BBB Minerva 539 Smooth Canadian Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

‘BBB’ originally stood for ‘Blumfeld’s Best Briars’, so named after Louis Blumfeld after he took over the historic Alfred Frankenau Company in 1856. Later, the pipes came to be known as ‘Britain’s Best Briars’. Though the name might have changed, the quality of the pipes did not – they really were fantastic pipes, made in the classic style of the English-French shape chart. Like GBD, Dunhill, and Barling’s, BBB are pipes with a rich history behind them, proudly holding the title of “the oldest trade mark in the [pipe] industry.”

I’m afraid neither I, nor my friends in the pipe community, are wise enough to connect this BBB series to a goddess of Roman antiquity. Perhaps the reasoning behind the name was to become apparent after the pipe had been thoroughly smoked; in other words, and to paraphrase Hegel, “the owl of Minerva takes flight only after dusk…” But, I digress. Whatever the name means, this is a beautiful, highly traditional pipe, one befitting its historic make. It is a Canadian shape, with a sanguine finish and a black ebonite stem. It is also very lightweight and portable, and should be an easy clencher for anyone.

As alluded, the pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original factory bowl coating for easing in the first smokes. It also comes with its original box and sleeve.

Details:

Length: 5.2″ / 132.0mm

Bowl Width: 0.76 / 19.30mm

Bowl Depth: 1.7″ / 43.18mm

Weight: 1.1oz / 34g