The Four Hundred Marxman Pipe Owner's Thread

[Briar Lee]

My serial number is 64 B

Ruminations on B and D letter pipes.

1937 was a recession in a depression.

1946 through 1949 were the most prosperous years in American history.

If those are year codes, there should be a lot of 46-9 letter code 400s.

Unless they got sold later.

It was the most expensive factory pipe on earth until 1946.

 

[telescopes]

These pipes, the 14, came from Ted’s Tobacco in Omaha, NE. Apparentl, the Rev has some Royals that kinda look like 400s. The more I am learning about these pipes, the less of the story I know. But there now less than 9 available.

 

[telescopes]

Only 6 of the 14 remain for sale.

 

[jpberg]

D 334 125 grams


View attachment 267252
View attachment 267258View attachment 267259View attachment 267260View attachment 267261View attachment 267262View attachment 267263


If A is 1937, then D is 1940.

While Spitfires and Messerschmitts dueled over the Tower of Big Ben over the continued existence of Christian Civilization that old German foreman at the Marx factory had approved 334 pipes that year.

If you don’t love these things, that leaves more for us to love.

If Dunhill had made 400s they’d sell for ten thousand each today.

No. No they wouldn’t.

 

[gamzultovah]

I own some UGLY unusual pipes….



But, DAMN!!!

 

[Toast]

Late to the party. Apologies! An R & an 83.

 

[telescopes]

257B weighs in at 67 grams. My other 400 is 55D and is 90 grams. however, this beautiful 400 has a great billiard shape as well as some interesting grain, something many 400s lack. This smaller 400 is just perfect for Lunting. We now have quite a few 400 owners on this forum. My new one will be going out to Briarville shortly for a total reconditioning.

 

[telescopes]

By the way, @Briar Lee , the bore hole is exactly one inch. I am not sure what the letters on these pipes mean, but I am going to give you some lee way, (get the pun) that letters might, just might, be overall size.

This smaller 400 is still a mighty good size pipe - and due to its practical size, it will get smoked more than my other one.

 

[Briar Lee]

Late to the party. Apologies! An R & an 83.
View attachment 267936

That is without doubt a genuine 400 but if A is 1937 then r would be 1954, which is not that improbable.

Marx sold out in 1953 to Mastercraft who kept him on the payroll. There had to be “clean up” at the factory that might have lasted years for those 400s.

 

[Briar Lee]

By the way, @Briar Lee , the bore hole is exactly one inch. I am not sure what the letters on these pipes mean, but I am going to give you some lee way, (get the pun) that letters might, just might, be overall size.

This smaller 400 is still a mighty good size pipe - and due to its practical size, it will get smoked more than my other one.

Those pipes were turned down from big blocks of briar.



There’s a huge block of briar on the bench.

You can’t see inside. It might be hollow or have galls or whatever defect.

They cut them first.

Then they’d have drilled a big hole. Maybe .850 It might chip or not come out. They’ll keep going all the way to one inch.

There’s an artist chasing perfection shaping that pipe. They’ll all be big, all different, and some they have to reduce down to below 70 grams.

My 125 gram pipe has about a dozen puttied fills in the carvings. They could have kept on carving down hoping to get past pits.

But while the husk might be smaller the ear (bore) is huge.

What we don’t know is did they have orders for so many, or did they make them for speculation.

The vast, the overwhelming majority of sales would be $5 pipes. These things had to bring $25. No way they’d ever discount a 400.

The 400 requires a velvet box and a solid gold band.

Maybe Marx ordered 400 boxes in 1937?

 

[telescopes]

Those pipes were turned down from big blocks of briar.



There’s a huge block of briar on the bench.

You can’t see inside. It might be hollow or have galls or whatever defect.

They cut them first.

Then they’d have drilled a big hole. Maybe .850 It might chip or not come out. They’ll keep going all the way to one inch.

There’s an artist chasing perfection shaping that pipe. They’ll all be big, all different, and some they have to reduce down to below 70 grams.

My 125 gram pipe has about a dozen puttied fills in the carvings. They could have kept on carving down hoping to get past pits.

But while the husk might be smaller the ear (bore) is huge.

What we don’t know is did they have orders for so many, or did they make them for speculation.

The vast, the overwhelming majority of sales would be $5 pipes. These things had to bring $25. No way they’d ever discount a 400.

The 400 requires a velvet box and a solid gold band.

Maybe Marx ordered 400 boxes in 1937?

