Dating pipe tobacco tins

New: This article is now available in Francais here: Barling. Many thanks to Jesse Silver for extensive work editing and contributing to this article, as well as Tad Gage, Jon Guss, and Troy Lloyd for their input, expertise, and permission to use their research. Thanks to these dedicated pipemen we have made excellent progress on these last two revisions July, and May, We are always looking for additional information and documentation on the fascinating history of Barling.

Learn how to identify and date Barling pipes in this guide to the historical Pre-​Transition Barlings have gained a reputation among pipe.

Post by Jeff So, I’ve checked out many of the threads discussing the dating of Barling pipes and found them very informative, especially Lindner’s post. However, I’m still questioning when exactly mine were manufactured. I know for sure that they are not pre-trans, and would suspect that they are not transition era pipes, but that is the question, really. I can’t decide whether they are trans or post trans era pipes.

So, I figured I’d throw this one out there for some help from all of the experts in this forum. The Pipe is sandblasted. One point of confusion is the size number of 5 and the size stamp “EXEL” These conflict with the next pipe. The pipe is sandblasted very nice and very deep. The point of confusion between this and the previous pipe is in the size designation as both “6” and “EXEL” So, besides dating , the question is why both pipes are stamped “EXEL” yet each has a different numbered size stamp “5” and “6” respectively Any help on these questions would be much appreciated.

Thank you very much. Robert DOnnelly.