My Worst Lee Star Grade is Wonderful

[Briar Lee]

Lee Star Grades had three eras.

From 1946 to about 1950 they had seven point inlaid jeweler’s gold stars.

From 1950 until sometime unknown, they had five pointed inlaid jeweler’s gold stars, and I think the second era pipes are slightly, maybe better than the first.

All first and second era Lees I’ve seen have a hidden screw stem, hard rubber stems, and while a flashy grained Lee is a rarity so is one with lots of fills.

You want first 7 point star or second 5 point star era Lees. They were best.

Then came third era Lee Star Grades with stamped stars and fake gold inlays. Early on the pipes are the same quality just the fake gold rubs off quickly leaving black stamped stars.

Fake gold was a cost cutting measure. Fake gold is not as expensive as real low carat jeweler’s gold hammered and inlaid into the stars.

The very last Lees were probably push stemmed stamped stars. They kept the removable stinger, but went over to a conventional push tenon into a wooden mortise. Many push stem Lees are still excellent quality pipes.

But near the end, some Lee Star Grades shipped with low quality Kaywoodie type mortises, a cheaper nylon type stem, and Lee screw tenons. They are Frankenlees, maybe parts clean up using Briarlee mortises, screw stems and nylon stems. And they had tons of fills.

Here’s the worst Lee Star Grade I own. It’s also the largest Lee pipe I own and a wonderful smoker and beautiful pipe at arm’s length.

Lee never made junk. This is genuine Lee oil cured briar.






Note this Lee is NOT stamped

PIPE BY Lee
LIMITED EDITION

and on the other side there is no

AN AUTHENTIC IMPORTED BRIAR

It was an authentic imported briar, but even Lee had a tiny trace of humility to not call it a limited edition.

 

[anotherbob]

You should do a youtube channel where you talk about everyday items in the same way you talk cout lee briar. Now leo galiker first pastuerized his milk which came from sacred cows with a secret oil pastuerizing process after an alcoholic drowned in botulism filled milk and whiskey.

 

[Briar Lee]

You should do a youtube channel where you talk about everyday items in the same way you talk cout lee briar. Now leo galiker first pastuerized his milk which came from sacred cows with a secret oil pastuerizing process after an alcoholic drowned in botulism filled milk and whiskey.

Every other factory pipe discussed on here, was not founded by a soulmate of Preston Tucker starting the company.

Preston Tucker - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

There really was a Lee.

He was every inch as audacious and bold as Preston Tucker.

And if Lee had made cars, he’d have made the Tucker 48.

Tucker 48 - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

But anybody with $30 can reach for the stars, symbol of the world’s finest pipe.

A Lee Star Grade is smokable post war American history.

 

[didimauw]

Lee Star Grades had three eras.

From 1946 to about 1950 they had seven point inlaid jeweler’s gold stars.

From 1950 until sometime unknown, they had five pointed inlaid jeweler’s gold stars, and I think the second era pipes are slightly, maybe better than the first.

All first and second era Lees I’ve seen have a hidden screw stem, hard rubber stems, and while a flashy grained Lee is a rarity so is one with lots of fills.

You want first 7 point star or second 5 point star era Lees. They were best.

Then came third era Lee Star Grades with stamped stars and fake gold inlays. Early on the pipes are the same quality just the fake gold rubs off quickly leaving black stamped stars.

Fake gold was a cost cutting measure. Fake gold is not as expensive as real low carat jeweler’s gold hammered and inlaid into the stars.

The very last Lees were probably push stemmed stamped stars. They kept the removable stinger, but went over to a conventional push tenon into a wooden mortise. Many push stem Lees are still excellent quality pipes.

But near the end, some Lee Star Grades shipped with low quality Kaywoodie type mortises, a cheaper nylon type stem, and Lee screw tenons. They are Frankenlees, maybe parts clean up using Briarlee mortises, screw stems and nylon stems. And they had tons of fills.

Here’s the worst Lee Star Grade I own. It’s also the largest Lee pipe I own and a wonderful smoker and beautiful pipe at arm’s length.

