Star Grain Marked Lee 7 Point Two Star Grade

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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,763
13,789
Humansville Missouri
Early pipes (1946?) in the Lee series were marked Star Grade. This one is a beauty and nicely grained, although only a $5 Two Star Grade. Most Lee pipes I see are the $10 Three Star Grade. What the customer received for their money was, in my opinion, the finest production pipe made after WW2. They feature an improved synchro stem, a removable stinger, and were cured somehow to where no Lee pipe needs break in.

Lee competed dollar for dollar and grade for grade with Kaywoodie. This would have been a $5 Super Grain if a Kaywoodie.

I think the Lee was a better pipe.

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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,763
13,789
Humansville Missouri
It sounds like Lee’s marketing efforts payed off.
The strange thing is, all the marketing Lee seemed to do was small advertisements in newspapers.

Those said reach for the stars, the world’s finest pipes. Write XX for catalog.

The catalogs are scarce and few that survived. The customer picked a shape, and then at first it was five dollars for two stars, ten dollars for three, fifteen dollars for four, and twenty five dollars bought a five star.

Lee didn’t cheat his customers, or they’d only ordered one pipe, never again.

Any brand new Lee tastes as good the first smoke as anything else you own, no matter how broken in your best pipe is.

In the 7 point and 5 point star era, even a two star looked like that one, and had no fills.

I’m smoking a rusticated Lee with a slightly simplified mount on the shank (top Lee brands had hidden, ring less synchrostems) that was sold as a “Pipe Maker” sub brand. It tastes like a Lee, but it’s rusticated to hide pits, most likely. My theory is a Pipe Maker was a two or three star second.

Briarlee sub brand Lee pipes have spectacular grain, but a tiny fill or two. My theory is they were four and five star seconds.

It’s amazing to me how many unsmoked three and five star pipes there are offered for sale in boxes with paperwork

They must have been too pretty to smoke.

I don’t have, any problems with torching one up.:)
 

tobefrank

Lifer
Jun 22, 2015
1,367
5,005
Australia
Any brand new Lee tastes as good the first smoke as anything else you own, no matter how broken in your best pipe is.
I admire your enthusiasm. This is a bold unsubstantiated claim which is why I said that their marketing must have paid off. It seems like you’ve come up with this claim yourself though. Nothing short of magic.
 
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telescopes

Pipe Dreamer and Star Gazer
I admire your enthusiasm. It seems like you’ve come up with this claim yourself though.
Enjoy your Lee ?
Your posts have been a bit parochial but that’s OK ? Enjoy what you like ?
Lawyer Briar Lee harkens from a part of the country I know very well. It is a place where people speak with metaphors and idioms to describe almost everything about themselves, their views, and just life itself. Missourians, especially rural Missourians, are an idiomatic people steeped in the verse of metaphors.

I find his enthusiasm for his pipes as well as his stories reassuring and comforting; they remind me that little things still matter and can bring a world of joy.

Imagine if Andy Taylor wasn't played by Andy Griffith. All the little stories, and illustrations that Sheriff Andy would spin all day would just disappear. Without Andy Griffith there would be no Andy Taylor and without Andy, I can't imagine anyone would want to ever spend any time listening about the lives of the people who lived in Mayberry. Without Lawyer Lee, Pipes by Lee would be forgotten as well.

Lawyer Lee from Humansville is our Andy Taylor.
 

tobefrank

Lifer
Jun 22, 2015
1,367
5,005
Australia
Lawyer Briar Lee harkens from a part of the country I know very well. It is a place where people speak with metaphors and idioms to describe almost everything about themselves, their views, and just life itself. Missourians, especially rural Missourians, are an idiomatic people steeped in the verse of metaphors.

I find his enthusiasm for his pipes as well as his stories reassuring and comforting; they remind me that little things still matter and can bring a world of joy.

Imagine if Andy Taylor wasn't played by Andy Griffith. All the little stories, and illustrations that Sheriff Andy would spin all day would just disappear. Without Andy Griffith there would be no Andy Taylor and without Andy, I can't imagine anyone would want to ever spend any time listening about the lives of the people who lived in Mayberry. Without Lawyer Lee, Pipes by Lee would be forgotten as well.

Lawyer Lee from Humansville is our Andy Taylor.
I enjoy BriarLee”s enthusiasm and dedication to the Lee brand. I’m just not used to some of the hyperbole. I love the fact that he is such a fan of the brand.
 
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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,763
13,789
Humansville Missouri
I realize this forum is frequented by accomplished lovers of artisan and higher end production pipes, abd the conventional wisdom is that all briars taste about the same, if broken in.

Lee didn’t believe that, nor do I.

Lee thought he made the finest pipes on earth, and so do I, during the twenty five years or so Lee was in operation.

