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Post by Dramatwist on Nov 6, 2018 15:57:47 GMT -5
...I know a lot of you are enthusiastic about Savinelli pipes... so I ordered a "Bing's Favorite", just to check it out. Have not smoked it yet. Opinions?
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Post by Legend Lover on Nov 6, 2018 16:05:29 GMT -5
When it arrives, please let us know YOUR thoughts on it.
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Post by Dramatwist on Nov 6, 2018 16:16:09 GMT -5
...it arrived yesterday... it looks like a "dress" pipe, a bit too fancy for my usual tastes... but I'll smoke it one of these days...
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2018 16:22:39 GMT -5
Martin, it’s a dressy pipe, but works well with jeans. My good friend from NY owns one and it’s one of his favorite pipes. Hope you light’er up and enjoy for many happy and healthy years of smoking pleasure 👌👍👍
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Post by peterd-Buffalo Spirit on Nov 6, 2018 16:41:04 GMT -5
… I have a smooth and rustic...both great smokers...enjoy!
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Post by mwps70 on Nov 6, 2018 17:05:23 GMT -5
...I know a lot of you are enthusiastic about Savinelli pipes... so I ordered a "Bing's Favorite", just to check it out. Have not smoked it yet. Opinions? I love mine. I got the smooth finish and it smokes Virginia's so well. I would t mind having the rusticated version as well. Smokes wonderfully. |
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Post by Quintsrevenge on Nov 6, 2018 17:35:31 GMT -5
I think this style and pipe needs to be in everyone's collection , question for those with knowledge what did Bing smoke ?
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Post by Ronv69 on Nov 6, 2018 17:40:05 GMT -5
I like mine. I will smoke mine if you will smoke yours. 🤠😎
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2018 17:40:13 GMT -5
...I know a lot of you are enthusiastic about Savinelli pipes... so I ordered a "Bing's Favorite", just to check it out. Have not smoked it yet. Opinions? Smoke some Crooner in it! |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2018 19:10:58 GMT -5
… I have a smooth and rustic...both great smokers...enjoy! I do too. I just received the smooth yesterday, but both are great smokers. Highly recommended! |
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glassjapan
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Post by glassjapan on Nov 6, 2018 19:37:27 GMT -5
I was handed down a well used smooth Bing's Favorite. It sat around for a long while. When I finally cleaned it up and gave it a go, it really surprised me just how great a smoker it was. I think you'll be pretty happy with yours too.
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Post by scrooge on Nov 6, 2018 19:38:23 GMT -5
...it arrived yesterday... it looks like a "dress" pipe, a bit too fancy for my usual tastes... but I'll smoke it one of these days... Go ahead an smoke it a couple times Martin an mark it down 1/2 price as smoked an send it to me. LOL!
Hope you like it an give it a good home. Congrats!
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cgvt
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Post by cgvt on Nov 6, 2018 21:16:41 GMT -5
I think this style and pipe needs to be in everyone's collection , question for those with knowledge what did Bing smoke ? I think that he smoked Mastercraft pipes. |
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Post by Quintsrevenge on Nov 6, 2018 21:31:17 GMT -5
I think this style and pipe needs to be in everyone's collection , question for those with knowledge what did Bing smoke ? I think that he smoked Mastercraft pipes. How about tobacco ? |
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driftingfate
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Post by driftingfate on Nov 6, 2018 21:45:01 GMT -5
Love my two and bought a rusticated one for a cigar smoking good friend to introduce him to the Brotherhood of the Briar.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2018 23:07:50 GMT -5
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Post by trailboss on Nov 7, 2018 0:35:37 GMT -5
I bought one from a trunk show a few years ago when Joe Fabian of laudisi showed up with his wares.... a great smoker, classy looking but not ostentatious.
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Post by Dramatwist on Nov 7, 2018 2:46:26 GMT -5
I bought one from a trunk show a few years ago when Joe Fabian of laudisi showed up with his wares.... a great smoker, classy looking but not ostentatious. ...yeah, it's not over the top, it's just "dressier" than I normally like... but it is a beautiful pipe, and the break-in smoke was good... |
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Post by Dramatwist on Nov 7, 2018 3:23:56 GMT -5
...broke it in tonight with Sutliff Crumble Kake #1 English... pretty good..
