The Briar Files

Another ad I captured from somewhere on the internet that was cropped a little too closely, featuring Kaywoodie's white briar.

click to enlarge "Merry Christmas to All" by Thomas Nast, 1865.

A fine collection of Kaywoodies, including cigar and cigarettes holders made of meerschaum.

click to enlarge "Here We Are Again!" by Thomas Nast, 1878. Apparently Santa has run into the New Year, or something. This was m...

Perhaps of special note are the two pipes at far bottom right. Uppermost is an Allbriar , which was made with a briar stem and tends to sel...

This is not about pipe smoking, but I thought it might be of interest because it's about Sherlock Holmes. Hidden Clues , an article writ...

click to enlarge "Caught!" by Thomas Nast, 1881.

I'll have a few vintage ads that are Christmas-themed for next four weeks leading up to the holiday. First, here's a 1935 for Old C...

click to enlarge For the next few weeks I'll be featuring graphics of a pipe-smoking Santa leading up to the holiday. These artworks wi...

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 kno...

J.R. "Bob" Dobbs (c. 1930s - 1984?) "If you act like a dumbshit, they'll treat you like an equal." "Just becaus...

All graphics click to enlarge. Submitted for your erudition is this old Dr. Grabow brochure. Undated, but I'm guessing 1950s- or '6...

Gerald Rudolph Ford (1913-2006) "I'm a Ford, not a Lincoln." Gerald Ford was born with the name Leslie King in Omaha, Ne...

Not 75%, not 80%, but exactly 77.7% drier, PROVED BY ACTUAL SCIENTIFIC LABORATORY SMOKING TESTS. Okie-dokie. I have never heard of Hollyco...

Monday is library day at my son's school. They get to check a book out of the school library and return their previous book. Today he ...

Michael Anthony Richards (b. 1949) Born in California and raised as a Catholic, although his publicist has claimed that he is Jewish (after ...

Here's a photo of an old Granger pipe tobacco road sign ad that someone found in a junkyard.

I have said before that Bayou Night from Cornell & Diehl is my favorite smoke. I have been without for about a month now and finally wa...

John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (1925-2001) Born in an elevator in Newton, Massachusetts. Jack Lemmon was a Harvard grad, where he w...