From: Gregory Pease <????????????>
Subject: Re: Pipes Digest #119 - November 24, 1993 

In message <???????????????????????????????????????>  you wrote:
>From: ????????????????????????? (Aryk Nusbacher)
>Subject: Re:  Pipes Digest #118 - November 19, 1993
>	
>	
>According to my old tobacconist in Pittsburgh (Ivan at Continental), 
>Latakia is processed over fires of dried camel dung.  Any tobacco
>experts out there care to comment?

Latakia was "discovered" when a bumper crop resulted in surplus,
and the excess tobacco was stored in the rafters.  The  village farmers
traditionally used camel dung (or other dung, I suspect) as a source 
of fuel, and the smoke cured tobacco was revealed the following season.  
Today, Latakia is smoked over a smouldering fire of aromatic herbs.  The
camel no longer has to process the herbs first!

>	Also I want to know about the quality of
>	the mega expensive pipes like Charatan, Davidoff, and Duhill.
>
>I am told that the only difference between a $100 GBD and a $300
>Dunhill is the label:  they come from the same factory.  

Dunhill and GBD are *not* made in the same factory.  GBDs and Comoys
are both made in France, where they actually have quite a strong
tradition.  Dunhills are still made in England by Dunhill.  Many of the 
GBD and Comoy pipes  are stemmed and finished in England, last I knew, 
but the bowls are turned in St. Claude.

There have been times in Dunhill's history when bowls were purchased and
then cured, stemmed and finshed.  This practise has not been done in decades.
The Dunhill curing process is what makes the Dunhill pipes distinctive.
When William Ashton Taylor left Dunhill's employ to establish the Ashton
factory, he cured his pipes using very similar methods.  Ashtons are now
cured differently, and no longer taste like Dunhills.  I believe there
was a bit of trouble with Dunhill's ownership of the patents, even though
Mr. Taylor originated some of the methods...

>I have 
>seen some recent Dunhills that make my flesh crawl _before_ looking
>at the price tag.  It's not like the old days, when Dunhill pipes
>were notably light and graceful right down to the bottom of the 
>line.

The "old days" are a much lauded myth.  Dunhill pipes are no better or
no worse today than ever, but the poor quality ones of olde have long
since been discarded, while the better ones have been cherished.  Dunhill
has had some periods during which certain models were not up to scratch,
but overall, they have retained their traditional curing and manufacturing
methods despite increasing costs of doing so.  The same can not be said of 
Comoy, GBD, Saseini, Barling, BBB, Charatan (now made in France and imported 
by J. B. Russell), all of which made wonderful pipes at one time, and all of
which make an inferior product today.  I have a significant number of
Dunhills in my collection, made between 1912 and 1986.  They are all 
superb smoking pipes.  I have had poor quality, heavy, flavourless Dunhills
from the 1980's *and* from the 1930's.  The most beautiful pipe set
I have ever seen is a set of Dunhill Shells, group 1 through ODA in a 
straight billiard shape.  Each pipe is sxtraordinary, and the impact
of all seven pipes, presented in a beautifully crafted chest is
breathtaking. 

I'm not defending Dunhill prices; I think they are ridiculous, but
everything has its perspective.  I have to applaud Dunhill for retaining
traditional methods and materials.  (They don't make movies like they
did in the good old days, either.  Or cars.  Remember the Edsel?)

>Charatan makes some excellent pipes that are realtively inexpensive.
>Right now I'm smoking a Charatan (3102DC) for which I paid C$60 on
>sale.  Not in the same league as Dunhill (which, last time I was in
>their New York blazer shoppe and pipe showroom, started at $250 for
>a cheesy clunker).  Buying a pipe from an excellent cigar roller
>like Davidoff seems pointless.
>
>If you're going to blow lots of oof on a pipe, you might consider
>a decent Stanwell, Comoy, Ben Wade or Charatan -- you could buy two
>for the price of one Dunhill dental appliance.

As I mentioned, Charatan is not the pipe it once was.  Really.  They
were once independent, then Lane Limited (the same chaps who own Dunhill)
bought them.  About a year or two ago, the rights to the name and shape
chart were purchased by James B. Russell, and the pipes are now made
in St. Claude, France.  I've had great pipes from St. Claude, so this 
might not be all bad, but the Charatans I have seen lately have been
piss-poor counterfeits of the "real" ones.  

GBD and Comoy are now one and the same.  The only difference between 
the pipes is the finishing and the logo.  Barling has been a different
product since the father/son transition in the (i think) 1960s.  Ditto
Saseini. 

For reasonable prices, Peterson makes a nice smoking, though not always
pretty pipe.  Because of a glut on the market, Castellos can be had for
a decent price (relative to Dunhill!), and the lesser priced Larsens
are a real bargain.  The upscale Danish pipes are truly wonderful, and
some of the less know Italian marques are worth searching out; Fiamma
di Rey, Mastro de Paja, il Ceppo, Ser Jacopo and Grenci come to mind.  
Some of the finest pipes being made today come from small American makers, 
Butera, Frey, Rausch.  These are hard to find, but well worth the search.  I
don't know if he's still around, but Julius Vesz, somewhere in Canada
was making superb pipes a few years ago.  I haven't seen one in a while,
so I can't say much about availability.

On Cigars:

If you can find them, the Private Stock (a second from a *major* Dominican 
maker) cigars are the best bang-for-the-buck going.  The Number 11 is a 
robusto with a lot of character and taste.  It's full bodied without being
overwhelming, and quite complex. (Quite similar to the Davidoff Special R.)

I've prattled on long enough.  


~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U