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Post by Legend Lover on Nov 7, 2018 4:23:30 GMT -5
If it's not too much off-topic...what was a Bing called before Bing smoked them, or was that design made specifically for him?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2018 9:38:53 GMT -5
If it's not too much off-topic...what was a Bing called before Bing smoked them, or was that design made specifically for him? Bing selected the Merchant Service pipes because of the long stem that provided a cooler smoke and would not clutter or imbalance his face image in photographs. Also, they were inexpensive, which was an incentive to buy them by the boxload, as i wrote in my earlier post. I saw a photograph of Bing and Mr. Merchant at the golf links, posing for photographs. They were friends it seems. |
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Post by Legend Lover on Nov 7, 2018 9:46:36 GMT -5
If it's not too much off-topic...what was a Bing called before Bing smoked them, or was that design made specifically for him? Bing selected the Merchant Service pipes because of the long stem that provided a cooler smoke and would not clutter or imbalance his face image in photographs. Also, they were inexpensive, which was an incentive to buy them by the boxload, as i wrote in my earlier post. I saw a photograph of Bing and Mr. Merchant at the golf links, posing for photographs. They were friends it seems. Thank you for that. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2018 9:50:54 GMT -5
Bing selected the Merchant Service pipes because of the long stem that provided a cooler smoke and would not clutter or imbalance his face image in photographs. Also, they were inexpensive, which was an incentive to buy them by the boxload, as i wrote in my earlier post. I saw a photograph of Bing and Mr. Merchant at the golf links, posing for photographs. They were friends it seems. Thank you for that. I forgot to answer your main question. Not too long ago I read that the specific "long shank liverpool-billiard" was made specifically for Bing Crosby. Merchant Service had other pipe shapes, but the one made for Bing is the only one from that manufacturer that one hears about. |
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Post by sparks on Nov 7, 2018 9:54:51 GMT -5
I have a total of 5 Savinelli Bing's. Smooth dark, smooth natural, smooth black dress, rusticated and sandblast. They have all been phenomenal smokers. Many of you know, this is my preferred shape and really the only shape I smoke anymore.
I have had two issues with the Savinelli. 1.) I'm not crazy about the filter. Even with the adapter to use it without, I find it to be a bit of a pain in keeping it clean. 2.) I find the bite area on the stem to be too thick, which is why I have altered every one of them to have a thinner bite.
That aside, I think they are great pipes, and a decent match to what Bing smoked.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2018 10:08:46 GMT -5
The pipes were made by Herbert Merchant in England. After Mr. Merchant died in 1944, the pipes were made and sold by a Mr. Holland. I jogged my memory and was able to locate again an article in a pipe-related magazine which reprinted an excerpt from The Pipe Smokers Ephemeris, as written by Fred Janusek who had contacted David Holland of Holland Penny in 1980. In that article Mr. Holland is quoted as saying:
"...but in fact the small business closed down some years ago. At one time most of the famous people in Hollywood bought their pipes from me, but the last customer I met in London was Danny Kaye a year or so ago when he bought some of my last pipes. The late and dearly remembered Bing Crosby used to have several made each year, including two silver-mounted special light-grain ones for his own smoking...In the best days, Karry Rose, Henri Mancini, Sam Lutz and so many Hollywood actors and producers used to smoke these pipes, but I think 'pirate' imitations stole my trade. You ask how it all started and I will tell you.
In about 1938 Bing Crosby was playing golf at St. Andrews in Scotland with Mr. Herbert Merchant, who was smoking a long, slim and finely balanced briar; Bing liked the pipe and asked Merchant to make him one, to which he agreed, and the pipes were thus supplied throughout the war and after. Merchant died in 1944, and to keep the story brief, I became director of the group that took over the old business. I was intrigued to see reference in the files to the Hollywood trade (by this time Bing's friends were also having the pipes made) and decided to resurrect the trade and if possible expand it without losing the personal custom element. My then chairman ordered me to close it down, but I disobeyed, and quietly had some pipes made to the original pattern by a small firm of craftsmen. The board didn't know what I had done, of course, and then I started a long period of wonderful correspondence and some meetings with American pipe smokers.
