Ben Wade: Difference between revisions

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===The Family era===
===The Family era===
[[Image:BenW_02.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Nomenclature]]The company was founded by Benjamin Wade in 1860 in Leeds, Yorkshire, where it was located for over a century. Ben Wade started as a pipe trader, but yet in the 1860's he established a workshop to produce briar pipes. The pipes were made in very many standard shapes - always extensively classic and "very British". Many models tended to be of smaller dimensions. Ben Wade offered a very high standard of craftsmanship and quality without any fills. Thus the pipes were considered to be high grade and a major competitor to other famous English brands. The often heard comparison to [[Charatan]] seems to be a little bit inadequate because those days' Charatans were entirely handmade.
[[Image:BenW_02.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Family Era Nomenclature]]The company was founded by Benjamin Wade in 1860 in Leeds, Yorkshire, where it was located for over a century. Ben Wade started as a pipe trader, but yet in the 1860's he established a workshop to produce briar pipes. The pipes were made in very many standard shapes - always extensively classic and "very British". Many models tended to be of smaller dimensions. Ben Wade offered a very high standard of craftsmanship and quality without any fills. Thus the pipes were considered to be high grade and a major competitor to other famous English brands. The often heard comparison to [[Charatan]] seems to be a little bit inadequate because those days' Charatans were entirely handmade.


In the II. World War the factory was destroyed by German air raids on Leeds. But the Ben Wade family decided to re-build it immediately after the war and pipe production was re-started soon and successfully linked to the fame from the pre-war years. Even though the owner family decided to leave pipe business and sell off the firm. The family went into negotiations with Herman G. Lane, president of Lane Ltd. in New York at about the same time as the Charatan family. Lane Ltd. bought both firms in 1962.
In the II. World War the factory was destroyed by German air raids on Leeds. But the Ben Wade family decided to re-build it immediately after the war and pipe production was re-started soon and successfully linked to the fame from the pre-war years. Even though the owner family decided to leave pipe business and sell off the firm. The family went into negotiations with Herman G. Lane, president of Lane Ltd. in New York at about the same time as the Charatan family. Lane Ltd. bought both firms in 1962.