The McLardy bulldog

My restored Samuel McLardy bulldog

As a lover of history I browse through e-bay searching for antique pipes once in a while. I very much like the thrill of owning and smoking a 100+ year old pipe, I see it as some sort of time machine. While enjoying such a smoke my mind drifts off and I think about how the world looked like when the pipe was made, who the previous owners were and what stories it could tell if it could speak. So on one of my searches I stumbled upon a gorgeous antique bulldog shaped pipe with a beautifully decorated silver rim and ring in almost pristine condition. Unfortunately the mouthpiece was missing. Probably it was made from amber and had broken a long time ago. Despite that I decided to bid on the pipe and to my delight I won! I asked Frisian pipe-maker Meindert if he could clean up the antique bulldog and make a new mouthpiece for it. He rose up to the challenge.

$_57In the meanwhile I looked up the silver-marks because I wanted to be sure of the production year and the company who made it. Dating the pipe proved to be simple, Birmingham marks from the year 1890! Holy crap, 125 years old! 1890.. The Sleeping Beauty ballet with music by Tchaikovsky was premièred, the second Sherlock Holmes novel (The Sign of the Four) was published, famous Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh died, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde was published, American writer H.P. Lovecraft was born and the folding carton box we all know today was invented by Robert Gair. However, the maker of the antique bulldog was a bit more difficult to discover. Luckily the triangle logo on the shank with the letters “S Mc L” inside set me on the correct path and soon I found its creator: the Samuel McLardy company from Manchester.

McLardy advertisement

McLardy advertisement

The McLardy company thanks its existence to the entrepreneurial spirit of 1 person: Samuel McLardy, born in Glasgow in 1842. He was the son of a tobacconist who also produced his own clay pipes. In the paternal shop he must have learned the profession of pipe-maker. Shortly after his 20th birthday he decided to move to Manchester to start his own company. There is remarkably little known about the history of the factory. On an old advertisement it says “established 1865” so since then there must have been a steady growth. Within a couple of decades there was a massive production of clay pipes. Around 1895 the factory owned over 500 moulds which meant yearly production was around 5 million pipes! Similar to that of Dutch factory P. Goedewaagen & Zoon in that period.

mclardy_catalogue_cover

McLardy catalogue cover

Over time we find Samuel McLardy at different locations. Before 1880 that was Miller Street number 16 in Manchester and it is there where the shop grew to the size of a factory. In 1890 the company moved to Shudehill number 67 where it remained active until after 1910. At the new address they occupied an imposing factory building that you can see on the cover of an old catalogue beside this text. Such factory-illustrations have to be taken with a grain of salt, because often they are grossly exaggerated. The building had a high façade that could accommodate show rooms and an office and there were 4 floors for production and storage. After WWI we find McLardy headquarters in Swan Buildings at number 20 of the Swan Street but they also had several workshops at other addresses and that was certainly true for the pipe-making shops. It should be noted that these changes of address meant no large migration because they were close to each other.

McLardy clay pipe

McLardy clay pipe

The successful growth led the company to expansion, initially for the sale of products of their own. But shortly after 1900 a rapid decrease of the interest in the clay pipe as a smoking device in Western Europe brought many traditional pipe factories in financial problems. The widening to trading house was an option to overcome this problem and the Samuel McLardy company successfully implemented this. These trading activities were supported by the then new communication means such as telephone and telegram, both stated on the cover of the catalogue. There you can also see: “Importer of Tobacconists Fancy Goods”. So initially they became importer of all kinds of items sold in the tobacco industry. 

McLardy briar pipe

McLardy briar pipe

With those items, for example beautiful briar pipes with silver mounting and buffalo horn mouthpieces, access was gained to the best specialist stores. With this activities the company increased its market share. A process that also was not strange for other firms. The production of such wooden pipes took place both in England and in the French Saint-Claude, once the global centre of the pipe production. By the way, the English briar industry and that of Saint-Claude was closely intertwined because the same families acted as an investor. About the export of the company not much data is known. Although finds of McLardy pipes in Canada, Australia and most of the West African coast proved that there was a substantial trade overseas.