Kaywoodie, not Dunhill, was the huge operation that ruled higher end pipe making in America, and a $5 Pre War Super Grain or $10 Flame Grain is fabulous, and such production pipes won’t ever be made again. That’s not to say they smoke better, but the beauty of the grain selected before the war at Kaywoodie for $5 and $10 pipes is and I think will always be unmatched. They were making millions of pipes a year from $1 sub brands to $10 Flame Grains, and buying 200 year old briar roots the size of old console color televisions,

During the war, you’ll see a full page advertisement, illustrated by the finest graphic artists of the era, in all the nationally distributed glossy magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, and others similar. Kaywoodie was an enormous operation.

After the war, instead of a return to the depression this nation prospered as never before, but with increased inflation. $500 new Chevrolets in 1940 were $1,500 in the late forties.

An old friend related to me how in 1938 his father helped other farmers for a dollar a day, but when he graduated high school in 1948 he was paid a dollar anhour as a teenaged kid to build a brand new golf course.

My father and many other farmers were amazed that after the war, a new pickup jumped in price from $500 to $1,500, but you could load enough cattle on one to pay for it with one trip to the sale barn.

And those boys returning home smoked, as many as 90% during the war, but they smoked Camels, Chesterfields, and Luckies.

It was in this time, in 1946, that little advertisements for Lee Star Grade pipes appeared in newspapers and periodicals.

A Lee pipe was a direct patent infringement on a Kaywoodie Syncro Stem, but with two definite improvements. The Kaywoodie used an aluminum fitment on the back of the shank, with a polished ring showing, to accept the screw thread. Lee used an insert that does not show a silver ring. It appears like a push stem. Also Lee screwed and did not push the screw into the stem, so a Lee can be resynchronized. The second and more important improvement was Lee made the Kaywoodie ball stinger, into a removable insert and each Lee seems to have a different pattern of rings, half balls, pointed spires, just a myriad of different ways they were turned on miniature lathes. I think Lee sold his pipes as “Limited Editions” based on the different types of stingers.

I remove the stinger from all Lee pipes I buy, and put them away. Any one will fit any Lee pipe.

The other two things Lee did, was that he somehow found a way to oil cure his briar to where they smoke wonderfully from the first bowl. A lot of makers tried to do that, and Lee succeeded. Try one and see. They taste better, from the first smoke. You’ll become a believer that somehow, it’s possible to mass produce better tasting pipes.

Lee advertised a $3.50 One Star for a few months in 1946 and then they disappear.

The second thing Lee did, was that if you compare a $5 Lee Two Star to a $5 Kaywoodie Super Grain, both new in the same postwar era, the Lee is a better looking piece of briar, with better construction. It’s flawless.

With almost any other article, doubling the price of a luxury item from $5 to $10 means you’ll sell a whole lot more of the cheaper ones. Not with Lee pipes.

Maybe all the two stars were burned up years ago, but today on eBay the most common Lee pipe sold is a three star grade, and by a large margin.

As the years passed and inflation bit harder, Lee decreased the number of points from 7 to 5 on the brass inlaid stars, then just stamped stars with gold foil, then dropped the synchrostem and went to all push steps. The price increased to five dollars a star. By the early seventies it seems Lee folded.

There are no collector clubs of Lee pipes, no books or histories as there are for Kaywoodie.

Unlike E A Carey, Lee never pictured himself or even had any hyperbole in his ads about his company or the features of his pipes, but he did say they were the finest pipes on earth.

Because, they just were.
 
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seanv

Lifer
Mar 22, 2018
2,958
10,405
Canada
I realize this forum is frequented by accomplished lovers of artisan and higher end production pipes, abd the conventional wisdom is that all briars taste about the same, if broken in.

Lee didn’t believe that, nor do I.

Lee thought he made the finest pipes on earth, and so do I, during the twenty five years or so Lee was in operation.

Kaywoodie, not Dunhill, was the huge operation that ruled higher end pipe making in America, and a $5 Pre War Super Grain or $10 Flame Grain is fabulous, and such production pipes won’t ever be made again. That’s not to say they smoke better, but the beauty of the grain selected before the war at Kaywoodie for $5 and $10 pipes is and I think will always be unmatched. They were making millions of pipes a year from $1 sub brands to $10 Flame Grains, and buying 200 year old briar roots the size of old console color televisions,

During the war, you’ll see a full page advertisement, illustrated by the finest graphic artists of the era, in all the nationally distributed glossy magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, and others similar. Kaywoodie was an enormous operation.

After the war, instead of a return to the depression this nation prospered as never before, but with increased inflation. $500 new Chevrolets in 1940 were $1,500 in the late forties.

An old friend related to me how in 1938 his father helped other farmers for a dollar a day, but when he graduated high school in 1948 he was paid a dollar anhour as a teenaged kid to build a brand new golf course.

My father and many other farmers were amazed that after the war, a new pickup jumped in price from $500 to $1,500, but you could load enough cattle on one to pay for it with one trip to the sale barn.

And those boys returning home smoked, as many as 90% during the war, but they smoked Camels, Chesterfields, and Luckies.

It was in this time, in 1946, that little advertisements for Lee Star Grade pipes appeared in newspapers and periodicals.