Some years later, the Herbert Merchant business was sold by my then Group, to Imperial Tobacco - one of the giants in the tobacco trade. When my chairman asked me what I wanted as my leaving gift, I asked for the Merchant Service pipe business. He was surprised and reminded me that it had been closed down years before; When I told him I had not carried out his orders but had kept the trade going, he was at first very angry, but then saw the irony of it all and forgave me. He arranged for the name and the rights to be sold to me for £1.
I thereupon took the USA registration for the Herbert Merchant name, which was in fact Merchant Service.
I formed a limited company with my partner, the Hon. Patrick Penny, and thus was born Holland Penny Ltd.
We opened swank offices in Berkely St. off Grosvenor, and for a time thought we were going to establish a top pipe shop, but we found we could not expand the business without endangering the personal custom factor, and before long closed the premises.
I bought the shares held by Penny. My craftsmen then stopped making pipes, and that was really the end of the business."
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Post by Dramatwist on Nov 7, 2018 13:16:22 GMT -5
The pipes were made by Herbert Merchant in England. After Mr. Merchant died in 1944, the pipes were made and sold by a Mr. Holland. I jogged my memory and was able to locate again an article in a pipe-related magazine which reprinted an excerpt from The Pipe Smokers Ephemeris, as written by Fred Janusek who had contacted David Holland of Holland Penny in 1980. In that article Mr. Holland is quoted as saying: " ...but in fact the small business closed down some years ago. At one time most of the famous people in Hollywood bought their pipes from me, but the last customer I met in London was Danny Kaye a year or so ago when he bought some of my last pipes. The late and dearly remembered Bing Crosby used to have several made each year, including two silver-mounted special light-grain ones for his own smoking...In the best days, Karry Rose, Henri Mancini, Sam Lutz and so many Hollywood actors and producers used to smoke these pipes, but I think 'pirate' imitations stole my trade. You ask how it all started and I will tell you.
In about 1938 Bing Crosby was playing golf at St. Andrews in Scotland with Mr. Herbert Merchant, who was smoking a long, slim and finely balanced briar; Bing liked the pipe and asked Merchant to make him one, to which he agreed, and the pipes were thus supplied throughout the war and after. Merchant died in 1944, and to keep the story brief, I became director of the group that took over the old business. I was intrigued to see reference in the files to the Hollywood trade (by this time Bing's friends were also having the pipes made) and decided to resurrect the trade and if possible expand it without losing the personal custom element. My then chairman ordered me to close it down, but I disobeyed, and quietly had some pipes made to the original pattern by a small firm of craftsmen. The board didn't know what I had done, of course, and then I started a long period of wonderful correspondence and some meetings with American pipe smokers.
Some years later, the Herbert Merchant business was sold by my then Group, to Imperial Tobacco - one of the giants in the tobacco trade. When my chairman asked me what I wanted as my leaving gift, I asked for the Merchant Service pipe business. He was surprised and reminded me that it had been closed down years before; When I told him I had not carried out his orders but had kept the trade going, he was at first very angry, but then saw the irony of it all and forgave me. He arranged for the name and the rights to be sold to me for £1.
I thereupon took the USA registration for the Herbert Merchant name, which was in fact Merchant Service.
I formed a limited company with my partner, the Hon. Patrick Penny, and thus was born Holland Penny Ltd.
We opened swank offices in Berkely St. off Grosvenor, and for a time thought we were going to establish a top pipe shop, but we found we could not expand the business without endangering the personal custom factor, and before long closed the premises.
I bought the shares held by Penny. My craftsmen then stopped making pipes, and that was really the end of the business." ...thank you for the information, @irminsul! I appreciate it! |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2018 16:57:08 GMT -5
I have a total of 5 Savinelli Bing's. Smooth dark, smooth natural, smooth black dress, rusticated and sandblast. They have all been phenomenal smokers. Many of you know, this is my preferred shape and really the only shape I smoke anymore. Over the past year my favorite briar pipe shapes have become the Savinelli Bing's Favorite for Virginias and VaPers, and Savinelli 320 KS Authors for burley blends. I currently have two Bing's (Brownblast and Red Smooth) as I mentioned previously, and six authors. I would like to acquire a few more Bing's in different styles in the future as the opportunity and finances allow. |
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