Talk:LHS

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It seems there is pretty good evidence that Stern made pre war pipes for BBB. We hope to flush that out here as more information becomes available. Please feel free to add any information you have here, or send it to sethile.pipes@gmail.com. Perhaps we can eventually add the result into the main article... --sethile (talk) 09:37, 3 June 2016 (EDT)


The following information and photos are from Dave Gossett, who has an extensive collection of L&H Stern pipes and related tobacciana, and has done extensive research. This will eventually be added into the main article while reconciling any conflicting or redundant information:

Early L&H Sterm Sign, courtesy Dave Gossett
Building on Pearl and Waters street in Brooklyn, courtesy Dave Gossett

Ludwig Stern, a successful pipe manufacturer since 1893 and closing around 1960, reorganized his company along with his brother Hugo Stern, opening a factory in 1911. They named the company L&H Stern Smoking Pipes & Holders. The newly formed company was moved into a six story building on the corner of Pearl and Waters street Brooklyn, NY.

Notes from Geyer's Stationer:
Thoroughly organized in all departments, and housed in a well-lighted and ventilated modern office and manufacturing building, the firm of L&H Stern Inc. is located near the first arch of the Manhattan bridge, near the river and convenient to the Brooklyn bridge, which makes it accessible from all the hotels in the metropolis for visiting buyers. The structure is six stories with a seventeen-foot basement, with light on three sides through prismatic glass windows, the first floor being seven feet above the sidewalk. Light enters the upper floors from all four sides.

L&H Stern is known to every important wholesaler and jobber in the country. LHS manufactures a complete line of briar pipes. Ginmetto wood pipes are also made, as well as Redmanol goods, the man-made amber. The first substitute for amber. Everything, even down to the sterling silver and other metal trimmings are made under one roof.



L&H Stern advertised pipes at prices starting from $1 and topping out at $25. One Advertisement said: "Remember, any LHS is the best pipe in its class".


The brand had 8 pipe grades listed in the 1944 issue of Outdoor Magazine.

  • Star Crest Ultrafine $ 10
  • Star Crest 14K $ 7.50
  • Star Crest Sterling $ 5
  • Certified Purex $3.50
  • Select Grain $2.50
  • Sivercrest $ 2
  • Superfine Purex $1.50
  • Sculpted Purex $1.50

Additional notes:

Some models were made before, during, and after WWII.

Pre-war pipes were stamped Real Briar Root, or Briar Root. Some war time pipes were made from domestic briar, or "American" briar and were void of any briar stampings. Many American pipe makers lost their over seas supply of Mediterranean briar shortly before and during the war. Post war pipes were stamped Imported Briar to assure customers that they were buying premium briar once again.



Sources

  • Tobacco: An illustrated weekly journal
  • Geyer's Stations
  • The Rotarian

The case for some Pre-war BBBs having been made by LHS

From a thread on PipesMagazine.com by Dave Gossett:

Here is a BBB that was possibly made by LHS. I hope the BBB collectors chime in with any information. There are too many similarities to just be coincidence. Besides the fact that LHS pipes are great burners, the scarce information and mystery surrounding L&H Stern piques my curiosity of this extinct American pipe maker.

Besides having the look and feel of an LHS, It is stamped Superfine, also the name of an LHS model. It has a stinger identical to LHS pipes of this era. They both have the two piece aluminum fittings in the stem/shank connection. The stem has a pale blue dot surrounded by a silver circle, the same as an LHS Warwick. The model number stamping is the same font used on LHS from the 1920's through the 1940's.


Ludwig Stern moved his pipe factory to Brooklyn,NY in 1920. Louis Blumfeld opens an American branch in New York around 1914 according to Pipedia. These two pipe makers were practically neighbors in the 1920's.

Editors Note: You be the judge and form your own conclusions, but it is compelling evidence, to be sure! If you have any further details that might present an argument pro or con please add them here, or send them to sethile.pipes@gmail.com, and I can add them for you. --sethile (talk) 09:35, 5 June 2016 (EDT)