ANOTHER NEW MEMBER

Please welcome John to our Brotherhood.  John is smoking several handmade BOB pipes, he recently said they were better than Petersons - who are we to argue!  Don't forget you can see more BOB pipes on my website www.bobsbriars.com

Welcome Ilya Lempertas from Lithuania

What a fantastic setting for a quiet puff of the pipe.  Lovely photos Ilya.

Italian Member of Brotherhood Piero Mac Arro

Isn't this the coolest guy ever?

WELCOME BROTHER MINTO

Totally laid back - the bloke looks pretty cool too!

Another brother from the United States - Keep on puffing!

Welcome Brother Ted!

You only get the fully relaxed pose with a pipe!

ANOTHER INTERESTING PURSUIT!

One of the Brothers is involved in the fascinating world of micro-brewing.  The website is definitely worth a look:

http://goo.gl/4LZ2y

WELCOME BROTHER BOGDAN

Everyone welcome a new brother who has only recently started smoking a pipe.  He bought two pipes so sent two photos of him puffing away in his lovely garden in Slovenia in the gorgeous sunshine - I explained to him that Britain is under about a fathom of water!!

NEW WEBSITE

Very pleased to announce my new website is up and running.  You can find it here:

www.bobsbriars.com

It has got a selection of our handmade pipes and also some very special estate pipes.

Have a look and treat yourself.

NEW BROTHER

WELCOME

A new brother from France please welcome Didier and his Barling meerschaum.

CONTACT DETAILS

CONTACT DETAILS

I can always be reached on 

khalisana@gmail.com

Any questions please ask.

Carnivale

These are our top of the range pipes – A Touch of Class with a Flash of Colour.

The first is the mammoth (18.5cms from base of bowl to tip of mouthpiece) Roc Egg.  Fashioned from a stunning piece of Plateau briar this pipe has been cleverly carved so that the bowl is offset to the left making it more comfortable to hold in the hand.

A stunning pipe – and the only one like it in the world.

The second is a large ringed billiard, a beautiful large hand filling pipe that will keep you puffing.

Here are three more.

NEW HAND MADE RANGE

NEW BATCH OF HANDMADE PIPES

I am pleased to announce that the latest batch of our own handmade pipes is ready.  These have all been made from the finest Greek briar and finished to the highest standards.

It is important to realise that the overwhelming majority of these pipes are unique, they do not conform to any particular pattern or form but are created solely by the imagination of the carver and the path the briar takes him.

Briar is a natural material and has been formed over decades by nature herself.  Sometimes there will be small imperfections in the briar itself.  There are several ways to deal with these.  Some makers dye the briar with a highly coloured dye; some rusticate the finish to hide them (That’s why a lot of very well known makers started using a sandblast finish).  Here we take an entirely different view.  These imperfections are part of the material and as such deserve to be left alone, and become part of the overall finish of the pipe.   We feel that our patrons prefer a 100% genuine article.

As you can see our pipes are now stamped with our trademark.  This consists of a rampant lion alongside the initials B.O.B.   This stands for ‘Brotherhood of the Briar’.

They are also stamped ‘Hand Made in Wales’

If they don’t have these marks they’re not ours!

Before you light up, just sit in your favourite chair for an hour holding your new treasure, feel the silky smooth finish, the rounded curves and sways.  And then when you are quite ready gently fill with your favourite tobacco and puff away happy in the knowledge that you are smoking a genuine one off!

All pipes come compete with certificate of authenticity, a special pipe bag and pipe cleaners, and of course a storage box.

All prices are exclusive of post and packing

WELCOME TO NEW BROTHER PAUL

Paul recently snapped up a real bargain, a fully refurbished Falcon for just £8.50.  Well done Paul and welcome to the Brotherhood.

MILLVILLE

I'm afraid the Millville has been snapped up by an English Collector.

Keep checking the blog for more fantastic pipes.

MILLVILLE

Dennis and John Marshall, sell their Millville pipes at St. James's Market in London and apart from a very few high class retailers – Bonds of London – this is the only place you will get them.

Millvilles have built up a very high reputation ("Best value for money in Britain!") among those smokers who happily bought one - Millvilles are very hard to find. Millville was created in 1980 by Dennis Marshall, who worked for Barling and Charatan for many years. His son John now makes all Millville pipes and Dennis Marshall has retired. Their pipes still very closely follow the artistic, freeform designs and grading of the old Charatan lines.

Unfortunately it now appears that they have now stopped altogether.  Their factory Unit in Barnet is now occupied by an upholstery firm.

