Michel Naturals 1350 (by GBD) Smooth Cutty Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Michel pipes were store-brand pipes made for Maison Michel, a North Carolina (USA) tobacconist run by Michel J. Mitchell between 1951 and 1980. Over the years, several prominent pipe-makers made pipes for Maison Michel, such as Charatan, Barling, and others.

It’s funny, in a couple of previous listings, I’d compared the quality and finishing of some Michel pipes—most of whose specific manufacturers are unknown—to GBD, in particular GBD’s Virgin finish. We’ve had a couple of shape 1350 Michel pipes come through in the past, but this time it hit me: this isn’t like a GBD, it is a GBD. The 1350 was a GBD shape, and a pretty distinct one at that, blending the cutty and saddle billiard shapes. I looked up some examples to double check, and this is indeed a dead ringer. So, here we have a very lovely Michel house brand pipe, made for Mitchell J. Michel by GBD. And, since Maison Michel closed in 1980, that would make this a pre-Cadogan model, made in GBD’s Saint-Claude factory.

This pipe is completely unsmoked. There is a minute scratch at the very edge of the shank, but nothing major at all.

 

Details:

Length: 5.8″ / 147.3mm

Bowl Width: 0.71 / 18.03mm

Bowl Depth: 1.49″ / 37.84mm

Weight: 1.1oz / 32g