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Before the wild Danish freehands, Ben Wade was about as English as a rainy afternoon. Founded in Leeds in 1860 by Benjamin Wade, the company built honest, traditional briars that earned a solid reputation long before Preben Holm ever got involved. These were classic English pipes—clean lines, good engineering, and built to be smoked day after day.
By the late 1960s, the original English company was struggling, and that’s when the Ben Wade name headed in a whole new direction. Preben Holm bought the rights for most export markets and turned Ben Wade into one of the biggest names of the Danish freehand boom. That’s the Ben Wade most folks recognize today.
The earlier English pipes are a different animal entirely. They’re understated, well-made, and often overlooked because everybody’s chasing the flashy plateau freehands. That’s a shame, because a good English Ben Wade will smoke with plenty of bigger names from the era without demanding the same kind of money. Sometimes the quiet old ranch hand gets the job done just as well as the guy riding in on the fancy horse.
Professionally restored. Stem is 9/10. Come and Take It!
Follow my shop for choice pipes and color commentary, uploaded regularly and original pipes hand made by me, uploaded occasionally. I REGULARLY STOCK 100+ ESTATE PIPES SO CHECK OUT MY OTHER sales
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I combine shipping on orders over $40 in the continental US, just ask!
Measurements available upon request.
My shipping is a little more than some. I use UPS (unless it’s going to a PO Box or non contiguous US) because UPS has a 98% success rate versus USPS at 87.5%. I have a dedicated UPS representative who goes above and beyond in the rare case there is a shipping issue. Three-ish dollars is worth the peace of mind in my opinion.
