I'm seeing a lot of posts of Dr. Grabow pipes. Are some better than others? Which have a large bowl? Thanks.
Dr. Grabow Pipes?
- Thread starter K Williams
- Start date
I love my Dr. Grabow pipes. Used to be my only Briar for a long time was an Omega. Now I have 26. Big bowl pipes would be some Freehands. and Big Pipe have the larger bowls. one thing i would like to mention on the freehands. For me anyway they need a cake in them. They are mostly really light weight briar and I sadly have almost burnt out one of my Freehands. So now for the rest i abuse them all. And they are good to me. I like the ones I have from old days because of the screw in tenion. I like but some others don't like the stinger so they cut them off. Me I like them and they stay. My Omega is a Filter pipe and most of the pipes today are filter pipes. (Just remove the filter all good) I have had my first Omega since 1995. Love the pipe and smoke it daily. The others I smoke from time to time. I have 3 Omegas. 6 Freehands 1 big pipe and to many more to remember them all right off hand LOL One of my pipes is as old as mid to late 40's Still looks like new. Smokes great. Again only issues I have had is one of my fav Freehands I have it almost burnt out. But that is only my fault. Sad because it is the nice shape of that line...
Oh and this makes this my 200 Post. Someone had to have won something today...
James
Oh and this makes this my 200 Post. Someone had to have won something today...
James
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Dr. Grabow Freehand 08 (One almost burnt out) outside right, Freehand 06 Bottom of picture, Duke Second from bottom, Royal Duke 3rd to the bottom, 2nd from the top is Golden Duke, Top pipe is Freehand 04. The Duke and Royal I put in there so you could see the smaller sized bowls next to the Freehands.. The Dr. Grabow Big Pipe is at the Office. Also in my last post I said I had 26 DG sadly I didn't take out the one that became MIA last month. A older Regal Ajustamatic and my pipe lighter. The one in this picture is my normal Zippo the other was a Pipe lighter zippo. Was solid brass no graphics other then the little pipe symbol that was on it.
James
James
javajunkie
BoM July '12
go out on the 'bay and find you either a belvedere or a starfire, or one of their other old coupon pipes (can't remember the other lines right now...). they were made with surprisingly high quality briar and attention to detail, and are just MACHINES in the performance department. they DO have screw-on tenons, which i consider a plus as you can break them down and clean on the fly if needed, and the only down side is if it has a squared shank (bulldog) and won't line up perfect. even then, grrrr or someone can instruct you on how to rectify easily. also, stingers. but they pull right out. you can find surprisingly nice grain, well thought out rustication (i LOVE the grooved vinyl record looking rustications), and some solid blasts, if you look. and the most you might be out is $30, and much less if you are lucky or willing to do more cleaning.
to be honest, i am kinda chasing these guys, and the ONLY reason i'm sharing is that i currently have more than i can finish in this calendar year. so, go git'em!
to be honest, i am kinda chasing these guys, and the ONLY reason i'm sharing is that i currently have more than i can finish in this calendar year. so, go git'em!
In defense of Dr. Grabow squared shanks I have to admit that at times they can be off. Infect I have other pipes that are not Square shank not ajustamatics that are off from where they should have been.. Sadly only flaw with Screw ins if they are not Ajustamatics is they can get out of alignment. Anyway back to Dr. Grabow Squared shanks you can see by the pictures of this Starfire that is Vintage in age with Screw in and isn't ajustamatic The shank to stem is perfect. The only thing I can say bad about this and many other older Dr. Grabows is they are on the smaller bowl size then i like. But are good for smoking flakes if nothing else. The Starfire here I love and smoke almost everything in it. Mainly because of the Screw in tenon. I can open swab out the shank blow out the stem dry off the stinger and good to go. I love most of my Dr. Grabows. They are fine smoking pipes. No matter what others have said.... NOt saying anyone here but I seem to get a lot of oh Dr. Grabow, Like it was the plague. Some people are just set at not liking something. As I have said I smoke for me no one other.
James
James
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Well today looking around my little collection I have 3 round shank pipes that need the stems corrected on. The problem is I am very humm how do you say. Leary about trying what I have seen done to move the stems. You see the out of alignment if you will is slight in 2 of the pipes. Both are from the 40's and 50's and the 3rd well it is just my Weber Nose Warmer the Weber needs it more then the other 2 seeing when you hold the bit in your mouth the bowl is at just about 1 or 130ish the others are around 1230ish. So it is a long trip around. I have heard it can be done on the stem side and the shank side. I am just worried to damage my pipes that I like very much and is something hard to replace. I mean the last time I seen my main pipe on the Bay they were asking 250 for it and I know that I wouldn't want to pay that much for it again. The 3 square ones i found with the square shank and twist on stingers were in perfect alignment. The Dr. Grabow, a Kaywoodie and my Kudu. Sad thing about sending a pipe to a repair place is they say that if something breaks or goes wrong it is on my dime.
James
javajunkie
BoM July '12
... and COMPLETELY IGNORED the part where i have too many so far, dick. seven day set each of belvie and starfire. i'm good. STOP.
and, to WaRevo, don't misunderstand me. i dig DrG bulldogs, and other square or diamond shank styles. have a couple few already. it's zero issue on a push tenon, but it was worth mentioning if someone is picking up an adjusto or other screw on stem. not a warning off, rather another datum to consider.
