Mystery Pipe... Calagal

[Scully]

I acquired this pipe in a little trading, and I've been trying to find out who the manufacturer was, and some idea of the decade it came from. It's a Calagal in made in Italy. It's a beautiful pipe, walnut stummel, with a wide stem. It's got a beast of a bowl on it, so it'll be good for those days of continuous contemplation. Any insight would be appreciated.

Scully

 

[sablebrush52]

Couldn't uncover anything about this make other than it's Italian. Nice looking pipe!

 

[Scully]

Couldn't uncover anything about this make other than it's Italian. Nice looking pipe!

Follow up on the Calagal mystery pipe. Mystery solved.
After some research on the box label, I discovered that the Calagal name/trademark name is currently owned by A. Oppenheimer & Co., Limited, the owners of Cadogan Investments, Ltd. Calagal is not a 'Peterson' or 'Stanwell', etc... by any stretch.... you know the type. It's a (was) a small company that wasn't meant to survive I'm sure.
Cadogan also owns , Irwin's, Comoy's, BBB, GBD, Loewe & Co., Medico, Orlik, and Ropp brand names as well. They've been busy little beavers buying up pipe manufacturing companies over the decades. Talk about "shell companies"

 

[sablebrush52]

Follow up on the Calagal mystery pipe. Mystery solved.
After some research on the box label, I discovered that the Calagal name/trademark name is currently owned by A. Oppenheimer & Co., Limited, the owners of Cadogan Investments, Ltd. Calagal is not a 'Peterson' or 'Stanwell', etc... by any stretch.... you know the type. It's a (was) a small company that wasn't meant to survive I'm sure.
Cadogan also owns , Irwin's, Comoy's, BBB, GBD, Loewe & Co., Medico, Orlik, and Ropp brand names as well. They've been busy little beavers buying up pipe manufacturing companies over the decades. Talk about "shell companies"

Box says distributed, so may or may not be owned by Cadogan Investments.
They have a long history in the pipe trade.

 

[jguss]

As Jesse says this pipe was apparently distributed but not made by a Cadogan Investments company even though they owned the brand name. That makes sense since as far as I know Cadogan only had pipe manufacturing affiliates in the UK, US, and France, not Italy. I can’t tell you who the Italian maker was but can say your pipe probably dates from the late seventies. I say this because the Calaman-Calagal lineup only appears under the Oppenheimer listing in the 1976 and 1977 editions of the RTDA Almanac. Of course it remains possible that Oppenheimer offered the line other years without bothering to publicize it but I think that relatively unlikely.

The pipe was offered in four finishes at four distinct price points; yours, the Walnut, was the second most expensive:



The least expensive finish, the Brutus, was rusticated. Is there a price sticker on the box?

Finally Cadogan still exists and a member of the Adler family might answer an inquiry if you care enough to shoot them an email.

 

[georged]

 

[DesertDan]

Good looking pipe, Congrats!

 

[anotherbob]

I acquired this pipe in a little trading, and I've been trying to find out who the manufacturer was, and some idea of the decade it came from. It's a Calagal in made in Italy. It's a beautiful pipe, walnut stummel, with a wide stem. It's got a beast of a bowl on it, so it'll be good for those days of continuous contemplation. Any insight would be appreciated.

Scully

I love the Italian style with pipes. It's classic but a little bit rougher in a homey kind of way. Maybe slightly rustic is the term. They're just as classy as the classic shapes but seem more at home against the back drop of fields and villas. Or at least that's my take on it.
Oh let me simplify that, sweet pipe.

 

[kcghost]

It looks like a nice looking no-name pipe.

 

[Scully]

As Jesse says this pipe was apparently distributed but not made by a Cadogan Investments company even though they owned the brand name. That makes sense since as far as I know Cadogan only had pipe manufacturing affiliates in the UK, US, and France, not Italy. I can’t tell you who the Italian maker was but can say your pipe probably dates from the late seventies. I say this because the Calaman-Calagal lineup only appears under the Oppenheimer listing in the 1976 and 1977 editions of the RTDA Almanac. Of course it remains possible that Oppenheimer offered the line other years without bothering to publicize it but I think that relatively unlikely.

The pipe was offered in four finishes at four distinct price points; yours, the Walnut, was the second most expensive:

View attachment 283404

The least expensive finish, the Brutus, was rusticated. Is there a price sticker on the box?

Finally Cadogan still exists and a member of the Adler family might answer an inquiry if you care enough to shoot them an email.

Luckily for me, it came with the original bag and the box, and it was purchased a store called 'The Smoke Stack', and there's a $30 on the price sticker inside the lid of the box, and as well as one the end. I've only smoked it once and it's a great smoker, I was curious about it's lineage, and I thank you so much for responding. Many Thanks.

Scully

 

[Scully]

I love the Italian style with pipes. It's classic but a little bit rougher in a homey kind of way. Maybe slightly rustic is the term. They're just as classy as the classic shapes but seem more at home against the back drop of fields and villas. Or at least that's my take on it.
Oh let me simplify that, sweet pipe.

It's a great smoker, which is the bottom line, and it looks good too. Thanks for the reply