Millville pipes are now very highly sought after and when found command colossal prices.  For example there are two Millvilles on ebay, one is a silver mounted pipe asking price £1,950 and the other is an extended tankard style asking price £495. (4^th May 2012)

I have been exceptionally lucky to source a practically new Millville.  It is one of their higher grade ‘Unique’ pipes and is an ‘Extra Large’

I am offering it here to all my fellow Brothers of the Briar for the absolute bargain price of £165.

If you want any further details please contact me on bob@hinton330.fsnet.co.uk

GOING GOING GONE............

Pipe number one has been sold, snapped up by a collector in the UK.  Will publish details of more pipes, but be aware that since each is handmade there are not going to be huge quantities of them.

A PARCEL OF PETERSONS

As someone pointed out I hadn't put any prices. So here they are with prices, discounts for multiple sales.

OUR OWN LINE OF HANDMADE PIPES

We are proud to announce our very own range of handmade briar pipes.

Made from a selection of high quality briar these pipes are individually made by a skilled craftsman here in Wales.  Each will be completely unique, so they will be as good to collect as to smoke.  Everyone will be marked with our trademark 3 dots.  Every pipe will come with its own certificate giving the number of the pipe.  Each pipe will be recorded photographically in our archives, so that in the future we will always be able to match an individual pipe to a certificate.

This is pipe number 1

A hand filling chunk of gorgeous briar finished in a way out freehand style.  We have called this one ‘The Author’ as it is just right for smoking while tapping away on a keyboard and then putting down without needing an ashtray.  It has an incredibly tactile feel about it and is definitely a future heirloom.

Priced at a very modest £40 plus post and packing this comes complete with its very own pipe bag.


Please contact me at bob@hinton330.fsnet.co.uk

HAPPY PUFFER

Here is a photo of our newest member, Paul Combs, who is happily puffing away on a Ropp Cherry Churchwarden he recently bought.

Paul Works for Anthony Lakes resort in Boise, Idaho.  Their website is here: http://goo.gl/vJrBx

What a stunning place for a vacation - hope I manage to get over there one day.

PIPE OF THE MONTH MARCH 2012

PIPE OF THE MONTH

PIPE OF THE MONTH

Every month I will be offering for sale a pipe which is of outstanding quality.  There will be a price listed with the pipe.  The first person to offer this price will get the pipe – carriage will be added.  If however you wish to make an offer, you may do so by sending it to info@darkdeedswales.com

All offers will be held until the end of the month and the highest offer wins it.

This month I am offering a stunning cased set for the price of £100.

This set was commissioned by Kaywoodie for an Italian company to make a number of unique pipes.  Each pipe would be sold in a fitted case and each would come with two mouthpieces – one long and the other short.

The style and quality of this pipe is breathtaking, from the graceful lines to the stunning briar right down to the silver diamonds set into the stems.

Unfortunately this pipe does have one flaw – the previous owner has nibbled the short mouthpiece – a great shame though of course it does not affect the smoking qualities of the pipe.

Pictures of the pipe can be found here:

PREMIUM PIPE AUCTION

The purpose of this private auction is to offer to a select few the opportunity to buy some outstanding pipes.

Here’s how it operates.

The auction runs for three days from the time of notification.

If you wish to enter the auction you send an email to info@darkdeedswales.com quoting the price you are willing to pay.

At the end of every day the highest bid will be listed on the blog.  If you wish to increase your bid you can do so.

At the end of the third day the highest bid wins.

All bids include despatch by registered and insured post.

Anyone wanting further photographs or details please ask.

ANOTHER NEW LINE - CALABASH PIPE STAND

CALABASH STAND

There are very few people who don’t instantly recognise the Calabash pipe as the one Sherlock Holmes smoked ( he didn’t actually, in the stories he smoked either a clay pipe or a Cutty – the calabash is pure Hollywood!)

Calabash pipes are a real joy to smoke, ideal for a long sit and read in the library, while puffing away contentedly.

The problem comes when you’ve finished smoking.  The Calabash has to be placed vertically otherwise all the moisture either runs into the mouthpiece which makes it taste like a putrid weasel, or pools in the bowl which eventually affects the colour.

Unfortunately because of its shape you cannot use a normal pipe stand, so up until now the answer was to prop it up between two stacks of books, which is all right until you knock it over.

I have over thirty Calabashes myself and have often been faced with the same problem – so I decided to do something about it – and here it is.

Each stand is handcrafted in carefully selected home grown wood, and finished to the highest standard.  It is designed to take the big calabashes and the small ones and just about everything in between.

They come flat pack and only need simple assembly, you can either glue the supports in or leave them free – it doesn’t affect the stand.

A lovely piece of furniture that would grace anyone’s home.

GIANT PETERSONS

I recently bought the biggest Peterson I've ever seen and at the same time the smallest

The oblong object is a normal credit card to give you some idea of scale