Regal question

steverino · Regal question

As I have started paying a little more attention to the details of the various DG models, or lines, I noticed something interesting about the Regal. To wit, take a look at the 1969 price list:

Note that the Regal is listed down into the Duke lineup, after the Golden and Silver Dukes. Yet, the Regal is a cleaner pipe rather than a filter pipe. This is puzzling to me, since it would seem that the Regal, being a cleaner pipe, would be grouped (and priced) with the Eldo, Commo, Viscount and Starfire. Was this originally the case, then later the Golden and Silver Duke filter pipes, with somewhat better briar, were inserted into the lineup ahead of the Regal? Or am I completely off base? It just seems odd for a cleaner pipe to be down there amongst the filter pipes.

Another thought - was the Regal devised just so they had a less expensive cleaner pipe for smokers who particularly wanted that feature? I take it the Regal was a fairly good seller, since there seems to be no shortage of them on ebay - the reason I've got a good sized collection!

ted

Steve....As Dr.B says, may be another (small) bombshell.....Sorry also to Mac.......

Here goes.....Wouldn't worry much about the price list. Our "artist" in Greensboro was Charlie Gray, and our printer was Greene Printing in High Point(I think) and they knew nothing about the business. They set the type, and didn't care about the construction. The prices are in order, Damn the construction..

Over the years we accumulated a TREMENDOUS amount of "short shanks". Shanks that were a bit too short for Viscount, Starfire, etc. We tried to use these up in "banded" versions of Viscount, Starfire, etc., but created more than we could use......Then came the Regal, with the WIDE aluminum band...... We had "A" and "E" bowls with short shanks that just fit into the Regal. Many of these, especially in the 60's and 70's are as good as Eldorado. Even the rustic(with a different carving) are special. Guess the best way to say it is, Regal is the "stepchild" of Eldorado. They were top of the line, but with a slightly shorter shank. I have a slightly shorter shank, as do some of you.....
Never hurt me..........ted

drbridges

Was someone asleep in the accounting dept? I would think wide thick aluminum bands costs more in time and material than briar wood.

ted

Dr.B....Consider the fact that "short shanks" were "no value"......Makes the cost of aluminum insigificant. You still gotta' lotta' learn.......ted

drbridges

See what a discerning smoker you are, Steverino? You recognized the value in Regal pipes despite their low price.

I would have charged more for the aluminum bands.

ted

Dr. B....average cost for the aluminum in the Regal was about .17 cents up to .20 cents per pipe(both pieces).......Biggest cost ALWAYS was labor........Think about 80+ operations, some at 35/hr, some at 200/hr.

Perhaps you need some discerning lessons....ted

LokoMac8

steverino

Ted - as always, thanks for the great info. Your insight provides the details that make this hobby very gratifying.

RJ - I hadn't thought of it, but you're right - not a one of my Regals has a shape number. It must be what you said, just didn't want to put the additional labor into it.

steverino

Oh Ted, one question, just to clarify - so are you saying that the Regal was created specifically to use up the short shanked bowls?

ted

Steve...Can't give a yes for certain, but I believe that was the case. Of course we sold more Regal than we created short shanks, so many shanks were just cut off.

drbridges

ted

Dr.B.....No more labor than a regular Viscount. Still had to "face" both the briar and bit. The aluminum was machined "true". Agreed, had to glue in the part, but that also was pretty insigificant, considering that there were VERY few places to use the short shanks......

Short shanks, as I'm using the term in this discussion ,is a mis-nomer. Anything shorter than 2 inches was a "short", but the shank length didn't affect the quality of the stummel. We graded the shank length into 1 7/8in.....1 5/8in and short shanks(less than 1 5/8in)

You know that we had aluminum that was 20mm,30mm and 40mm...The30mm plus 1 5/8in. shank length equals Regal.....40mm aluminum plus shorter than 1 5/8in. shank equals Starfire Banded and Willard Military

Dr.B.....guess you had to be there, cause I can't make it all that clear.......ted

steverino

Ted - I appreciate you putting the info out there even if you don't feel you've done so clearly - I am glad to be able to glean from it whatever I can and so far, it all seems to make sense. I'm sure there's more I don't know that would bring even more interest and enjoyment to the hobby.

LokoMac8

steverino

ted

Steve...again, my brain is not functioning.The 20,30,40, I referred to aren't mm's...they are the part numbers we used at the factory.

I meant to say 20 series, 30series ,etc. Sorry.

40 series is the widest, 20 series the smallest.....ted

steverino

Roger doger, thanks Ted. I just wanted to make sure I was looking at things right.

steverino

I thought of another question maybe for Ted or whomever knows: We've established that the Regal was made primarily to use up stummels that were too short. Question: Once the Regal line achieved a modicum of success, was it ever necessary, due to production demands, to use normal stummels to make Regals? Or were there always enough short stummels? One reason I ask is that some of my Regals seem to have shanks that are quite long - in fact, I have at least one Regal that has a shank longer than that of some of my Eldorados. That's what got me to thinking that DG may have needed to use normal stummels to keep up with demand.

ted

Steve....absolutely. Grabow only created a relatively small number of these shorter shanks. After Regal had been "running" for a while, and the inventory of shorter shanks was used up, regular shanks were used. For a while regular shanks were cut off.

steverino

Ha! That's interesting. Thanks Ted, as always a wealth of great info.