Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Vintage Ad (1940s): Kaywoodie Carburetor

Click to enlarge.

Here is an ad from my own personal hardcopy collection. I do not have an exact year for this one, but based on what I know about Kaywoodie ads, it's safe to say this one is from the 1940s.

The Carburetor was another of Kaywoodie's gimmicks. There is a hole in the exact center of the bottom of the bowl that is reinforced with metal of some kind--probably aluminum. The idea is that when drawing on the pipe, "cool" air is also drawn through the carburetor hole to mix with the "hot" air coming from the top of the pipe, thus providing a "cooler, drier smoke" (naturally!). I do have one Yello-Bole Carburetor (Yello-Bole was Kaywoodie's seconds line) and it is an okay pipe but I don't think the extra hole makes a whole lot of difference.

Pretty much every shape Kaywoodie made also came in a Carburetor version.

2 comments:

  1. That's crazy! If you are smoking a moist tobacco does the fluid drip out the bottom? I guess that beats a gurgle, but I think I would feel like my pen just leaked into my pocket if I looked down and saw a stain of tobacco juice down the front of my shirt! Cool ad, what will they think of next?

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  2. That has never happened with my pipe, and I don't think it is very likely. Any excess moisture in the bowl is absorbed by the tobacco/ash, which is what leads to dottle. Gurgle happens in the shank from moisture condensing on the wood from the moist smoke being drawn through it.

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