Lee never made junk. This is genuine Lee oil cured briar.

View attachment 161962




View attachment 161963View attachment 161964View attachment 161965View attachment 161966View attachment 161967View attachment 161968Note this Lee is NOT stamped

PIPE BY Lee
LIMITED EDITION

and on the other side there is no

AN AUTHENTIC IMPORTED BRIAR

It was an authentic imported briar, but even Lee had a tiny trace of humility to not call it a limited edition.

That's got as many and as big of fills as my Rossi 8202. One of my ugliest pipes but also a fantastic smoker.

 

[TheWhale13]

Never meet your heroes, I guess. So many pits in a Lee upsets me more than you could believe.

 

[Briar Lee]

That's got as many and as big of fills as my Rossi 8202. One of my ugliest pipes but also a fantastic smoker.

I never weigh the tobacco held or try and measure the chamber size of a pipe, but this Lee Three Star Frankenlee is a very big pipe, by my standards.

I’ve worked on a bowl of BCA since I posted this and everybody in this world would smoke a big Lee full of black cavendish if not for the do gooders against tobacco.

Cotton candy at the county fair is the closest taste I can measure it by.

Smoking endangers your heath, maybe those around you, it’s not free to smoke, and unless you smoke candy flavored tobacco, makes you a social pariah.

Some lucky seventies man probably received this Lee Frankenpipe as a gift from a woman who wanted him to be happy and she got to smell his happiness.

Pipes should taste and smell good, or why smoke one?

 

[Briar Lee]

Never meet your heroes, I guess. So many pits in a Lee upsets me more than you could believe.

Lee might have died before this one shipped.

But there’s one thing very Lee about it.

That’s a sweet smoking hunk of Three Star grade briar, that would have been a Gold Coast or Briarlee back when Lee was in the factory.

 

[jpberg]

I don’t pay strict attention, so pardon the question, but is there any documentation that says these were oil cured?

 

[Briar Lee]

I don’t pay strict attention, so pardon the question, but is there any documentation that says these were oil cured?

None at all.

But there’s universal agreement they were oil cured.

If you take a new old stock Lee, or even find one with bare briar in the bottom, or one just lightly smoked, there’s an almost indescribable sweetness until the bare briar has been smoked many times, as many as a few dozen.

In 1946 Dunhill oil cured their briar. It was a fairly common practice then, among high dollar pipes.

The merchant’s brochure just says Lee pipes are cured to cake easily.

The cheaper Briarlee line is far less commonly found today than Star Grades, but I have a few. They had the same sweet oil cure.

Also the inside of a new Lee pipe, has a darker color than the outside. It’s not darkly stained, but it’s not as light as the rest of the stummel.

Was there a clear coating, like a Yello Bole?

There’s so little documentation we just can’t know after 75 years.

 

[telescopes]

None at all.

But there’s universal agreement they were oil cured.

No, there isn’t. I disagree.

 

[Briar Lee]

No, there isn’t. I disagree.

Let’s assume then, for comity’s sake, they were not oil cured. It’s only a legend.

The essential thing about Lee pipes was they did indeed smoke sweet from the first puff, as advertised.

How Lee did that, was perhaps the only true trade secret about Lee pipes.

Maybe the legend they were oil cured was created to throw the others off the scent?

 

[didimauw]

No, there isn’t. I disagree.

Maybe if you put oil on them 30 years after they were made?

?

 

[telescopes]

We’re they oil cured? Maybe. But we can’t know for certain. Building up a legend when none is necessary makes only a tall tale. The pipes are interesting enough that they don’t need to be made interesting. In my opinion that is.

 

[Briar Lee]

We’re they oil cured? Maybe. But we can’t know for certain. Building up a legend when none is necessary makes only a tall tale. The pipes are interesting enough that they don’t need to be made interesting. In my opinion that is.

The big reason to argue they weren’t oil cured is, that Lee built a new factory, hired labor in New York City, bought all the machines and tooling, and secured a boat load of government reserve briar.

