Duncan Briars

Duncan Briars is a family business founded in Manchester in 1899, ranked throughout the twentieth century among the well-known names of British series pipe manufacturing. The firm was founded by John Louis Duncan, son of a family in the tobacco trade, at twenty years old, with a few workers and two lathes. The 27 July 1922 feature in the trade journal Tobacco gives the founding year as 1899 and also states that the firm's Zoie de Luxe series was produced in more than a hundred shapes.

From Retailer to Manufacturer

Duncan did not begin his career as a manufacturer but as a retailer: while acting as agent for a Manchester cigarette maker, he added a London-made pipe brand to his list, and the rest of his working life revolved around briar. His own workshop's first fifteen years were difficult; the business only gradually found a place among rivals far older than itself. Long-serving names were added as the staff grew: Phylis Hall in 1918, and in 1922 George Walker, who would later rise to factory foreman. Vernon McHardie, who took charge of general management and export in the early 1920s, opened the small workshop to European and world markets. During the 1926-1930 slump, while many small manufacturers shut their doors, Duncan's employees accepting a wage cut kept the company afloat.

Dental Mouthpiece and the War Years

The founder's design side came to the fore in the 1930s. The rubber tobacco pouch called Bandit, which could be rolled up and taped smaller as its tobacco diminished, dates to this period. The innovation that made the firm's name best known, though, is a mouthpiece shaped for wearers of dentures, gripped with the lip like a lever; according to records, it was the first example of this type of mechanism, patented under the name Original Duncan Dental.

From its founding, the factory operated around Manchester's Smithfield Market; after the air raid of December 1940, it moved to the fruit and vegetable market buildings above Shudehill. The founder's son Robert Henry Duncan served with the Royal Artillery from 1940 to 1946 and took part in the Normandy landings. Since briar supply nearly stopped throughout the war, the workshop turned to other wood species; to avoid dispersing its skilled labor, it produced small precision parts for the Admiralty.

From Delta to Closure

When metal-shafted pipes came into fashion in Britain in the late 1950s, Duncan joined this trend with the Delta Dri-Fashion; in brand listings, Delta and Popular are cited among the firm's sub-brands. In 1958, George Walker left after thirty-six years of service to found a pipe repair workshop; this workshop would later become known as Northern Briar. The Lowton branch, roughly twenty-five kilometers outside Manchester near Leigh, dates to 1967, when a new factory was built there, with the move completed in 1970.

Third-generation John Duncan took over general management in 1980. Alongside new shapes such as Nu-bent, pre-carbonized chambers, colored plexiglass mouthpieces, and high-gloss polish were tried; production was also carried out for other wholesalers. As anti-tobacco public pressure lowered sales toward the end of the 1980s, the firm turned to tobacco pouches and leather goods. According to records, Duncans Briars Limited was sold in 1994, and the company passed to Peter Wilson, a relative of John Duncan's by marriage. It is reported that Wilson acquired the rights to the Ben Wade brand in 1998, and that these pipes were made to order at Dunhill's facility in Walthamstow. The Duncan family, rather than returning to manufacturing, remained a retailer in Southport.