Anyone smoke a Parker?

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Have several "older" Parker's, two with patent #'s, some with obviously Dunhill stampings & circled group #, plus Super Briar Barks in straights and bents. Great pipes and super smokers. That said, I have no knowledge of the newer Parkers. FWIW :cheers: FTRPLT
 
Have as many Parker Super briars as I have dunhill's, Pat No's finished in 1954 on both dunhill & Parker pipes I have several pre 1954 Parkers & they feel & smoke as good as any Dunhill & can command a price similar to that of a post 1954 Dunhill
The post 1954 Parkers still marked Super bruyere, Super Briar Bark, Root Bruyere, are in my opinion fantastic pipes, group marked the same as Dunhill pipes with a circled number followed by a letter and prodcution at this time was still overseen by Dunhill .
I am unsure of the date that production of the super briar's stopped, but I have various one's from differing dates & they all smoke great so even buying a 60's pipe you are going to be on to a winner

Later Dunhill bought out Hardcastle & merged it with Parker to form Parker Hardcastle in 1967 & eventually production went to Europe and this was the turning point
Production has now moved back to England but Parker are now a very budget range

Pre 1954 Parker a must buy & a solid investment as a collector
Later super briar range are worth every penny/cent, great smoking pipes
Newer Parker pipes while still an ok pipe to smoke, unfortunately that is all it will be

Dean
 
British pipes that are old enough and well-enough broken in are (or can be with a little tinkering) great pipes across the board, without respect to how much they cost when they were new.

 :face: 
 
I have two Parkers.
Both of em are drilled with the draft hole right in the bottom, like the drain in a sink.
If any tobacco gets in the hole, it's over. A pipe cleaner won't clear the jam.
 
It depends, Herm. Especially on when yours were made.

You can find old blue collar brands with engineering problems if you look long enough. But you can also find Poshes (Dunhills, Charatan high grades et. al.) with interior "issues" as well. And "name" Italians. If you don't believe me, ask George Dibos, who's been turning them into smokers for coming up on 10 years now as Precision Pipe Repair & Restoration.

Echoing Mr. E's riff, he gave me a Parker Patent Canadian as a momento when I retired that's a sweetheart of an old pipe indeed. It's here on the desk in front of me as I type this, inviting me to load & launch whenever the Charatan's finished.

FWIW

:face:
 
I have a Parker Patent Canadian as well Yak Bark finish marked 63/F similar size to a 3 & same as you I find its a wonderful pipe to smoke, I am very anal when it comes to my rotations but certain pipes just keep breaking that drying and resting cycle and that pipe is one of them

Would love to see a pic Yak :)

Dean
 
5.75 X 1.825"

Nomenclature's sharp, despite the way the picture makes it seem.
Obviously re-stemmed, but of no great concern to me. Nearly every great old pipe I've kept has been a re-stem : so good it was a former owner's favorite -- who smoked it so long and often that it needed one.

GLP wrote an essay about some of the best of the old ones often having been the hardest used once, and I suspected he was stretching it a bit. But looking at the racks here, it's apparent he was ahead of the curve I was behind.

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 :face:
 
I have one from 1949 and one made in 1960. Won't trade it for anything. :D 

The two new ones?  :evil: 
 
That's a beauty Yak, pure classic and the darker stain they used back then made them look so rich, the smooth finished pipes all went a bit red or tan towards the late 60's
I've been quite lucky with stems on mine other than the knee deep oxidization and the slightest of chatter to fix they have been really good
but you are quite right the sign of any great smoking pipe is in its use :)

Will take some pics of my Parkers & post for you to have a look

Dean
 
I am one of those older guys who remembers when Parker pipes were distributed by Dunhill back in the 1970's and 80's. Those of us who worked in th retail tobacco business, like most young folks in those days were on a Ramen noodle type budget and were always looking for good buys on pipes. My understanding is that early on in the 20th century Parker was an independent company and was purchase by Dunhill at some point before WWll at which time they became what is commonly called a second. My understanding also is that the Parkers made by Dunhill were simply Dunhill firsts which had a small surface flaw in the briar and the mouthpieces were machine made rather than hand cut as the Dunhill firsts were. So, theoretically when you obain a Parker of the Dunhill era you have virtually got a Dunhill quality smoking pipe. Conclusion? I have smoked both Parkers and Dunhills and other than that difference in the mouthpiece I find the smoking quality identical.
 
Well this is turning into a real education! Thank you Estatepipeshop and Yak, you clearly know your subject. My Parker is only a year or so old so will fall into the latter bracket highlighted above and, being my first pipe, I have nothing really to compare it to. It's serving its purpose though and has got me started in the right direction and is the reason for me being here on the BoB. To me it feels great to hold and I just love the rustic finish. I recon in a few years to come when I've got a rack of special pipes, this Parker of mine will have its own special place...
 
Something to note: I don't know what sort of recent changes Parker has been through, but they appear to be making another bunch of pipes that are a throwback to the good ol Parkers. These have the old line of stamps and lines like the Super Bark and the Super Russett. They can be found mostly online from European companies. I'm curious to see if their quality has improved. From what I can tell they're now made in England as opposed to France. (I think someone might have alluded to this earlier)

https://www.novelli.it/eng/pipes/testdiv2.asp?produttore=%20Parker&modello=Sandblast&opdb=1
 
Personally, I don't own any Parker Pipes. However, my Dad has two Parker pipes he inherited from my Grandfather (his Dad). They would be from around WWII. I can't wait for them to be mine, eventually :)
 
As long as we're doing old Parkers, (left) Gp. 4 size Parker Straightgrain A (ca. 1950 ?) ;
(right) Haymarket era Loewe Fawley. Both with George Dibos acrylic re-stems.
(Badly) pictured with their favorite tobacco.

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 :face: 
 
OH a chance to showoff some of my favorite pipes, narrowed it down to 4 Parkers
Hope you Enjoy

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Parker Super Briar Bark 1950 Pat era (my fav)


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Parker Super Briar Bark 1950 Pat Era shaper No63

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Parker super briar bark early 60's non Pat shape No568


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Parker sandblast rhodesian style 1970's & the newest parker i own :)I have included this pipe even tho it is not a super briar because it is one fantastic smoke & I had to basically return the bowl to as new condition & it took me 3 attempts to break it in properly ( it didn't like to be rushed that was for sure) A little tinkering with airway to get it spot on but it was all well worth the effort


Dean
Estate Pipe Shop
 
Loverly pipes, indeed! Those are real jewels you've got there.

I have a "replica" of your little lovat, the new Parker. It's a beautiful looking pipe but......it's not a Parker in the true sense of the word Parker  :evil:  On the other hand, I only paid £20.00 for it.
 
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