BBB Fiesta 317 Smooth Bent Apple w/ Brass & Acrylic 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.”

As far as I’m aware, BBB pipes are still in production, though it has been many years since the make was acquired by Cadogan Investments, which owns and produces many of the iconic British pipe brands these days. The “Fiesta” line, on the other hand, is certainly no longer made, as with so many of BBB’s iconic lines. It was a rather beautiful, traditional bent apple/billiard, with a striking red-black contrast stain and an offset brass and (I presume) acrylic band wrapped around its stem. As for the dating, BBB pipes are quite contentious among historians, though the brass “BBB” diamond stem rondelle is suggested to have been replaced with a simple white “BBB” diamond stamp after the make was fully consolidated in Cadgoan’s London factories in the early 1980s.

This pipe completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. It also comes with its original (slightly time-worn) box.

 

Details:

Length: 5.3″ / 134.6mm

Bowl Width: 0.73 / 18.54mm

Bowl Depth: 1.47″ / 37.33mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 42g