Blog by Steve Laug

I have been collecting the GBD 9438 pipes for quite awhile now. They have always been a shape that is a favourite of mine and one that I think GBD did perfectly. I began to pick them up on EBay long before they began to sell for the prices they list at now. I have twelve pipes in total. I have taken a photo of them in a circle like a clock. Each position on the clock is filled by another 9438. They are identified as follows:

1:00 GBD Virgin
2:00 Dr. Plumb (GBD seconds line)
3:00 GBD Prehistoric with a Perspex stem (this is one that I had to cut back the stem and reshape the button).
4:00 GBD Flame Grain
5:00 GBD Gold Label Made in France
6:00 Prehistoric with a vulcanite stem
7:00 Huckster
8:00 Dr Plumb
9:00 GBD Quantum (restemmed with a tapered stem)
10:00 GBD ***
11:00 GBD Tapestry
12:00 GBD New Standard

Each one is slightly different in shape, length, bowl size but all of them bear the 9438 stamping on the right side of the shank. I am always on the prowl for different lines of the shape and also for better examples of each shape.

I also really like tapered stem Rhodesians but so far have not been able to pick up a GBD version of this. It is basically the same shape as the 9438 but has a different number – 9242 I believe. I would love to add one of those to the collection. But have four different versions made by other pipe manufacturers. The top pipe is stamped Genod on the left side of the shank and Iwan Ries & Co. 271 on the right side. This is a pipe that I have yet to restore. I cleaned it up and smoke it but I have not cleaned up the rim and the stem sufficiently. Both the second pipe and the third are BBB Rhodesians. The second is stamped BBB Best Make and, the third BBB Ultonia. The fourth is stamped Made in England with the stamping of the brand so faint that it is illegible.

You can see that the shape occupies a fair amount of space in my collection. Some additional brands also offer their takes on the shape. One of the brands that I have started adding recently is the Peterson 999 – especially chubby shanked older versions. In the photo below the second and third pipe are older while first one is their new take on the shape. The first pipe is a military mount K&P Irish Made 999. The second pipe is a “K” Briar 999 and the third is a Peterson’s Kildare that I refinished and restemmed with a Cumberland stem shaped from rod stock.

In addition to those standards in my collection are a few that also fit the shape but are from brands that I do not normally come across in my search for the shape. The photo below shows four of them that are slight variations on the Rhodesian shape. The first one could also be called an apple as it is missing the two scribed lines around the bowl top though it still has a comparable shape. It is a Comoy’s Social (a seconds line of Comoy’s). The second pipe is a diamond shanked Rhodesian stamped Bewlay 013. The third is a Savinelli stamped Natural. This one is quite unique in that somewhere along its journey one of its owners did some custom carving on the bowl. It is a simple folk art style that is carved into the bowl. There is a vine carved around the rim between the scribed lines and two vines with the Germanic Script CP on the front of the bowl (I restemmed this one and added the nickel band). The fourth pipe is a thin shanked Pipe By Lee 3 star Limited Edition.

That is the status of my current collection of Rhodesians. I am sure that over the years ahead I will add more examples of the shape and replace some of them with better examples of the brand and the shape.