Lovely Quite Well Smoked 1/2 Bent Bark Alpha Calabash Made In Israel
Item History & Price
Pipe length......6.85 inches Bowl height.....2.45 inches Internal bowl diameter......0.875 of an inch.
This is a Lovely Old Refurbished BIG Alpha Bark Carved Calabash from the Shalom Factory in Israel. Little is written about the Shalom Factory beyond their two main brands, Alpha and Burl King which were made primarily for export to the USA market. One of the main Shalom designers was Dane Muki Liberma...nn, famed for his briar bending technique, later working in the USA. Quite who currently owns the Alpha brand is a little obscure, Mastercraft and Lane Limited of the USA being put forward as possible owners. The briar of this Bark Calabash is stained a deep red/brown, the Tight Birdseye Graining seen in the smooth nameplate, the bowl rim is crisp, but slightly scorched from smoking. The stem is a complex twin coloured acrylic, non-filter decorative saddle, no visible Logo, and some quite heavy tooth chatter. The bowl was reamed and cleansed, the stem was fully sanitised to make the pipe ready to smoke as soon as you receive it, before the whole pipe was lightly polished and waxed to give the Still Beautiful Finish you can see in the photos. The pipe draws and will smoke perfectly, it sits so comfortably in the palm of your hand, long but well balanced and so very tactile.
Thanks for looking and as usual I will combine postage if you buy more than one of my items from this auction. European tracked postage is £9.85 and for the rest of the world is £11.85......I have had to increase charges following Royal Mail price increases in April but will still combine any number of pipes for the price of one.
This is a Lovely Old Refurbished BIG Alpha Bark Carved Calabash from the Shalom Factory in Israel. Little is written about the Shalom Factory beyond their two main brands, Alpha and Burl King which were made primarily for export to the USA market. One of the main Shalom designers was Dane Muki Liberma...nn, famed for his briar bending technique, later working in the USA. Quite who currently owns the Alpha brand is a little obscure, Mastercraft and Lane Limited of the USA being put forward as possible owners. The briar of this Bark Calabash is stained a deep red/brown, the Tight Birdseye Graining seen in the smooth nameplate, the bowl rim is crisp, but slightly scorched from smoking. The stem is a complex twin coloured acrylic, non-filter decorative saddle, no visible Logo, and some quite heavy tooth chatter. The bowl was reamed and cleansed, the stem was fully sanitised to make the pipe ready to smoke as soon as you receive it, before the whole pipe was lightly polished and waxed to give the Still Beautiful Finish you can see in the photos. The pipe draws and will smoke perfectly, it sits so comfortably in the palm of your hand, long but well balanced and so very tactile.
Thanks for looking and as usual I will combine postage if you buy more than one of my items from this auction. European tracked postage is £9.85 and for the rest of the world is £11.85......I have had to increase charges following Royal Mail price increases in April but will still combine any number of pipes for the price of one.
