Michel Naturals by GBD 255 Smooth Canadian Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Michel pipes were store-brand pipes made for Maison Michel, a North Carolina (USA) tobacconist run by Michel J. Mitchell between 1951 and 1980. Over the years, several prominent pipe-makers made pipes for Maison Michel, such as Charatan, Barling, and others.

While I’ve encountered house-brand pipes from Maison Michel that were attributable to Barling and to Charatan, it’s only recently that I realized that some of them were also made by GBD. Having a relatively unique one come in with the shape code 1350, which just so happened to perfectly match GBD’s own shape 1350, I went and checked others that had shape numbers. Funnily enough, GBD also had a Canadian shape 255, with the same dimensions as this one, right down to the chamber depth and diameter. Given that Maison Michel closed in 1980, and that this Michel was made in France, that would make it essentially a pre-Cadogan GBD, as far as the common periodization goes.

This pipe is also completely unsmoked. There are one or two worn out fills, but nothing major at all.

 

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.75“ / 19.05mm

Bowl Depth: 1.55″ / 39.37mm

Weight: 0.8oz / 24g