McLardy briar pipe

McLardy briar pipe

During and after WWI the trade function at McLardy was widened further. The latest catalogue from the 1920’s mentioned this expansion. The activities of the company had been changed beyond recognition: they handled leather goods and fancy articles such as bags, handbags and purses in crocodile leather and calfskin. This assortment was soon expanded with collarboxes, writingboxes, school bags and baskets. But also with photo-frames, firescreens, postcards albums  and cigarettes albums. Other articles were clocks, framed paintings or engravings, lithographs, all kinds of mirrors and toys (including dolls and mechanical toys like trains). In short, the wholesale business of all conceivable industrial products without any limitation. Initially that seemed successful until the curtain quite suddenly fell for the McLardy company in 1929. The precise reason is not known, though the year points towards the Great Depression.

Polished bowl

Polished bowl

Back to Meindert. When he received the pipe he marvelled at its beauty and went to work. Before I knew it he had carefully removed the thin silverwork from the bowl and shank and slightly polished the ancient briar. I also asked if he could drill the smoking channel a little wider for a better draft. With steps of 0.1 mm he slowly broadened the channel until it had a diameter of 3.8 mm. Trusting his eye and experience he stopped there, fearing he would take to much “flesh” of the pipe. But the most intricate part of the restoration was drilling out the screw-thread from the mortise. Back in the days one screwed the mouthpiece onto the pipe. This may sound as blasphemy to some but I wanted a “modern” push/pull stem.

Pipe with aluminium tube inside

Pipe with aluminium tube inside

One evening I got a phone call, it was Meindert. I heard his slightly timid voice and knew something had gone wrong.. Earlier he was drilling away the screw-thread from the mortise and despite him being very careful his worst nightmare came true. The shank cracked. Luckily he was able to fix it with 2-component glue but he did not trust it completely. So he glued an aluminium tube inside the mortise to extra strengthen the fragile briar walls. The good news was that the crack would not be visible because the silver ring would cover it.

Making the stem

Making the stem

Another tricky job was the creation of the stem. The bulldog shape is pretty because of its flawless lines that go from the shank through the stem onto the end of the mouthpiece. Meindert had to re-create that but lacked the necessary tools that pipe-factories and professional pipe-workshops have to make the sharp angles, which made him somewhat nervous. “Round I can do, but those sharp angles.. Difficult..” I told him I trusted him and that he would surely pull it off. I send several pictures how the stem should look like so he had some reference examples and crossed my fingers. Some time later my patience was rewarded. Meindert succeeded in making the angles by placing the stem in the bank-screw and meticulously filing away the acrylic material. Yes, acrylic, not ebonite. It is Meindert’s favourite stem-material to work with and his acrylic (that he gets from Janzen Pfeifen) is of the highest quality.

McLardy tobacco-cutter

McLardy tobacco-cutter

I already knew I wanted to write a blogpost about the McLardy bulldog so while Meindert was slaving away I was doing some research about the brand on internet. There I came across a English antique-site which had a very interesting item: an old tobacco cutter for plugs, cakes and ropes made by… Samuel McLardy! The price was ok so I immediately bought it. When I was with Fred on the Inter Tabac fair in Dortmund this year they had such a cutter at the stand of DTM. It was used for the slicing of samples for their  Salty Dogs plug. We both admired the tool and I silently vowed to buy one if I ever got the chance and the price was right.

IMG_2521When the restoration of the McLardy bulldog neared its completion I mailed Meindert that I would pick up the pipe at his place together with my good friend Ed. Ed loves handworks and all the machinery and tools that comes with it. So I asked if Meindert was willing to show some of his skills when Ed and I were there and being a proud Frisian he said “sure”! In the car on the way there I was pretty nervous because I did not saw the finished result. Luckily I was not disappointed when we arrived. Meindert succeeded in placing back the beautifully decorated silverwork and given it an extra polish to make it shiny like a new pipe. Also the stem turned out to be very well made and I breathed a sigh of relief. Meindert had measured up the bowl and found a similar pipe on the internet so he had a clue of the dimensions of the stem. Briefly worded: I was a happy man!

The rest of the pleasant afternoon we spent talking and Meindert showed Ed how he did things. As a former metal worker he even was able to simply sharpen the edge of the tobacco cutter I had brought with me. Back home I tried it out on some Fayyum Kake and it worked like a charm. Meindert had put some of his biological smoking-paste on the inside of the bulldog bowl and I don’t know it was because of that, but I had a very satisfying smoke. I am just glad the pipe is “alive” again and hope it survives for another 125 years.

