Barling’s Make Family Era YOW EXEXEL Smooth Lumberman Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

Description

B. Barling and Sons was originally founded in 1812 by Benjamin Barling and began as a family business making silver-adorned meerschaum pipes. In the early 20th century, however, the Barling family began to produce what the brand is today most famous for – expertly made briar pipes.

As has been mentioned before in a few of our other listings, family era Barling pipes tend to be on the smaller side, as was the fashion at the turn of the 20th century. As the decades went by and the Barling family began making larger pipes, however, rather than create new size designations, they simply added more letters to existing designations. Barling’s large pipes were grouped as “L” (“large”), so pipes that were even larger were grouped as “EXL” (“extra large”). Larger still were “EXEL” (“extra extra large”) pipes. This one is an “EXEXEL,” i.e., an “extra extra extra large” pipe, at least as far as convention and precedent dictated at the time. This one is a rather long pipe, coming in at nearly 7 inches, though its other proportions are more or less goldilocks as far as Anglo-French pipe design goes (including its lightweight stature). A distinctly long lumberman, it’s a beautiful pipe, and yet another example of why Barling’s Make pipes remain such a treasure for collectors today.

The condition is very good. Minor inner rim darkening and slight handling marks.

 

Details:

Length: 6.7″ / 170.1mm

Bowl Width: 0.79 / 20.06mm

Bowl Depth: 1.65″ / 41.91mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 42g