Weingott

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Mr. Samuel Weingott with the biggest briar ever found.jpg


J.Samuel Weingott was a famous Fleet Street Tobacconist (London, UK) who ventured into making amazing Briar smoking Pipes starting experimenting somewhere between 1865 and 1870 and finally opening his factory in 1883. According to an interview in an English magazine from 1899, Mr. Weingott, a true entrepreneur was dissatisfied with the common clay pipes of the time and disappointed with the continental Briar pipes that were not exploring the true potentialities of this wonderful root.


Prior to 1883 there was scarcely a single Briar pipe manufactured in England. They were all foreign made goods. Later that year, J. S. Weingott conceiving the possibilities that lay in such a non-competitive field, determined to manufacture pipes in England for English customers. His enterprise, at first was regarded askance by others in the trade, while many prognosticated disaster. Undeterred by these ominous forebodings, Mr. Weingott started his industry (S. Weingott & Son), and although it was an uphill struggle at first, he soon became one of the largest pipe factories in the country with a large colonial export: "Only sixteen years have elapsed since I started my factory, and yet today the industry has grown to such proportions that the men employed in this trade throughout the country have instituted a Pipemaker's Union" (from a 1899 interview to an English magazine).


Weingott workshop in fleet street.png


Mr. Weingott, a tobacconist at 3 Fleet Street since 1859 was an insider, a true "connoisseur" who had an incredible knowledge of tobaccos deriving from his trading experience, to which he was adding now a unique pipe manufacturing experience, rapidly becoming the authority in working the Briar. Weingott had very high ethics driven by an obsessive aim at excellence often disapproving and exposing the continental fakes and tricks:"sold by unscrupulous cheap and foreign firms; but the Englishman is a good judge of a pipe. He detests flaws of any kind. I used to sell these defective blocks of briar at a penny per piece, and have sent away as many as 40.000 condemned Briars at a time, but now I burn them all! The Briars were sent abroad, and the cracks and flaws stopped with putty or some other composition, and then stepped in a strong solution of permanganate of potash, which deeply coloured the wood and made the defect invisible except on close inspection. all those Briars you see of chestnut colour have passed through the permanganate of potash bath or some other dye, and are then varnished, and you may rest assured that there is a defect somewhere-they would not be that colour if it were not so, because natural briar, although it becomes dark with age and exposure, displays the natural grain."

For most of the XIX and XX century his pipes were some of the best ever made in London, respecting his directives of 1 craftsman per pipe and never a "ford like" assembly line so commonly adopted in many workshops of the time. these pipes are extremely rare and much sought after by pipe collectors worldwide.

Weingott1b.jpg

The family sold the business in the 1930s and since then they have been made by, or used private label pipes, under several different owners. In 1980 Cadogan bought the brand and,according to many pipe smokers, effectively killed it. Initially by lowering the extremely high quality level of this classic brand and later on by finally discontinuing it.

To day (2012) the shop is owned by a wines & spirits retailer, the original Weingott tobacco shop sign is still visible on the right hand side.

Weingott2.jpg


Weingott was for most of the XX century THE oldest brand of Pipe manufacturers in London, or at least the oldest legal manufacture registered in the London Directories. Notice the explosion in Pipe making factories by the turn of the century and contrast it with the single mention to Weingott in 1884:


Briar Pipe Makers in London Directories

1882 Flachfeld, J. & Co. - (& briars) 36 Basinghall St. E.C.

Weingott, Sam & Son - 72 Fleet St. & 14 Crown Ct. E.C.

1884 Weingott, Sam & Son - 72 Fleet St. & 14 Crown Ct. E.C.

1895 Allen & Wright - cigar importers, cigarette manufacturers, tobacconist & briar pipe maker, 16 Peultry, E.C. & 217 Picadilly W

Delacour, A. - pipe manufacturer, 21 Nicholl Sq. E.C.

Weingott, Samuel & Son - tobacconist, manufacturers & importers of cigars, meerschaum & briar pipes, & amber - 83 Fleet St.E.C.; 58 Ldogate Hill E.C. & Royal Hotel Buildings, Victoria Embankment E.C.

1899 Allen & Wright - cigar importers, cigarette manufacturers, tobacconist & briar pipe maker, 16 Peultry, E.C. & 217 Picadilly W; factory, 20 Cheapside E.C.

Block, Salamon - 41 Beech St., Barbican, E.C.

Bondier, G. & Co. - 24 Edmund Place E.C.

Brix Sons - 35 & 37 Whitecross St. E.C.

Bruderlin, Otto - 5 South St. Finsbury E.C.

Bull, Samuel M. - 49 Berwick St. W

Clement & Collcomb - 42 Tabernacle St. E.C.

Grappin-Dallox - 3 New Union St. Moorfields E.C.

Hecht, S. Sons & Prag - (factory at St. Claude, France) 14 Hamsell St. E.C.

Kapp & Peterson Ltd. - 53 New Broad St. E.C.

Loewe, E. J. & Co. - 48 Lexington St. Golden Sq. W

“Masta” Patent Pipe Co. (The) - 153 Fleet St. E.C.; works, 28 GloucesterSt. Clerkenwell E.C. & St. Claude, Jura, France; manufacturers & patentees of the “Masta” patent pipes, cigars & cigarette tubes, briar & meerschaum with vulcanite, amber, amberoid & ivory mouthpieces. Export shippers - TA “Fiperia”

Oppenheimer, A. & Co. - 32 & 33 Hamsell St. E.C.