A Lee pipe was a direct patent infringement on a Kaywoodie Syncro Stem, but with two definite improvements. The Kaywoodie used an aluminum fitment on the back of the shank, with a polished ring showing, to accept the screw thread. Lee used an insert that does not show a silver ring. It appears like a push stem. Also Lee screwed and did not push the screw into the stem, so a Lee can be resynchronized. The second and more important improvement was Lee made the Kaywoodie ball stinger, into a removable insert and each Lee seems to have a different pattern of rings, half balls, pointed spires, just a myriad of different ways they were turned on miniature lathes. I think Lee sold his pipes as “Limited Editions” based on the different types of stingers.

I remove the stinger from all Lee pipes I buy, and put them away. Any one will fit any Lee pipe.

The other two things Lee did, was that he somehow found a way to oil cure his briar to where they smoke wonderfully from the first bowl. A lot of makers tried to do that, and Lee succeeded. Try one and see. They taste better, from the first smoke. You’ll become a believer that somehow, it’s possible to mass produce better tasting pipes.

Lee advertised a $3.50 One Star for a few months in 1946 and then they disappear.

The second thing Lee did, was that if you compare a $5 Lee Two Star to a $5 Kaywoodie Super Grain, both new in the same postwar era, the Lee is a better looking piece of briar, with better construction. It’s flawless.

With almost any other article, doubling the price of a luxury item from $5 to $10 means you’ll sell a whole lot more of the cheaper ones. Not with Lee pipes.

Maybe all the two stars were burned up years ago, but today on eBay the most common Lee pipe sold is a three star grade, and by a large margin.

As the years passed and inflation bit harder, Lee decreased the number of points from 7 to 5 on the brass inlaid stars, then just stamped stars with gold foil, then dropped the synchrostem and went to all push steps. The price increased to five dollars a star. By the early seventies it seems Lee folded.

There are no collector clubs of Lee pipes, no books or histories as there are for Kaywoodie.

Unlike E A Carey, Lee never pictured himself or even had any hyperbole in his ads about his company or the features of his pipes, but he did say they were the finest pipes on earth.

Because, they just were.
That was a good read. Thanks for the post
 

gamzultovah

Lifer
Aug 4, 2019
3,171
20,923
Lawyer Briar Lee harkens from a part of the country I know very well. It is a place where people speak with metaphors and idioms to describe almost everything about themselves, their views, and just life itself. Missourians, especially rural Missourians, are an idiomatic people steeped in the verse of metaphors.

I find his enthusiasm for his pipes as well as his stories reassuring and comforting; they remind me that little things still matter and can bring a world of joy.

Imagine if Andy Taylor wasn't played by Andy Griffith. All the little stories, and illustrations that Sheriff Andy would spin all day would just disappear. Without Andy Griffith there would be no Andy Taylor and without Andy, I can't imagine anyone would want to ever spend any time listening about the lives of the people who lived in Mayberry. Without Lawyer Lee, Pipes by Lee would be forgotten as well.

Lawyer Lee from Humansville is our Andy Taylor.
Very well said. Thank you.
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,763
13,789
Humansville Missouri
I have a half dozen Lee boxes, with sleeves and papers inside. What don’t have is any Lee catalogs.

Here’s the mystery.

There are a few Lee catalogs that did survive, and what they show is a mail order operation like E. A. Carey had, minus all the Magic Inch hyperbole, and the customer’s choice of color (tan or walnut, some natural) and a bunch of standard shapes in different sizes (rarely a large size) to select from, all smooth polished, and the customer selected a pipe, then paid $5, $10, $15, or $25 (early on) for two, three, four, or five star grades.

This was a mail order operation. They had repeat business for about twenty five years, before it ended. The customers could walk anyplace Kaywoodie pipes were sold and get to handle and select their high dollar luxury pipe, instead of trusting Lee. If Lee tried to cheat the customer he’d only cheat him once.

In those same catalogs there may be special sets of several three star pipes at bargain prices, and a little notice about Briarlee pipes at $4.

That $4 Briarlee will have outrageously highly grained briar and all I’ve seen are push stem.

The mystery is that it’s hard to make all first grade pipes, with no fills or bald spots in the briar. At the very end there are tiny fills in two star Lees, but not for twenty years before that. Lee had an unadvertised sub brand that simply reads “Pipe Maker” and the stem isn’t a hand made piece of the best rod vulcanite, and there’s a Kaywoodie type standard polished aluminum fitment on the shank, and they have fills, are darkly stained, may have blast, rustic sting, carvings and etchings, but they are obviously in Lee shapes.

Where are all the Lee seconds?


There are also besides Briarlee and Pipe Maker, some Stroller brand pipes by Lee.

But I must own at least five dozen Three Star Lee pipes, all perfect, all very highly figured ( usually smooth cross grains) , one four star, one five star, a half dozen two stars, and a half a dozen Pipe Maker and two Briarlee pipes.

As the little boy said all are delicious smokers and some more better deliciouser.:)

How in the world did Lee manage to sell the vast majority of his production at the same price as Kaywoodie’s top of the catalog Flame Grain?


And he did it, for about 25 years.
 
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