Barling’s Make YOW 262 EXEL Smooth Bulldog 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 late 19th century, however, the Barling family began to produce what the brand is today most famous for—expertly made briar pipes.

If one was to list the most esteemed and prized British pipe brands ever produced, it’s pretty certain that Barling would be in the top five. More specifically, it would be “pre-transition,” “family era” Barling pipes that held this stature, i.e., pipes made by the Barling family during their ownership and management of the B. Barling and Sons company. Thanks to Barling historians such as Jonathan Guss, Tad Gage, and Jesse Silver, collectors have a relatively simple time of separating these pipes from the ones that came later (see our guide on the MBSD Pipes main hub for a quick and easy rundown of these findings, with pipes such as this one being readily identifiable as a “family era” Barling. The arched “Barling’s” over “Make” nomenclature is one clue, as is the shape code (also known as a Nichols number). In the case of the latter, family era Barling pipes featured either three- or two-digit shape codes (or no shape code), with the lone exception being four-digit shape codes that began with a “1.” Based on those clues, we can deduce that this beautifully grained and quite rare example of a Barling bent bulldog belongs to the aforementioned pre-transition family era. The nomenclature further indicates that it is an extra, extra large example of such—at least by the standards of early briars. Today, we would more likely call it “just right.”

The condition is very good. Aside from a spot of inner rim charring and slight handling marks, it does not appear to have been smoked much for a pipe of its age.

Details:

Length: 5.7″ / 144.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.79 / 20.06mm

Bowl Depth: 1.35″ / 34.29mm

Weight: 1.7oz / 50g