You know you're dealing with a class act when you can't even choose the shape of the pipe you want. Why the f*** anyone would want one is beyond me. Get a pipe kit, carve your shape, and be happy.
How to Buy a New Grabow
- Thread starter Richmond B. Funkenhouser
- Start date
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You’ll learn quick enough.
I own several Dr Grabow pipes I bought used over the internet.
One old large Dublin Grand Duke woth a screw stem has better grain than my Five Star Lee or any other Lee I own, for that matter.
Have you considered the selection on eBay?
During the fifties and sixties Grabow made and sold ten dollar pipes to compete with Lees.
Good people to deal with! ? ?...
The new ones are bad. The few I've bought in the past 10 years have an issue with the metal tenon chewing up the mortise. The ones I bought in the '90s never did that.
In the beginning, there was the first briar pipe.
Legend has it that first one was carved for a nobleman who’d dropped his meerschaum.
And it likely was a billiard.
The difference in cost to make a White Spot and White Spade Billiard is very little for raw materials and more for City of London than South Carolina labor.
This was a $10 grade Dr Grabow about the time I was born in 1958, give or take a few years.
It might be my fanciest grained pipe.
Legend has it that first one was carved for a nobleman who’d dropped his meerschaum.
And it likely was a billiard.
The difference in cost to make a White Spot and White Spade Billiard is very little for raw materials and more for City of London than South Carolina labor.
This was a $10 grade Dr Grabow about the time I was born in 1958, give or take a few years.It might be my fanciest grained pipe.
Marketing is not Dr. Grabow's strong point, but I think most people get more than their money's worth out of a Dr. G. My favorite Dr. Grabow pipe is the Royalton bulldog, without bead lines. They disappeared from the market for about a year or two, and now they're back; maybe someone who did them retired, and someone else learned the shape.
Drugstores carry the brand, but usually only a few, not much selection, and they may be hidden behind check-out down near the floor. Many B&M stores don't carry them, probably because there isn't enough profit margin.
I've used wvtobaccoshop several times. They also have a moving inventory of Kaywoodie pipes which have impressed me with their cool burning relatively thin walled pipes that are handsome and good smokers, and in the Saxon and Red Root and other lines, moderately priced. Also light weight but with fair sized chambers.
It's impressive how much pipe you can buy for under 50 USD.
Drugstores carry the brand, but usually only a few, not much selection, and they may be hidden behind check-out down near the floor. Many B&M stores don't carry them, probably because there isn't enough profit margin.
I've used wvtobaccoshop several times. They also have a moving inventory of Kaywoodie pipes which have impressed me with their cool burning relatively thin walled pipes that are handsome and good smokers, and in the Saxon and Red Root and other lines, moderately priced. Also light weight but with fair sized chambers.
It's impressive how much pipe you can buy for under 50 USD.
I have a few older ones. I just wanted the opportunity to break in a new one.
I'm no artist my friend.. I'm not carving any pipes.
I do realize there are better or equal pipes for the money.
It's really the retailers who are making it impossible to pick your shape.
WVsmokeshop gives a damn enough to sort it out.. the rest do not.
Have you ever smoked a Grabow? The stem is unique and quite comfortable.
Yep.. It's a shit design. That's basically what was wrong with the last one I had, I think they had forced the tenon in at the factory and cracked the pipe.
I figure if I get one in good working order I'll just never take the stem off.
I run a very pointed diamond tool along the two grooves in the aluminum tenon and this prevents it from boring out the mortise ,my friend. I have no problem as a result.
I love Dr Grabows, yes, and even the new ones!
Why the f... are we allowing ourselves to be more critical of a 40 dollar pipe than we'd be of a high end pipe? Sometimes this forum pisses me off with members badmouthing pipes that are affordable for those of us with limited resources. After all, it's really about the tobacco. Rant over!!
I hate to sound like I was bad mouthing.. That's not my intention.
I just can't figure out why they didn't make the damned tenon out of plastic!
I probably overdid the bourbon, but I think Grabow does a reasonable job what with the quality of labor these days. I have been smoking Grabows since 1972 or so, and have found them, with a very few exceptions, to deliver a good smoke for the money. And money has been an issue for me and not a few pipe smokers. So, I apologize for my aggressive response, but shit, I think we need to support those that give us reasonable, and affordable tools for burning our favorite blends! Certainly no offense intended and I'm glad to see you back and posting.
I like Medico pipes which are very similar, some with the nylon (or whatever cheap plastic blend it is) stems, they are very comfortable to clench and don't oxidize. They use the metal tenon also, which I like for its durability if nothing else.
Here's a picture of the real Dr. Grabow. The man, the myth, the legend..
Filter sales are what keeps the lights on at Sparta. They don't advertise per agreement with distributors but you can buy direct from them, and they still offer restemming pipes for like $12 or something. If you're on a real budget they can be accomnodating. That said I'm partial to the older ones but have them all.
I wholeheartedly agree. It's soft like vulcanite, without the oxidation.