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Inter-Tabac 2014 impression

Entrance of the Inter-Tabac fair

Entrance of the Inter-Tabac fair

Last year a dream came true for me, I got to visit the Inter-Tabac fair in Dortmund, Germany. For those of you who missed the blogpost I made of the visit; the Inter-Tabac is the leading and biggest trade fair of the world for tobacco products and smoking accessories. This year there were more than 400 exhibitors from 51 countries who presented themselves on an area of over 30.000 square metres! In 5 exhibition halls (1 more than last year) renowned companies from all over the world presented trends and innovative tobacco products. This includes cigars, cigarillos, cigarettes, E-cigarettes, E-pipes, smoking accessories, pipes, pipe tobacco, shop equipment and spirits. Unfortunately the fair is for retailers, not for consumers. Last year I was lucky, I got a ticket through an anonymous person. Well, that person was Fred, the Dutch importer of Mr. Brog and Country Pipes and also a member of the Dutch/Belgian Pipe Smokers forum. Now he yet again had a ticket for me and on top of that he was visiting the fair the same day as myself. A good thing because Rudi and Paul, with whom I went last year, preferred more privacy now despite the good times we all had. Apparently Rudi noticed that a big crew of consumers did not go well with the exhibitors, after all it is a fair meant for retailers. Luckily, for Fred my presence was no trouble at all.

Waiting with a nice view for the halls to open. See that guy checking out the boobs of the girl?

Do you see that guy sneakily checking out the boobs of the girl?

On the sunny morning of September 19th I once again drove to the Westfalenhallen in Dortmund. Luckily there was no Stau (traffic jam) on the way so I arrived in time. When I walked to the main entrance (no anti-smoking nazis this time) I saw Paul and Rudi standing there. We all went inside and chatted a bit while I was texting Fred if he already had arrived. To my utter delight I saw signs that smoking was allowed inside the halls. This because last year I heard that that maybe was the final time inside smoking was still possible. Of course the exhibitors protested and I guess that helped. I mean, you go to biggest smoking trade fair of the world and you can’t smoke inside?? Suddenly I got a SMS from Fred that he was in hall 8 so I said goodbye to Rudi and Paul and went on my way.

Midwakh pipes

Midwakh pipes

Soon I found Fred at the big yellow Clipper stand, we greeted each other and started walking while chatting. Some exhibitors handed out presents and information so near a stand Fred got a bag pushed into his hands. He checked out the contents and saw something inside which looked like a small pipe. Fred likes new, innovative things that no one has so he headed back to the stand. The pipe appeared to be a so called “Midwakh“, an arab pipe. An enthusiastic salesman showed us how you fill the pipe with tobacco made in Oman and offered us a smoke. It tasted a bit like cigarette tobacco and the salesman explained that the pipe is meant for a quick enjoyable fix if you have little time. Even quicker than a cigarette. But I thought like (did not express it), well, you had your quick fix and then you still have to clean the pipe. So all by all it takes more time than a cigarette.. And besides that, being a full-blood Dutchman, the pipe looked to me like a hasish-pipe..

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Brebbia stand

An interesting stand we passed by was that of Brebbia pipes. I already knew from Fred that they have no Dutch importer and he was asked a couple of times if he wanted that job. But it was too much work. Despite that Fred was hesitating if he should buy some pipes because we saw some really nice ones. What I love about the Italian pipe makers is that they have some kind of passion and fire in their eyes when they talk about their creations. Fred asked if he could buy low quantities and if they shipped to the Netherlands and with busy hand-gestures and thick Italians accents they said that was no problem at all. So who knows..

Fred at the Dan Tobacco stand

Fred at the Dan Tobacco stand

While we walked through the halls the appetite for a chair and some coffee arose with the both of us. “Let’s go to the stand of Dan Tobacco, we can get some coffee there” Fred said. Good idea! When we arrived I saw to my disappointment that master-blender Andreas Mund was not there. Last year he was present and we had a warm conversation. For me Andreas is the living soul of Dan Tobacco besides the old director Heiko Behrens who was present but looked a bit old and fragile.. Anyway, the charming daughter of Heiko presented us 3 new blends: Bulldog Roper’s Roundels, Salty Dogs and Choo Choo Train. The last one was so new and fresh that it could not be smoked yet. From what I could see and smell it is a light Virginia flake with a topping of chocolate and some kind of vanilla-butterscotch. My eye fell on the label of Bulldog Roper’s Roundels and Salty Dogs: Manufactured in the E.C. for Dan Tobacco Germany. Hmm.. The Roundels smelled and looked precisely like Peter Stokkebye’s Luxury Bullseye Flake and there are not many tobacco factories on Europe mainland that can make plugs like Salty Dogs. So my guess is they were made in a big factory in the North of Europe.. Choo Choo Train is fully made at Dan Tobacco. As it should be. While sipping the coffee I also asked the daughter of Heiko how the waterpipe tobacco business (see the blog of last year) went: most excellent.

