Orlik De Luxe pipe?

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PipedJimmy

PipedJimmy

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Hey guys, was going round an antique fair today with the hope of finding a pipe or maybe if I was lucky a couple of unopened tins of tobacco, ended up finding what I think is a Bulldog straight pipe made by 'Orlick De Luxe', the pipe also has 'London Made' on the shank. I've done some research, but have come up with no information about it. I'll enclose some pictures, I'm hoping I picked up a bargain, for ten pounds, the guy also had some Meerschaum pipes, but being unsure about them, let them be. Also, I'm unfamiliar with the metal pipe running from bowl to bit. Hope someone can tell me something about it!



 
Nice find:) Orlik was one of the classic english pipe making companies, I'm not sure when it was founded but I guess around 1890/1900. Later it was bought (like almost all of the classic english companies) by Oppenheimer (a large corporation that owns also Loewe, GBD, BBB, Comoy's...) and the quality got lower. Anyway they are very decent pipes, I have two and they both smoke great. Enjoy :)
P.S. take out the metal tube (it was supposed to make cleaning easier when pipe cleaners were not easily available) and put it away in a drawer, it's useless.
 
wojtekpastuch":alvmmcib said:
Nice find:) Orlik was one of the classic english pipe making companies, I'm not sure when it was founded but I guess around 1890/1900. Later it was bought (like almost all of the classic english companies) by Oppenheimer (a large corporation that owns also Loewe, GBD, BBB, Comoy's...) and the quality got lower. Anyway they are very decent pipes, I have two and they both smoke great. Enjoy :)
P.S. take out the metal tube (it was supposed to make cleaning easier when pipe cleaners were not easily available) and put it away in a drawer, it's useless.
Click to expand...
I've always wondered if Orlik were made by another company, even prior to their being absorbed into Oppenheimer/Cadogan. I've a couple of them, and they're very nice pipes. One, an Orlik Corona, is as fine a smoke as I could ask for, and beautifully made, with a hand-cut mouthpiece and fabulous, tight birdseye cross-grain. It's clearly nobody's second. Wish I could find more information on this wonderful old marque.
 
My recollection (NOT to be relied-upon) is that Orlik was one of
the five companies originally combined into the 1919 cartel along
with Comoy &c. I.e., one shared production facility but each
company doing its own thing with co-operative distribution.

:face:
 
Thanks for your help guys. I found a little more material on Orlik from an ebay listing: http://cgi.ebay.com.my/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=400032008637.
Just some questions about cleaning it up though, how to I ensure that it is properly sterilised and thereafter, I am wary of smoking the wrong 'blend' in the bowl, I thought I could pick up traces of aromatic casing in sniffing yesterday, but upon opening the pipe the smell was more pungent like a stong tobacco and am unsure, anything I can do?? Oh and anyone have any ideas about dating it?

Thank you!!
 
Cleaning : the temptation is to go overboard from the desire to play with something. Advice : Don't. You've got a nice old pipe there that nobody's ever boogered with. Since the cake's nowhere near so thick that it needs reamed, wipe it clean with a soft, old flannel shirt & enjoy it. If there's stuff crusted on the exterior of the briar, a cotton swab moistened with saliva will clean it nicely. Light and easy does it with that. Let it dry thoroughly between passes. Don't dig through the finish. A lot of pipes are ruined by people fixing what ain't broke, then trying to hide the evidence with shiny new wax.

Age : nobody could really say. From the design of its stem & button, ca. 1930 would be in the ballpark. Problem is, it could just as easily be 1970s from conservatism. When something commercially worked, companies were reluctant to change it. Keep giving them what they want, as it were.

Residue : I'd smoke it first before I did anything. Not only will this tell you what ghosts are living in it, but the re-moistening of the interior this involves as a consequence will make removing accumulated tar & gunk (via rolled-up facial tissues and pipe cleaners) much easier. (It may take five or six smokings to get down to wood. That's OK).

Be advised that the preceding advice is fully worth what you're paying for it.

Cheers

:face:
 
Ok, thank you. Will take the makority of your advice! However, does it apply to the stem? I have run a couple of pipe cleaners through it, and a wet kitchen towel about the bit. And how wary should I be of smoking the wrong blend in it? It smells failry well used and I don't really want to make it bitter. After taking a couple of draws, it tastes like a 'straight' tobacco was used, but I'm aware casing may have left off after age.
Thank you for all your help guys, its been very informative of the wider pipe smoking world of which I was ignorant.
 
Smoked the pipe today, was a grand smoke, no place for a filter (unless it fits 6mm), was a touch bitter and got the occasional tongue bite from the FVF I was smoking, though it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
 
Indeed, no one else made Orlik pipes but Orlik, unless Cadogan licensed the name for an odd Danish Orlik or two, a la Barling.

Orlik is one of the hallowed names of London made pipes, not a Danish tobacco concern. That is merely a licensing of the name. Even smokingpipes gets this wrong. Rich history, great and undervalued pipes.

Orlik was a key acquisition for Cadogan. In fact, Orlik's new-then Southend-on-sea factory is where all 1980 and on Cadogan pipes were/are produced, not just Orliks but Loewes, GBDs, Comoy's, BBB's, (and Sasieni's?). (actually I'm not sure if they produced any Sasienis there or if the 4dots were all French made)
 
Unfortunately, we lost the best web site for info on Orlik and Loewe pipes, "cakeanddottle.com". Mike Lankton closed the site.
 
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