Who Else is Addicted to Algerian Briar?
- Thread starter Briar Lee
- Start date
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I have Marxmans that were marked Benchmade and Jumbo.
The smooth ones don’t look as rugged outdoor man of action suitable as the gnarly ones.
Thst one has incredible grain, for a Marxman.
Three possibilities come to my mind.
A wealthy man was collecting Marxmans before 1954.
A woman forgot to toss the price tag from the Christmas gift.
Or it’s unsold new old stock.
It’s most likely new old stock.
But it might be, she no longer cared.
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What is so cool about all vintage Marxmans, Lees, and Kaywoodies is each one was like a Cadillac, Lincoln, Packard, or Imperial. They were all ultra luxury items, even the $3.50 grades.
Only the Kaywoodies (Cadillacs) survived.
What’s so cool about Marxmans is they were mainly priced as to size.
All Benchmades and Jumbos were “made on a bench”. They aren’t cookie cutter machine fraised. But they were making a lot of them in a factory.
The neatest ones I have are bigger than a C, and it’s rare they have any marks at all except Marxman. I call those Big Boys. Logically, those were the $15 ones, and they’d have those displayed separately. They sold the least of those except 400s—-maybe.
If you had $15 for the second best, you’d have $25 for the very best.
Human nature never changes.
Only the Kaywoodies (Cadillacs) survived.
What’s so cool about Marxmans is they were mainly priced as to size.
All Benchmades and Jumbos were “made on a bench”. They aren’t cookie cutter machine fraised. But they were making a lot of them in a factory.
The neatest ones I have are bigger than a C, and it’s rare they have any marks at all except Marxman. I call those Big Boys. Logically, those were the $15 ones, and they’d have those displayed separately. They sold the least of those except 400s—-maybe.
If you had $15 for the second best, you’d have $25 for the very best.
Human nature never changes.
I have a handful of old Mastercraft pipes that are Algerian briar, many of them labeled "handcrafted" with interesting carvings around the bowl. They all smoke very well, but not sure I detect a difference from any other nice briar I have.
Any differences are subtle and not pronounced.
Back when Algerian briar was the most common, the makers usually didn’t brag they used it. It’s typically soft. It typically has lots of pits. Dunhill hated it, until he accidentally oil cured some by a furnace.
I think the difference is a sort of cinnamon spicy note.
Which makes me greedy for more vitamin N, and I self dose myself until I get the hiccups.
My El Morjane arrived today. I was being super careful putting in the stem trying not to crack it, which is why it isn't seated all the way. I'll run some graphite over the tenon to ease it in there, that's worked good so far. $11.21 shipped, can't beat that. We'll see if I get a cinnamon taste :D
I'm about to fire it up with some Carter Hall or Prince Albert. Which by the way, are absolutely great now. My latest tub of CH has no chemical taste that the last one had. I've been smoking them every day with 5 brothers for nicotine, but I was noticing my 5 brothers has been super bitter lately this new box of 5 I got. Sigh. I've cut it out and everything's tasting better. Not sure if stg is monkeying with it or not. That mix is my go to every day tobacco, switching between PA and CH as the mood favors.
I'm about to fire it up with some Carter Hall or Prince Albert. Which by the way, are absolutely great now. My latest tub of CH has no chemical taste that the last one had. I've been smoking them every day with 5 brothers for nicotine, but I was noticing my 5 brothers has been super bitter lately this new box of 5 I got. Sigh. I've cut it out and everything's tasting better. Not sure if stg is monkeying with it or not. That mix is my go to every day tobacco, switching between PA and CH as the mood favors.
Any differences are subtle and not pronounced.
Back when Algerian briar was the most common, the makers usually didn’t brag they used it. It’s typically soft. It typically has lots of pits. Dunhill hated it, until he accidentally oil cured some by a furnace.
I think the difference is a sort of cinnamon spicy note.
Which makes me greedy for more vitamin N, and I self dose myself until I get the hiccups.
Hey, I saw you have a Weber Golden Grain cutty (or Collector I forget the stamp ) and I'm dying to know more about it. I want a cutty so bad! I have a Kaywoodie Hi Bowl that's basically a cutty shape , but missing the accent stand. It's the one on the left.
Seems like finding one is gonna be tough!
WDC, Weber, and LHS all made ultra luxury pipes.
That Weber Golden Grain is the equal of any Kaywoodie Cutty ever made.
Saturn had it’s own Corvette type sports car, as did Cadillac.
Weber also made dollar pipes.
I don't see them pop up very much, but I really want one like yours. I'll be patient for one to pop up in my saved searches. I do have a house pipe from Ted's in Tulsa that was made by Weber. It's a boss.