IMG_2054So our thirst was quenched but now our bellies grumbled. Last year I had lunch at the restaurant of the fair itself and it was expensive and baaaad.. Luckily Fred knew that outside was a stand where they sold grilled mega-burgers. It was easy to find because the fumes from the grill rose sky-high and the queue was long.. But it was 100% definitely worth the wait! A mouth-watering very tasty 20 cm. diameter (!) burger between a bun of the same size with sauce and salad was our reward.

Prime examples of Mastro de Paja

Prime examples of Mastro de Paja

Back inside we passed by the stand of Mastro de Paja and saw the most exquisite pipes of the day. We just had to stand in awe and admire the displayed beauties. “For you just 10 dollars”, joked one of the salesmen who saw us drooling. Well, for that money I would have taken them all home! When we learned the real price we sadly understood that we would take none with us.. But the silverwork and innovative use of egg-shells in some pipes was very, very professional. And also here the fierce Italian enthusiasm for their products was hearth warming. If only I had the money..

Per Jensen showing a tin of HH Latakia Flake

Per Jensen showing a tin of HH Latakia Flake

One of the stands I definitely wanted to visit was that of MacBaren. Last year I had some trouble finding it (a stand within a stand) but now we easily marched to the small counter where the very friendly master-blender Per Jensen was just helping some clients. While waiting we looked at the range of MacBaren tobaccos in small sample jars and it occurred to me that I was missing one, their latest creation: HH Latakia Flake. So I asked Mr. Jensen (when he was available) where it was. Quickly he went to the back, grabbed a tin of it from a cabinet and opened it. Fred and I approvingly sniffed the delicious smelling flakes inside. Earlier this year I smoked a small sample of the HH Latakia Flake and found it to be pretty tasty and smooth. But the German health-labels on the tin puzzled me somewhat. Was it already available in Germany? Fred said that I have blog about pipe-smoking. Mr. Jensen nodded approvingly and replied that if I mentioned that HH Latakia Flake is going to be available in Germany in the spring of 2015 he was going to give me the tin. My blog is non-commercial but this opportunity I would not let slip through. So you see Mr. Jensen? I said it. I also had a question about one of my personal favourites, HH Vintage Syrian. As you perhaps know it is one of the last blends with the original Syrian Latakia and I was wondering how long the stock of MacBaren would last. Mr. Jensen very honestly answered that he guessed that in about 7 or 8 years they would run out of the Syrian dark leaf. So grab your tins while you still can!

Fred wondering why Dunhill pipes are so expensive..

Fred wondering why Dunhill pipes are so expensive..

We also had to go to the big stand of the Scandinavian Tobacco Group where pipe-brands like Winslow, Peterson, Dunhill and Butz Choquin are shown. Of course the main attraction is Poul Winslow himself and.. He was not present when we were there, he was walking around the fair. Oooh damn.. So we just looked around and marvelled at the beauty of the Winslow and Dunhill pipes. Two totally different brands but each beautiful in their own right. What was not so beautiful were some pipes by Butz Choquin. They had a couple of bright yellow, almost fluorescent ones. Pipes covered with jeans-fabric and dark blue ones with yellow spots. Let’s just say I expected the French to have more of a good taste.

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Sergeant Matron from the Kearvaig Pipe Club

The Italians surely had a better taste on the fair as we noticed when we shuffled beside the stands of Lorenzo, L’Anatra, Ser Jacopo and Savinelli. I am even surprised that I don’t own an Italian pipe.. Hmm.. When we turned around the corner we saw the combined stand of pipe-maker Ian Walker and tobacco institute Samuel Gawith. The Gawith guys were busy and Ian Walker did not recognize me right away until I put the forum prince under his nose that he made last year. “Aaahh! I already thought it was you! Pipe nr. 13 right?” He has a good memory for sure! I asked how business went and he enthusiastic told me that he already had 80 orders for pipes that morning! Wow! He also was so kind to get the latest offering from his neighbours for me so I could enjoy it: Bothy Flake. Apparently the smoke summoned the physical body of Sergeant Matron of the Kearvaig Pipe Club, one of the originators of Bothy Flake. I did not recognize him because I only knew him as a zombie. I said who I was and I was glad to hear he is a regular reader of my blog. I told him I loved the magazines he makes for the pipe club with crazy pictures of wasted Scotchmen in kilts who show their bare asses. He countered with “Well, I saw the blogpost with you guys wearing those strange coats and you say we are crazy??” Lovely chap! If I ever get to Scotland I will surely try to survive an evening in a bothy with the KPC members and copious amounts of tobacco and whisky.

