Why No "Made in _______" Stamp on Vauen and Barling pipes?

[Professor Moriarty]

Current production pipes branded "Vauen" and "Barling" do not have a country stamp.
I think Vauen pipes are made in Germany. Why no country stamp?
I think Barling pipes are made in Italy. Because these are a revival of an old English brand, perhaps it is a marketing decision?

 

[PaulRVA]

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I just checked my pipes, and barely any of them have a "made in..." stamp. I am not sure why some makers chose not to stamp the origin stamps. I don't think that there's any laws saying that they have to.

 

[Sigmund]

Maybe they think the imporant people already know.

 

[Briarcutter]

Good question, maybe some of the brand are made in the assumed countries, some farmed out to other countries, i.e.,China,Denmark??. In other words, same brand made in different countries so no markings would be easier than the trouble of different markings. Just a guess.

 

[Sigmund]

The business version of Dont ask, Dont tell.

 

[Hillcrest]

Vauen makes or finishes many of their own pipes in Germany. They purchase briar from several sources especially Italy. Some are designed by Cesare Barontini and usually say so. Barontini makes Stanwell and others and is the largest Italian producer of export pipes. I'm not familiar with Barling but @sablebrush52 might know where they are made or sourced.

 

[Briarcutter]

The business version of Dont ask, Dont tell.

You may be on to something....In the case of Barling, maybe they want everyone to assume from history they are made in England, when they are in fact NOT made in England. Just guessing here again.

 

[ThermionicScott]

The only pipes in my collection that are consistently marked where they were made... are my cobs.

 

[Professor Moriarty]

The only pipes in my collection that are consistently marked where they were made... are my cobs.

In my experience, popular brands of English, Irish (Peterson), Italian, and French briars all bear country stamps.
My Big Ben POTY is not stamped "Made in Denmark", although its packaging says so.

 

[Professor Moriarty]

Vauen makes or finishes many of their own pipes in Germany. They purchase briar from several sources especially Italy. Some are designed by Cesare Barontini and usually say so. Barontini makes Stanwell and others and is the largest Italian producer of export pipes. I'm not familiar with Barling but @sablebrush52 might know where they are made or sourced.

Good point. Every brand (except Italian) imports ébauchons from elsewhere, and some may import partial or complete stummels. So "Made in" sometimes means "Finished in".

 

[Sigmund]

Also, I know there are very specific criteria to stamp Made In France on a product. If a company doesnt want to bother with always meeting every criteria on the list its just as easy to write nothing.

 

[Hillcrest]

Good point. Every brand (except Italian) imports ébauchons from elsewhere, and some may import partial or complete stummels. So "Made in" sometimes means "Finished in".

Savinelli explains it better:

How a Smoking Pipe is Born | Savinelli

Discover the various processing stages for producing a pipe in its different types. The first distinction is made between pipes of shape...

www.savinelli.it

 

[sablebrush52]

I assume that the reference to Barling is to the new line that K, formerly known as K&K, commissioned. The British and Danish made versions all had COM stamps. I don't know who makes these for K, formerly known as K&K. Who do they usually contract to make their various brand named pipes, like the Rattray pipes?

 

[sardonicus87]

I don't think that lacking a stamp means you can necessarily conclude that they're trying to hide something.

Other possibilities:
• Stamping a pipe takes tooling. Tooling needs refreshing. One less stamp to have to keep up with is one place you have to spend less money in production—financial.
• There's lots of info stamped already, for many this is a logo and a shape number or model name. Adding a "made in _____" increases the total area taken up by stamping, possibly making the stamping look too busy—aesthetic.

That's just off the top of my head, there's a plethora of other possibilities like, maybe they don't feel like they need to stamp because most people know? Maybe they just didn't think about it at all because they're not patriotically minded?

Just like if a business runs a sale, that doesn't necessarily mean they're trying to clear inventory or move something that isn't moving or trying to motivate people to buy a crap product.

Not everything is insidious or ill-intent... and this is coming from a professed skeptic and misanthrope.

 

[Professor Moriarty]

Also, I know there are very specific criteria to stamp Made In France on a product. If a company doesnt want to bother with always meeting every criteria on the list its just as easy to write nothing.

Good point! The same may be true of Vauen in Germany.

 

[Chris from Cigarworld]

In my experience, popular brands of English, Irish (Peterson), Italian, and French briars all bear country stamps.
My Big Ben POTY is not stamped "Made in Denmark", although its packaging says so.

Big Ben Pipes are made in the Netherlands, not Denmark

 

[Chris from Cigarworld]

Vauen makes or finishes many of their own pipes in Germany. They purchase briar from several sources especially Italy. Some are designed by Cesare Barontini and usually say so. Barontini makes Stanwell and others and is the largest Italian producer of export pipes. I'm not familiar with Barling but @sablebrush52 might know where they are made or sourced.

Vauen stopped working with Barontini many years ago, so all current available Vauen Pipes are made in Germany.

 

[Hillcrest]

Vauen stopped working with Barontini many years ago, so all current available Vauen Pipes are made in Germany.

Thanks for the update ! Good to know.

 

[Professor Moriarty]

Big Ben Pipes are made in the Netherlands, not Denmark

Thank you for the correction. I always confuse those two