Description
The consensus of pipe manufacturers over the last few years is that good briar has been difficult to get. The supplies are thin on the ground and the prices are very high.
In our recent shipment, the cost of the new Oom Paul pipes was unacceptably high, due to the cost and the scarcity of the large briar blocks needed for this shape.
This is where I had a thought: The Marca Dry shape 120 is the Oom Paul shape!
I separated all the Marca Dry smooth shape 120 we had left from the 200dozen we received in 2014, and averaged their costs with the cost of the new Oom Paul pipes. This brought the retail price to a more acceptable level for the Pipe Smoking customer.
The Marca range comes from a family-owned pipe factory which specialises in producing private label pipes with comparable qualities to slot into price gaps. This innovation, combined with a real enthusiasm and love for the trade, has been so successful that (having completed university studies) the fourth generation came into the business in 2005.
Buying is a process of advice and negotiation – deciding which finishes and shapes offer the best value for the price the buyer wants to pay: “maybe go for a slightly smaller / different bowl”.
In this way we (the buyer) can fill in the price and shape gaps in the range of pipes we offer to you the pipe smoker; and from the supplier point of view the factory has a more efficient production run.
We have worked with the manufacturer of our Marca pipes since 2005 with marked success: Marca Parma, Marca 6, Marca Mignon, Marca Sport have all been exceptionally well accepted as quality pipes at reasonable prices.
In all this time we haven’t had a single faulty bowl. Not many brands can boast of this.
In fact, a considerable percentage of the Private Label pipes we see in the USA come from this Italian business enterprise. The buyer chooses a shape or shapes from the large (and I mean large) stockholding of prepared (cured and turned) bowls, specifies the price range and colour, and the bowls are selected and the pipes finished accordingly.
To summarise the factory philosophy for pipe making:
“By having cost-efficient production runs, with 2 or 3 grades of finishes included, they can produce better value for money pipes than most other pipe manufacturers.”
“These Marca pipes are absolutely great value for money – the smoking quality exceeds nearly all of my 100+ other pipes. WS”
“ps. I’m still enjoying the Marca – really good value for money. DB”
