what is your latest pipe purchase

[Alligator Gar]

Just finished cleaning up a Vauen Dr. Perl 5031 System Clone Full Bent Blasted.



One side has nice curlicue birds eye which the flash flattened, the other a nice spider web figure.



I'll be giving it the smoke test shortly.

[Haebar]

Sharp looking pipe! How did it smoke?

[NeverBend]

Pipe arrived in excellent shape save the dilwit scratch that was the flaw. It's not marked Ben Wade so it's a Charatan handmade second. Stem dates this pipe to the early 1960s, so I'll call it a 1962. Bottom half of the bowl has a dense carbon cake that will take some elbow grease to get out.

Scratching the flaw in a pipe is like digging out the knot on a wooden table. Knots are part of the wood and I'm not sure what possesses someone to do this other than ignorance, boredom and stupidity.

I recommend looking for pipes like these to get some of the best made bowls with wonderful briar at great prices. Ask me if you have any questions about a pipe that you're looking at and I'll be glad to help (and salivate) if I can.

[Alligator Gar]

Sharp looking pipe! How did it smoke?

Like a friggin' chimney, with nary a gurgle. It's a well made pipe.

[NeverBend]

1988 Barling Billiard sandblast, cumberland style stem. Really big pipe, 7-1/8" long, 2-7/8 inches high.

By 1988, Barling hadn't made a pipe in perhaps 15 years and I'm sure that it was made by either Billy Taylor (Ashton) or Les Wood (Ferndown), both of whom made/make handmade pipes like this with handmade cumberland stems. The shaping is more refined like Ashton but I'll ask Dave Field for his opinion. Would be my first Ashton or Ferndown. RIP Billy.




Handmade cumberland style stem with silver band made by Les Wood.



Stamp is a copy of the early Barling Transitional stamp. Similar but not the same.

[Cool Breeze]

Just a little baccy for my small order last night.

A tin of Nightcap, a tin of My Mixture 965, a one ounce sample of Samuel Gawith Balkan Flake (I just want to try it to compare to SG Navy Flake) and a couple bundles of pipe cleaners.

[NeverBend]

Just a little baccy for my small order last night.

A tin of Nightcap, a tin of My Mixture 965, a one ounce sample of Samuel Gawith Balkan Flake (I just want to try it to compare to SG Navy Flake) and a couple bundles of pipe cleaners.

Hi Paul,

Sounds like a nice order, enjoy.

The SG Balkan is quite different from the Navy Flake but I'm sure that you know this. The quality of leaf and manufacture in both are excellent.

[Cool Breeze]

The SG Balkan is quite different from the Navy Flake but I'm sure that you know this. The quality of leaf and manufacture in both are excellent.

Well, I saw it was a Lat/VA blend, which the Navy is also but the Navy has the rum flavoring added to give it the "navy" flavors.
I figured the Balkan would be similar.

Anyway, its a SG flake I haven't tried so I'm looking forward to it. I've loved all of their flakes so far except for 1792. I can take it or leave it.

And yeah, I expect the quality of the product to be superb. The guys and gals at SG for sure know how to manufacture a flake.

[Bruck]

Just picked up 4 oz of PS Amsterdam - Mrs. Bruck likes it in RYO ciggies. + an ounce of PS proper English, which is quite nice, and an ounce of PS toasted burley which I haven't tried yet. Bought a pouch of John Bull with my latest cbid order just for grins, but it hasn't arrived yet. Should come tomorrow.

[BryGuySC]

Well, I saw it was a Lat/VA blend, which the Navy is also but the Navy has the rum flavoring added to give it the "navy" flavors.
I figured the Balkan would be similar.

Anyway, its a SG flake I haven't tried so I'm looking forward to it. I've loved all of their flakes so far except for 1792. I can take it or leave it.

And yeah, I expect the quality of the product to be superb. The guys and gals at SG for sure know how to manufacture a flake.

Let me know what you think of it.
I've been hesitating on pulling the trigger on the SG Balkan Flake for a while now!