BBB Fiesta 745 Smooth Dublin 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.”

Is it just me or does this BBB look a little… Danish? I know, ‘Danish’ can mean just about anything in modern pipe design, but this does remind me quite a bit of Sixten Ivarsson’s rather squat, quarter-bent Dublin shapes for Stanwell. Regardless, it’s a nifty little pipe, and something a little outside of the norm for the Great British make. The stain is beautiful, too – nice and fiery, making great use of the flame grain underneath. Tying things together are a black ebonite stem and a stem accent that looks to be faux-ivory acrylic sandwiched between brass. Very classy.

On a last note, the pipe’s nomenclature and brass rondelle would appear to indicate that this BBB is pre-1980, i.e., having been made before the make’s merger with Cadogan Investments. It is also completely unsmoked, with a factory-original bowl coating and its original box and sleeve.

Details:

Length: 5.8″ / 147.3mm

Bowl Width: 0.82 / 20.82mm

Bowl Depth: 1.27″ / 32.25mm

Weight: 2.0oz / 58g