Look daddy! Two girls, I did it!

Look daddy! Two girls, I did it!

Talking about bare asses, sex still sells at the Inter Tabac Fair. But not with the “old-fashioned” tobacco products like cigarettes, cigars and pipes/pipe tobacco. No, the hordes of attractive scarcely clad young ladies were present at trendy water-pipe (tobacco) and E-cigarette (liquid) stands. And it works! Fred and I walked by a stand where they sold some espresso water-pipe stuff and a good looking girl asked if we wanted to try some. Ehrrrr ok! The girl explained with a sly smile that we really had to suck hard on the pipes to get them going. Owkeeej.. I have some water-pipe experience from my visits to Cairo so I was fuming (and coughing) away in no time. When we were done we passed another stand with a girl who had, let’s say, two major unique selling points. She made some kind of water-pipe cocktail with real fruit for us and I have no idea how she did it because I was trying to look at (and photograph) something else.. I am a bad man, I know. In front of an E-cigarette producer stand were a couple of girls active with handing out goody-bags. I snapped a picture from the scene while talking to Fred. One of the girls heard me and said in Dutch “Oooh, you are Dutch! If you like you can let a photo be made with me and my girlfriend”. Ehrrrr ok! She softly pushed herself against me and another stunning girl with even less clothing joined us. Fred had a big grin on his face when he took the picture.

Vauen Diamond

Vauen Diamond

To cool off we went to the stand of German pipe-producer Vauen. Our eyes immediately went to a black diamond shaped pipe fittingly called “Diamond“. I didn’t and don’t know what to think of the shape. Vauen are surely thinking out of the box with this one. What I did not like were the facts that the pipe was pretty heavy because of the used plastic and the not so tight fit of the mouthpiece. I rather have Vauen design some more shapes for their magnificent Auenland-series. They also had a new tobacco, “English Blend & Vanilla“. I looked at it, smelled it and told a salesman that it reminded me very, very much of Sillem’s Black. He did not know that one..

New Samuel Gawith: Blend it and Bothy Flake

New Samuel Gawith: Blend it and Bothy Flake

It was getting late and I just had one more thing to do at the fair: speak with the Gawith guys. First of all I wanted to compliment them with Bothy Flake. I smoked a large sample before the fair (thanks to Huub!) and I can say it is one of best tobaccos Samuel Gawith brought out in the last couple of years. Second I asked about their new concept: Blend it. Which means that you can buy tins with flakes which also contain a small bag containing some ribbon cut blending tobacco. That way you can mix your own creation. I hope the concept will take off and be successful.

IMG_2115The main reason I sat there was that I perhaps had some business for them. Last year I had some forum tobaccos made in cooperation with Hans Wiedemann from HU Tobacco and a German tobacco factory. In about a good year from now I am thinking about creating one new forum tobacco together with Samuel Gawith. I asked them if they liked the idea and they did! From their side I can expect full cooperation. But there are other things I must take account of first.. Will the Dutch/Belgian forum once more order a lot of tins? How will the tobacco route go, through The Netherlands or Belgium? We will see. The last thing I wanted from the Gawith guys was some Bothy Flake, but unfortunately they brought not much with them. Sergeant Matron (who was sitting beside me) took a pity on me with my pleads for a sample and he put his own tin of Bothy Flake in my bag. Thanks sarge!

The big Heinrichs truck

The big Heinrichs truck

With just 15 minutes to go before the fair closed Fred and I left the building. We were saying to each other that the water-pipe and especially the E-cigarette business was booming. “Maybe next year all the halls will contain that stuff” Fred said with a wry smile.. He might be right, in some halls there were so many Japanese/Chinese stands with E-cigarettes and liquids that I felt like walking through a shopping street in Tokyo/Shanghai. At least of one thing we can be certain next year, that the big truck of Heinrichs will be standing in front of the Inter-Tabac Fair.

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