| Archive for Dr. Grabow Pipes "America's One and Only" |
| Terry292 |
Alpha Pipes for Rev AveryThought I'd start a new thread on Alpha history for Rev Avery. Sounds to me like your quote is from an old P&T Magazine article on Dr Grabow pipes. In the late 90s, Lane, Ltd, owner of the Dr Grabow factory, decided to manufacture a more upscale line of pipes. They intended these pipes to compete with imported pipes in the under $100.00 price range and chose the Alpha name for the line. Lane Ltd acquired rights to the name from Mastercraft Pipes, who, in turn, had purchased the name from the Israeli Shalom Pipe Company.The Lane Alphas were a very short-lived line, only lasting about two years (circa 1998-2000). There were 18 (14 standard, 4 'fancy') shapes, in five finishes. Greek letters were used for the finish names (Beta, Gamma, Epsilon,etc). They're pretty good pipes for the money, but I think most smokers who were willing to pay around $100.00 for a new pipe were turned off by the association with the Dr Grabow name. In my opinion, that's probably why the line died an unlamented early death. The Hochstein brothers, Mickey and Dickey, manufactured the original Alpha pipes at the Shalom Pipe Factory near Tel Aviv, Israel. They're also pretty good pipes, and the Citation series is, again in my opinion, one of the most underrated pipes on the market. Shalom was in business from around 1970 until the mid- to late-80s. Alpha was their brand name in the US only. Worldwide their pipes were marketed under the Shalom name. I think Mastercraft handled the line in the US. Later on, sometime in the early- to mid-90s, Mastercraft Pipes marketed the Alpha USA line of pipes, also manufactured in the Sparta factory. The finishes were: Sierra, Delta, Mark V, Blue Ridge, Sabre, and Big Boy. Some are makred Alpha, and some aren't. That, in a nutshell, is the history of Alpha pipes. For my money, Israeli-made Alphas, especially the Citation series, are one of the best values available today, when you can find them. Second would be the Lane, Ltd, Alphas, and, finally, the Alpha USA pipes. The last are hit or miss. Some are great smokers, others not so hot. I'm not real clear on the various corporate interrelationships between Shalom, Mastercraft and Dr Grabow pipes. Ted can probably help you with those aspects. Hope this helps. Terry BTW, welcome to the DGCF. |
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| LokoMac8 |
Re: Alpha Pipes for Rev Avery
Nice write-up and information Terry! In my opinion, I think then as now, ineffective marketing was the reason for the demise. That P&T article was the first, last and ONLY mention of Dr. Grabow Alpha pipes I had ever seen, and other than the discussion on this forum, still the only thing I ever saw on them. I had never seen them advertised and had never run across one in a shop or store. I have yet to see one on eBay with any packaging or hype. It's hard to be turned off by the $100 price when you don't even know they exist, regardless of what brand name they sold under. I do see from time to time, the Israeli made Alphas. Were they actually stamped with the Dr. Grabow name? I would like to pick one of them up, but I have never seen one identified as such. I DID see a couple of pipes hanging on the wall at the factory with holes drilled through the stems that I think were Alphas that I would have loved to have acquired! OZ or Barry could probably fix that hole in the stem for me! --RJ-- |
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| steverino |
Here's a writeup on the Alphas in the September 98 edition of Pipe Smoke - might be the same article as the one Terry saw in P&T.
http://www.pipesmokemag.com/0998/feature.htm |
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| ted |
Well done Terry. Most of that I never knew.
Rev, Mastercraft and Grabow were competitors during the late 50's till early 70's. Both companies sold to Drug and Chain stores. Grabow was a manufacturer while Mastercraft was an importer. Shalom (the factory in Israel) was a supplier to M/C. One of many. US Tobacco (Skoal and Copenhagen snuff) bought both companies and after the purchase, both companies operated in Sparta. Of my 25 years in the business, 10 were with M/C and 15 with Grabow. Darrell Waltrip, the race driver invented a word that describes the relationship while both companies were in Sparta....co-opetition.... I was not involved when the Grabow Alpha came along so this is interesting to me also....ted |
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| drbridges |
Rev, we have heard rumors that DG has some choice, aged briar stummels in storage. We can only guess what they might produce from those nice promising pieces someday.
Mac & I had an article on DG that showed some large custom carved pipes they produced for select customers. Wonder if they are still doing that? |
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| ozark southpaw |
Alphas
Thanks for posting this Steve,good article! |
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| ted |
Re: Alpha Pipes for Rev Avery
RJ, Hadn't thought about this till today. Since Grabow isn't making Alpha any more I can't see a need for them to hang there. If you'd like I'll go by the factory and make an offer to them for you and anyone who might want the other 2. The 3 in 100_2919. top right ....for all of you that haven't looked at the pictures in a while....ted |
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| Rev. Avery |
This is great stuff! Terry, thanks so much for writing all that for us. And thank you for the welcome 
Steve, that is the article. I thought it was really good. DR, that would be cool to have a pipe made from the aged briar. I wonder if they'll make it known if they ever do that. I would think so?? I'm going to keep my eyes open for a Shalom/Alpha pipe. Sounds too fascinating to pass up. 
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| LokoMac8 |
Re: Alpha Pipes for Rev Avery
YOU BET!!! I'd rather buy those than what was available in their latest mail-out "offer". I'll figure out how to fix the stems later! --RJ-- |
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| ted |
Re: Alpha Pipes for Rev Avery
They work 4- 10 hour days so they are closed tomorrow. I'll try on Monday or Tuesday. We'll see what happens...ted |
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| BWThomas |
Re: Alpha Pipes for Rev Avery
RJ, you get those pipes, I'll fix those stems for you......just send the stems, I don't think I could trust myself with the whole pipe. BW |
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