BBB Facet 11 Smooth Panel Brandy Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

‘BBB’ originally stood for ‘Blumfeld’s Best Briars’, so named after Louis Blumfeld after he took over the historic Alfred Frankenau Company in 1856. Later, the pipes came to be known as ‘Britain’s Best Briars’. Though the name might have changed, the quality of the pipes did not – they really were fantastic pipes, made in the classic style of the English-French shape chart. Like GBD, Dunhill, and Barling’s, BBB are pipes with a rich history behind them, proudly holding the title of “the oldest trade mark in the [pipe] industry.”

I haven’t seen BBB’s ‘Facet’ series for a long time. As far as I’m aware, it’s not a series that has been produced for a very long time. The pipe looks to have been made prior to 1980, in fact, as the nomenclature and brass rondelle inlaid in the stem haven’t been used since Cadogan Investments merged BBB with several other British pipe makes around that year. As the name of the series suggests, these pipes featured faceted shapes, hence why this bent brandy/banker style pipe has a paneled bowl and shank. It’s different, but nonetheless an elegant design, especially with the brass ring banding the end of its shank.

This BBB also happens to be completely unsmoked, with an original factory bowl coating to help ease in its first smokes. It also comes with its original box and sleeve.

Details:

Length: 5.6″ / 142.2mm

Bowl Width: 0.83 / 21.08mm

Bowl Depth: 1.75″ / 44.45mm

Weight: 1.9oz / 56g