I am really not sorry that I passed on the gigantic Marxman. I thought about it and in the end, I was drawn to what I thought would be the smoke ability of pipe to walk and talk. I am curious how that big boy smokes. Is it a pipe that you need to smoke while sitting in a chair.?

 

[Briar Lee]

I am really not sorry that I passed on the gigantic Marxman. I thought about it and in the end, I was drawn to what I thought would be the smoke ability of pipe to walk and talk. I am curious how that big boy smokes. Is it a pipe that you need to smoke while sitting in a chair.?

My huge 125 gram pipe has a .890 bore.

Your “little” 67 gram pipe beats it by a tenth of an inch.

Now, I’ve got twice the briar surrounding my chamber but this is magic ancient Algerian briar that’s almost asbestos.

My huge Tom Howard is only 65 grams.

It has an .850” chamber. It’s been smoked enough to get that deep wine red brown color and it is just a fantastic smoker.

There’s not enough difference in the smoking to worry about.

More briar is mo’ betta’.

But not much better.

 

[Toast]

I confess I'm really puzzled by the cases - or the absence of cases.

It's really well made & a very satisfying thing in itself - it's peculiar that none of them seem to have survived.

I guess if mine's newer there was less time for it to get lost (& it was NOS), but still...

 

[telescopes]

The Marxman Four Hundred Club has grown. From @Toast then @telescopes then @Briar Lee then @Tate then @Ryan and then @macaroni and then @Maierar and perhaps a few others.

 

[telescopes]

If I am counting this correctly, we have 7 named owners of Marxman Four Hundreds - a pipe so rare that few ever saw one let alone heard of one.

I hope everyone will repost their pipes, weight in grams, and the serial number again for posterity .

 

[Briar Lee]

What’s soooo cool about the 400 is the idea behind it.

There are about 30 million briar pipes a year sold in the USA in the late thirties.

A pipe is cheap way to get nicotine.

The base model briar pipe was fifty cents at Sears.

Marx decides to make the most expensive damned pipe in the world.

Twenty five bucks.

For that you got a huge glob of Algerian briar, they had polished on quite a bit with a solid gold band.

They are all numbered and entered in the Blue Book.

I can just see the women in Macy’s buying those baubles.

 

[macaroni]

This thread is as fun to me as Bell's Amusement Park in Tulsa during the mid-60's when I went to Lindberg Elementary School. That's sayin' alot.

For some reason, fun was simpler and easier to come by then; lying on the grass, watching clouds (got some cloud watching in yesterday while sipping a bowl waiting for tires to get put on), walking barefoot on grass (it's on my to do list for tomorrow ), I'm heading back in time I suppose LOL
kindly
mike

ps- Thanks @telescopes & @Briar Lee for your time & sharing here. You've enriched my week. What fun! What joy! Yippee! And to boot, Marxman on the way)) for Christmas. Plus the Rev.'s a delight!

 

[Briar Lee]

This thread is as fun to me as Bell's Amusement Park in Tulsa during the mid-60's when I went to Lindberg Elementary School. That's sayin' alot.

For some reason, fun was simpler and easier to come by then; lying on the grass, watching clouds (got some cloud watching in yesterday while sipping a bowl waiting for tires to get put on), walking barefoot on grass (it's on my to do list for tomorrow ), I'm heading back in time I suppose LOL
kindly
mike

ps- Thanks @telescopes & @Briar Lee for your time & sharing here. You've enriched my week. What fun! What joy! Yippee! And to boot, Marxman on the way)) for Christmas. Plus the Rev.'s a delight!

The joy of owning a Marxman 400 is knowing that during the era it was first made it was the best. The pinnacle. The top of the top grade.

But in our dollar terms it would be like a $500 new pipe today.

Which would be where a Dunhill starts.

 

[Ryan]

I now have two of them. The top one is stamped 64 B and the bottom one is stamped F I. No number, unless the “I” is a Roman numeral. Of course, both are stamped “The Four Hundred”.

The top one has a 1” bore and weighs 57.5g. The bottom one has a 7/8” bore and weighs 65g.

The bottom one fits the left hand very well. One little difference, the top one is stamped 14K Solid Gold on the band while the bottom one is only stamped 14K.

 

[Briar Lee]

Ruminations on what made a $15 “ Big Boy “ a 400.

It was not large size because this Big Boy weighs 95 grams.




Were 400 pipes a year of the best of the best grade of briar set aside and polished and finished out as 400s, usually with a solid gold band?