Was There Ever a Grabow Meerschaum?

[Rigidman]

I saw a meer with a Grabow military type stem, with a white spade. The bowl is octagonal shaped. The corners are short, the front and back is a little longer, then the sides are longest. But its all crooked. Definitely not a perfect octagon.

Thanks

 

[theloniousmonkfish]

Somebody rigged a stem from a Grabow Omega to that thing, it's not a Grabow Meerschaum, but they did exist. Here's an old ad and some words on the matter from the former head of Grabow and Mastercraft, both of which shared the same building.

"All the Grabow Block Meerschaum pipes were made in Turkey and were hand carved block meerschaum. None were pressed (massa) meerschaum. We did trademark them in Sparta.....put in the spade.....and the TM was always black. Thats how to tell it is a Grabow. There were many shapes that were not pictured in the brochures since the maker didn't "hold to" our requested shapes. Mastercraft did sell a great many massa meerschaums and also several block. The massa is easy to spot, but the MC block is no different from anyone elses. ......TED'

 

[Chasing Embers]

They had meer lined Grabows too.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

I'd sure like to have a Grabow Meer.

 

[Rigidman]

I'd sure like to have a Grabow Meer.

I watch him! I love cop shows and mysteries. You have no idea how many times I've watched Columbo.

 

[Rigidman]

Somebody rigged a stem from a Grabow Omega to that thing, it's not a Grabow Meerschaum, but they did exist. Here's an old ad and some words on the matter from the former head of Grabow and Mastercraft, both of which shared the same building.

"All the Grabow Block Meerschaum pipes were made in Turkey and were hand carved block meerschaum. None were pressed (massa) meerschaum. We did trademark them in Sparta.....put in the spade.....and the TM was always black. Thats how to tell it is a Grabow. There were many shapes that were not pictured in the brochures since the maker didn't "hold to" our requested shapes. Mastercraft did sell a great many massa meerschaums and also several block. The massa is easy to spot, but the MC block is no different from anyone elses. ......TED'

They look like they're 12"-18" long.

I thought it was just a stem swap. I might buy it to snag the stem for my pipe. Its not a very good carving.

 

[Rigidman]

They had meer lined Grabows too.

Yeah seen lots of those. Think I bought one.

 

[Rigidman]

Thanks for the info. I know about pipephil and pipedia, is there another place to research pipes?

These places are great resources, but on some pipes they either have very little, just pictures, or nothing.

I got lucky on a website about Kaywoodies, I downloaded a pamphlet about them. It was put up by collectors. Guess I'll have to go back a few more pages for Grabow.

 

[theloniousmonkfish]

They had meer lined Grabows too.

Sure did.

The ones without a spade inserted in the stem were produced in Italy, some have a stamped outline of one but most are blank. The Italian made Grabow were often smaller. Then Sparta became able to insert Meer cups, purchased from Straumbach, and began producing them in Sparta using the larger Grabow shapes that had thick enough walls to handle increasing the chamber size to accommodate the cups.

 

[theloniousmonkfish]

They look like they're 12"-18" long.

I thought it was just a stem swap. I might buy it to snag the stem for my pipe. Its not a very good carving.

They made them in conventional shapes, figurals, and in the 20"-30" sculpted Churchwardens.

 

[Rigidman]

Before coming here to ask a question, I always Google what I'm looking for. I try several different ways to word it. Many times this place is always listed. Sometimes though I don't see what I'm looking for.

There was several posts about Grabows, but didn't find anything about meerschaum Grabows. The websites mentioned above talked about the meer lined pipes, but not meerschaum pipes from Grabow.

They made them in conventional shapes, figurals, and in the 20"-30" sculpted Churchwardens.

30"?!? Jeeze, you can rest it on the floor while sitting on the couch or chair. Jeeze!!