesn't

appear in the ad. I wonder what the consideration was. Maybe they thought this anonymous thin guy

might relate to Hef wannabes better than the iconic man himself.

Good observation.