Here is an Egg shape Older Dr. Grabow Starfire. (Next to my Wire carved Square(Diamond shank) Starfire) Now this one is awesome for people that are worried about the Screw in Tenon but like the Stinger. You see this one is from back in the day with a push in tenon & stinger. However in most cases people don't like the Stinger (I do). Starfire was a mail order buy and is in line with Westbrook (In Briar Quality) also a old mail order. You see Dr. Grabow had coupons in with RjR Tobacco PA and SWR and with a few dollars and a few of Coupons you send to Sparta and they would send you the pipe. The best Pipe offered through the mail I know of was only 5 dollars and 25 coupons. I own one of them also, called the Emperor. (I know your thinking the best? Only 5 bucks! Yeah but it is also the 25 coupons. Had to buy 25 different tobacco products for the coupons, so cost was more then only 5 bucks really.) It was said that these coupon pipes were of best quality briar at that time. One thing I can say for sure is that Dr. Grabow pipes are very VERY good quality. Maybe not all of them. Like the blister pack filter pipes. but the old ones with the stingers (Metal filters as they call them) Some of the history of Dr. Grabow is what made me want to start collecting them. Sadly It is hard to find good information on Dr. Grabow pipes. I keep wishing that they would open a site with good info about the pipes, numbers of pipes and years in a time line. Like The one I am smoking right now, Starfire push in tenon with stinger (NUMBER OF PIPES) Yes I know it is lessor quality line then the wire carved starfire. However with this name of pipe was still of higher grade of briar then some of the other pipes. Screw in tenon was of best quality So would love to know how many of them sold. Like say Screw in sold xyz say 400 and the push in offered in retail mainly drug stores sold xyz 30000. These numbers are not the right numbers just being used as a for instance. Then collectors would have better idea what is worth collecting. If I was rich enough I would buy all the Dr. Grabow pipes I could find LOL. good ones bad ones. Needing repair ones lOL I like them all.
Then honestly looking over this Starfire pipe next to the Emperor I don't know how the Emperor cost so much more. Sure it is natural finish but to me the Starfire has better grain then the Emperor. IMO.
James
Then honestly looking over this Starfire pipe next to the Emperor I don't know how the Emperor cost so much more. Sure it is natural finish but to me the Starfire has better grain then the Emperor. IMO.
James
Here is 2 more of my DG, The one on the bottom of the picture I need to take off the coating and buff and wax it is a Viscount Ajustamatic with Pat #2461905 The top one is a Regal also ajustamatic same Pat #. The pat was filed in 1949 so the pipes are made after 49, Regal being newer of the 2. I have Regal's of other shapes. The stems are same size/shape and could be used on either pipe because they are Ajustamatic. You can tell that the Viscount has an older style stem with the wider bit. These 2 pipes smoke very well. I used to smoke them more a few years ago then I do now. But they still see use a couple times a month.
James
James
I just bought this Zulu Starfire. What do you think? Good purchase?
http://m.ebay.com/itm/390934942514?txnId=462062446026
What do you all use to disinfect the stem and shank? The item description says it's sanitized, but I'd rather do it myself to make sure.
javajunkie
BoM July '12
very nice, dig it. sanitization is up to you, but it looks well cleaned at first blush. soak a cleaner in alcohol, leave it in for a few hours, then run a couple fresh ones through, see how they come out.
OK. Thanks. I'll do that when it arrives.
The Starfire Zulu arrived today. Nice looking pipe... The bowl is a little small. I might use this pipe for flake tobacco. Should the pipe still smell of tobacco even after being restored and sanitized?
Nice looking pipe. I would say that it could have picked up the smell of the person that sold it if they were pipe smoker. In most cases when a pipe is cleaned down to briar and Salt treated the smell of tobacco isn't there after. Can you get a picture of the bowl? It maybe that the person only reamed it down to a thin coat of cake. Does the shank and stem smell like tobacco? If so it was from a smoker that cleaned and smoked in same room, This is my thoughts anyway.
James
javajunkie
BoM July '12
pretty much this, although i doubt you will EVER get a "completely new" estate. i would rather have something that is clean, shows a little wear, and has some break in already done. if cleanliness is your concern, focus on the stem with pipe cleaners and alcohol, until it is as clean as YOU feel it needs. nice thing, you can use drinking alcohol in this process, and keep yourself entertained at the same time. o)
BTW, nice zulu, and i may have been a bidder in that one as well. at least glad it went to family. probably be a BRILLIANT flake smoker for you.
Yeah...I think Wray & Nephew Overproof rum should work nicely.
When I do a salt treatment, I use bourbon to wet the salt.
And, if after doing the treatment, the ghost aromas are still stronger than you like, you can repeat the salt treatment.
But, as JJ mentions, work on the stem. I finished one a few nights ago where the stem was disgusting. I put the stem in Oxyclean and the water was so brown after 20 minutes that I pulled it out, wiped it clean, then put it in a fresh batch of Oxy. I let it sit for about 4 hours, ran a couple of pipe cleaners with nylon bristles through and they came out almost black. So I stopped using pipe cleaners and used shank brushes. I scrubbed the interior of the stem for a minute or so, rinsed it out (a lot of brown water came out), and repeated that a few times. Then returned it to the Oxyclean for another 30 minutes, repeated the scrubbing and rinse, and then back into the Oxyclean. I probably did that 6 or 7 times until I wasn't getting the goop coming out of the stem. Definitely the worst/hardest to clean I've had.
But, it smells great now.
I can still smell some lingering aromas but they're not overpowering.
But, again, Java is right - get it to where YOU are comfortable in its cleanliness. If you still think it's too dirty, you'll never smoke it.