Today God blessed me with yet another trip around the sun. To celebrate on this overcast, slightly cool (in contrast to the HOT weather here of late), day with light sprinkles I enjoyed a bowl of Pegasus in an estate The Biltmore Blue Ribbon saddle-bit bulldog pipe.
On August 5, 2017 I posted the following in a thread titled "The BILTMORE: What Information and Ads are There?": "This thread reminded me that I had purchased an estate The Biltmore Blue Ribbon bulldog briar several years ago, but found it disappointing and so consigned it to my "trade goods" bag where it has resided until today. I pulled it out, gave it a light cleaning, and filled it with a load from my leftovers jar. I was prepared to again be nonplussed, but it surprised me with an enjoyable dry smoke! What changed in the intervening years, the pipe or me or both? I cannot answer that question; however, I know that it will not be rejoining the outcasts in the bag anytime soon."
On August 2, 2017 In a post to that same thread jguss wrote, in part, "As usual this catches me out of town, but here's what I know more or less off the top of my head. The Biltmore Pipe Company opened in April of 1943. It maintained an office at 220 5th Avenue in Manhattan and a factory at 204 Newport Street in Brooklyn. The founder was Herbert Gall (1910-1976), who had previously been working as a salesman to the trade for a pipe manufacturer. The chief models in the forties and early fifties included the Biltmore Superb ($1.50); the Biltmore Deluxe ($2.50); the Biltmore Blue Ribbon ($3.50); the Biltmore Reserve ($5.00); the Biltmore Executive ($7.50); and the Biltmore Golden Crest ($10.00)."