Randolph, Andrew & Co. - 7 South St. Finsbury, E.C.

Stantien & Becker - 16 Fore St. E.C.

Weingott, Samuel & Son (briar), 83 Fleet St.E.C. & Royal Hotel Buildings, Victoria Embankment E.C.

1910 Allen & Wright - cigar importers, cigarette manufacturers, tobacconist & briar pipe maker, 26 Peultry, E.C (TN 974 Central): 31 St. Mary Ave E.C. (TN 4145 London Wall) & 217 Picadilly W (TN 197 Mayfair): factory, 20 Cheapside E.C. - TN 10649(?) Central

Ashenfarb, Leon - 10 Christopher St., Finsbury E.C.

Barling, B. & Sons - 9, 10, 11 Park St. Camdn, tn NW

Brix Sons - briar pipe makers - 3 Butler Street, 69 Milton Street E.C.

Comoy, Hy & Co. - 2 & 4 Newcastle Pl. Clerkenwell E.C.

Deguingand, Emile & Son Ltd. - 5 Colonial Ave. Minories E

Delacour Bros. Ltd. - manufacturers of high class briar pipes for all markets; 107 Salusbury Rd. Kilburn N.W. [gives illustration of trade mark]

Edwards, Friedrich & Co. - 25 Gingshouse St., W [at this point in time, John Solomon Weingott was a full partner of F. Edwards & Co. who were primarily meerschaum pipe makers]

Fraenkel Bros. - 129, 130 & 131 Houndsditch E

Guinzel & Rosenberger - 7 Victoria Ave. Bishopsgate St. Without E.C.

Hecht, S. Sons & Prag - (factory at St. Claude, France) 13 Roscoe St. E.C., estab. 1853

Imperial Tobacco Co. (Of Great Britain & Ireland) Ltd. - fancy goods department, 79, 81, & 83 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith W

Jeantet, David - 72 Aldersgate St. E.C.

Kapp & Peterson Ltd. - 7 Hills Pl., Oxford St. W

Kohn & Wiess - 88 Aldersgate St. E.C.; also ambroid, meerschaum & Calabash pipes.

Lewis & Hardcastle - 26 Gower Place W.C.

Loewe & Co. - 58 Haymarket SW & 48 Lexington St., Golden Square W

London Pipe Co. - 103 Shephenless Walk N

Maas, Charles & Co. - 13 Jewin Crescent E.C.

Oppenheimer, A. & Co. - 32 &33 Hamsell St. E.C.

Oppenheimer (Sina), Seckel & Co. Ltd. - 44, 45 & 46 Barbican E.C.

Simon, Vuiller & Strause - 108 & 110 Golden La. E.C.

Slo-Cem Pipe Co. - 10 Kirby St. E.C.

Vidaillet & Gros (St. Claude, Jura) (Sina Oppenheimer, Seckel & Co. Agents) - 44 Barbican E.C.

Weingott, S. & Son - 74 Fleet St. E.C.

1915 Allen & Wright - cigar importers, cigarette manufacturers, tobacconist & briar pipe maker, 16 Peultry, E.C (TN 974 Central): 31 St. Mary Ave E.C. (TN 4145 London Wall) & 217 Picadilly W (TN 197 Mayfair) & 7 King Street E.C.; factory, 20 Cheapside E.C. - TN 10649(?) Central

Barling, B. & Sons - 9, 10, 11 Park St. Camdn, tn NW

Baron & Company - Tobacconists; 1 Piccadilly W (TN 1437 Regent) & tobacco pipe makers, 133 Jermyn St. SW Biltor Ltd. (?)

Comoy, Henri & Co. Ltd. - 72 to 82 Yardley Street

Deguingand, E. & Son Ltd. - 5 Colonial Ave. Minories E

Delacour Bros. Ltd. - tobacco pipe manufacturers; 107 Salusbury Rd. Kilburn N.W. - TA “Brotherly, Kilb”; TN 408 Paddington

Guinzel & Rosenberger - 7 Victoria Ave. Bishopsgate E.C.

Hecht, S. Sons & Prag - (factory at St. Claude, France) 13 Roscoe St. E.C., estab. 1853

Imperial Tobacco Co. (Of Great Britain & Ireland) Ltd. - fancy goods department, 79, 81, & 83 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith W

Janovsky, Albert - 26 to 31 Eyre St. Hill E.C.

Kapp & Peterson Ltd. - 21 Mortimer St. W

Lewis & Hardcastle - 26 Gower Place W.C.

Loewe & Co. - 58 Haymarket SW & 48 Lexington St., Golden Square W

Maas, Charles & Co. - 1A Aldermanbury Ave. E.C.

Marechal, Ruchon & Co. - 38 Finsbury Sq. E.C.; London works , 15 & 16 Featherstone St. E.C.

Nathan, Alfred Jerrold & Co. (Agents) - 24 New Bridge St. E.C.

Oppenheimer, A. & Co. - 38 Finsbury Sq. E.C.

Oppenheimer, Seckel & Co. Ltd. - 16 Bayer St. E.C.

Perkins, Henry & Sons - 33 Crompton St. E.C.

Perkins, Arth. - 43 Grafton St. Tottnhm Ct. Rd. W

Rougier & Co. Ltd. - 21 Finsbury St. E.C.

Simon, Vuiller & Strause - 108 & 110 Golden La. E.C.

Wade, Ben - 46 Bishopsgate E.C.

Weingott, S. & Son - 3 Fleet St. E.C.