Der Katalog.

Some remarks on our pipe assortment
Trust is an important aspect when buying a pipe, i. e. your trust as a
customer in us as the seller. There is, no doubt, a certain degree of
anonymity about any mail order business. Well aware of this fact, we
thoroughly check every single pipe before it is put into storage. This
means more than just examining by eye-sight for superficial dents or
dull spots. Filter pipes are mounted with a filter cartridge (it may seem
strange, but many producers do not find it necessary!) to check their
unobstructed draught ability. We also check for a firm fit of
mouthpieces in the stem and control the accurate position of the
smokehole in stem and bowl of the pipe.
Most pipes in our cartalogue are shown in their original size. To
support the illustrations’ expressiveness, individual characteristics
are additionally described in our text.
In our pipe descriptions we generally tell the filling capacity which
is of quite some importance for an unspoilt smoking pleasure. Most
pipes have a tobacco hole of 19 to 21 mm width, its depth is normally
appr. 6 to 8 mm less than the height of the bowl.
small filling capacity: suitable for fine cut mixtures and flake
tobaccos, can also take broad cuts if filled in fairly loosely.
medium filling capacity: suitable for all long or short medium width
cut tobaccos with parts of ready rubbed flake or broad cuts, also for
flakes if the bowl is not too high.
large filling capacity: suitable for all medium to broad cut mixtures,
for square cuts and blends with high amount of broad leaf.
Guarantee terms for pipes
Briar pipes are manufactured from natural material that is fairly heat
resistant but can still burn like all other kinds of wood. The appropriate
use of a briar pipe inevitably goes along with a partial destruction of
material: the inner surface of the tobacco hole is affected and burnt
to a certain extent. So, your new pipe’s lifespan mainly depends on
how cautious and gentle you proceed when breaking it in.
Manufacturers normally guarantee their pipes for a certain period
against cracks or burns caused by material or production defects,
provided that the pipe was broken in and handled with proper care. In
cases of complaints, manufacturers reserve the right to closely
examine the pipe to find out the reasons for its defect and then to
decide whether it will be repaired or even replaced.
About handmade pipes
You will find a small choice of handmade pipes in this catalogue that
stand out from the rest of our assortment by their shape and design
and, of course, by their price level. But are these pipes so much better
than the rest? And for what reason is their price so much higher?
Handmade in the true sense goes for pipes that have been entirely
shaped and carved by hand. But working without the use of machines
would not make sense - it would take too much time and thus raise the
price even more. So you won’t find a workshop that is not equipped
with machines for drilling, grinding, papering and buffing and also
turning lathes to shape bowls and work on mouthpieces.
No matter which way of production is chosen . be it by individually
carving or grinding the pipe or using a lathe to turn bowl and stem -
handmade pipes require a lot more work and time than their factory
- 36 -
made sisters. Briar is a natural material that only grows in the wild,
and even the most experienced pipemaker canot tell the inner structure
and quality of a briar block from the outside. This only shows in the
course of his work and after the pipe is finished. Often enough, the
aim, a well-balanced, finely grained and - if possible - flawless pipe
can only be achieved after a number of approaches. That means:
several blocks used in vain, time wasted again and again to turn and
grind the shape... All this must, of course, be considered when
calculating the price of a handmade pipe.
This leads us to another aspect that is of great importance to quite a
number of pipe lovers: flaws in the pipe bowl. In our view, the
unconditional call for flawlessness in handmade pipes is fairly injust
and questionable. Neither does it consider the characteristics of the
nature-grown material, nor does it pay respect to the craftsman’s
difficult work. To keep prices on an affordable level it is inevitable
to compromise.
In order to still sell the pipes affected with flaws, many pipemakers
give those pipes a carved rustic finish. And even though this carving
is really exerting and time-consuming, rustic pipes are generally sold
at much lower prices than their smooth and more perfect sisters. Thus
the growing sales of rustic handmade pipes has its share in giving the
handmade pipe business an economical base and helps to maintain its
high level of quality and artistic style. In the end, every handmade
pipe, be it a perfect „Straight Grain“ or be it a grip-friendly rustic pipe,
is a really individual and unmistakable little piece of art.
Some remarks on our tobacco assortment
It is a tradition in our DAN PIPE catalogues, to comprehensively
describe pipe tobaccos to make it easier for you to choose a blend to
your demands. This goes in particular for the mictures from our own
DAN TOBACCO Manufactory. For descriptions of „foreign brand“
tobaccos we normally fall back on the manufacturer’s information
and complete them wherever we find it useful or necessary.
As in all families our main attention is, of course, paid to „our own
children“, the blends made by DTM Dan Tobacco Manufactory,
our sister company (shown on pages 61 - 81 and 84 - 87). Their
descriptions do not only summarize tests made by both companies’
pipe smoking staff members but also reflect impressions and smoking
results from those blends’ development period. Still, our descriptions
cannot (and do not attempt to) claim to be absolutely impartial. Any
judgement on a tobacco will always depend on various factors very
much different from one smoker to the next: the size of a bowl, the
firmness or looseness of the tobacco fill, the intensity of drawing and
puffing, the pressure of tamping down the ashes and, last but not least,
whether the pipe is smoked with or without a filter cartridge.