There just had not been any new briar supplies since the war began with Italy in June 1940.

Lee had five year old briar blocks.

Why take the extra time and expense to oil cure it?

The best argument for oil curing, was that was a well known way to make sweet tasting pipes from the first puff, because Dunhill (and others) oil cured.

 

[craig61a]

What little research I did on these pipes tends to indicate they were contracted by Stewart-Allen Co. Inc and made by the New Jersey pipe company.

NJPC made promotional and contract smoking pipes for any number of buyers and did subcontract work for other major pipe manufacturers.

These are just average grade pipes spun and priced as high grade pipes while none of the ad copy specifically states that they in fact are, it’s just implied.

Nothing but Madison Avenue hype marketed through periodicals of the day.

 

[Briar Lee]

What little research I did on these pipes tends to indicate they were contracted by Stewart-Allen Co. Inc and made by the New Jersey pipe company.

NJPC made promotional and contract smoking pipes for any number of buyers and did subcontract work for other major pipe manufacturers.

These are just average grade pipes spun and priced as high grade pipes while none of the ad copy specifically states that they in fact are, it’s just implied.

Nothing but Madison Avenue hype marketed through periodicals of the day.

Every Lee advertisement says distributed by Stuart Allen.

We know that S-A eventually bought out Lee.

I own four Kaywoodie #13 large Dublins.

One is a pre war not marked imported briar large ball 4 hole stinger masterpiece.

That is the pinnacle of Kaywoodie Flame Grain pipes.

Every Lee Star grade has better construction than a prewar Flame Grain. They have a better, hidden mortise. They have removable stingers. They have user adjustable screw tenons. Stems are better, buttons are better. And especially a 7 pointed or 5 pointed star era Lee had much better decoration, using real (but low carat) gold inlaid stars. A Lee is a better pipe.

I didn’t say Lee used better briar.

This is my worst Lee Two Star large Dublin.

And, a new Lee was sweet from the first puff. A Kaywoodie needed broken in, to become sweet.

There were photos of Lee and his new factory.

And of course, there’s all the pipes to prove he wasn’t a fanciful tale.

 

[craig61a]

Going in circles here, we’re in familiar territory…

 

[Briar Lee]

Why smoke a high condition Lee today?

Cheaper than a Kaywoodie, but better made.

Cheaper than a Dunhill by ten times.

Pretty gold stars

Best mortise and tenon in the world, ever. No cracked tenons, or cracked shanks. Looks like a push stem, but unscrews for easy cleaning.

Every early Lee has hundred plus year old briar today. Aged briar is better.

Forties style. Smaller than modern production. Looks good wearing a suit.

Optional stinger, that works if you like one.

Beauty:


$120 worth of Lees.

 

[jpberg]

We’re they oil cured? Maybe. But we can’t know for certain. Building up a legend when none is necessary makes only a tall tale. The pipes are interesting enough that they don’t need to be made interesting. In my opinion that is.

I’ll take a wild swing and say they weren’t oil cured.
I’ll take another wild swing and say no one here is old enough to know if they were sweet smokers from the git go.
It’s like Myth busters, only easy.

 

[Briar Lee]

I’ll take a wild swing and say they weren’t oil cured.
I’ll take another wild swing and say no one here is old enough to know if they were sweet smokers from the git go.
It’s like Myth busters, only easy.

Whatever Lee did to make them break in sweet, it’s beyond any doubt he achieved the grail in sweetening new briar.

The Poker Two Star I got in was brand new. Out of about a hundred Lees, I’ve broken in at least 15, maybe more.

I broke that Poker in earlier this summer, driving to Humansville. The sun set over Gardner Cemetery at Wheatland and I can still taste that sweet briar. I savored that Poker, all the way to Humansville for more Half and Half, and it’s unforgettable.

That little pear Two Star was also new. I broke that in with cherry cavendish in my office. Would heaven, be as sweet.



The briar gets extra hot during break in.

I can even smell a little burning briar, so much I worried about the Poker.

Maybe Lee coated them with saccharine, for all I know.

Try one, you’ll see.