Directory of Pipe Brands of Uncertain Origin (2/2)

The Directory of Pipe Brands of Uncertain Origin brings together pipe brands whose country of manufacture cannot be documented, or whose records point to more than one country. Most of these brands never built their own factory; instead they had their products made by large workshops, or entered the market simply under a mail-order retailer's name. Since the stamp usually carries only the brand name, the place of manufacture can no longer be traced. The twelve entries below make up the second and final part of the directory.

Brands

• Turbo Flo — considered a derivative of Viking and Falcon designs, this is a pipe with an aluminum body and a screw-in briar bowl. It carries cooling fins set at an angle along the shank; although its stem's teeth resemble Viking's, it does not accept Viking bowls. Records date the brand to around 1956.

• University — a brand name distributed by Pipesandcigars.com; there is also a line of the same name under Comoy's. The first University pipes were unvarnished examples made from old briar. Later, a batch made decades earlier in France from natural-surface Algerian briar was released under the "University Deluxe" stamp; these pipes have vulcanite mouthpieces and were made in three shapes — a six-sided panel, a standard billiard, and a lovat.

• Vibel — very little documentation survives. The only known detail is that the pipes were made from briar in the Czech Republic for the Danish distributor C. B. Møller. Known examples include a billiard stamped "Real Briar."

• Victors — a brand encountered with the stamp "VICTORS, HAND MADE; ALGERIAN BRIAR." Online records suggest the name is likely tied to Jost's, a pipe shop in St. Louis that also sold Comoy's-made pipes under its own name. The Algerian briar stamp suggests the piece in question may have come from Comoy's French factory.

• Webco — pipes bearing this stamp came out of the Weber Pipe Co. workshop. Known examples include models stamped "WEBCO FILTER," fitted with the same type of filter used in Dr. Grabow and Medico pipes.

• Western — a Japanese brand made in Tokyo; the same maker also produced cigarette holders with nearly identical stamps. The pipes have briar bowls and vulkanite mouthpieces, finished in a dark walnut tone. Stamps include the wording "OLD BRIAR," along with "DENICON TOKYO," thought to indicate the manufacturer and its location; on the side there is a circled number, presumed — as with Dunhill — to denote a size group. Another stamp is a triangular banner-shaped frame reading "G" at the top and "UC" below.

• White Flame — according to Who Made That Pipe records, made by both Imperial and Civic, with both England and France cited as places of manufacture. Known surviving examples are of French make.

• Whitman — known only from pipes stamped "WHITMAN MADE IN ENGLAND" on the stem. The documented example is a medium-sized pipe with a straight shank and a dark brown rustic surface. Nothing is on record about its maker; only the stamp has been documented.

• Willard — its pipes were made between 1963 and 1975 at the Sparta Industries plant in Sparta, North Carolina; records state that weekly output reached sixty thousand pipes. Some were distributed through army sales units serving soldiers during the Vietnam War years, and some were made for R. J. Reynolds. The brand's emblem is a large "W" set within a five-pointed star on the mouthpiece; the name Lord Abbott is said to have been a sub-brand or series of Willard.

• William Anderson Pipes — the name given to the briar pipes made, each as a one-off, by William Anderson Crawford, who worked in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains.

• Wiltshire — known from the stamp "Wiltshire Made in London England"; manufacture was undertaken by Comoy's.

• Yorkshire — a brand sold exclusively through Sears Roebuck catalogs; it appears in the 1941-42 catalog. The pipes were made in France from Algerian briar and, being neither stained nor varnished, retain their natural honey color. Known model names include Bond Street, Royal, Aristocrat, Natural, and Straight Grain.