When I first published an article back in December of 2016 entitled “Brigham Pipes – A Closer Look at Dots, Dates and Markings” , I had no idea that it would become one of my most widely read posts. It has been viewed over 1300 times on DadsPipes and was reprinted in full on the great pipe wiki site Pipedia.org, making it available to a much wider audience.
Reader response to my Brigham article has been overwhelmingly positive, from casual DadsPipes browsers to serious pipe collectors and even by the good folks at Brigham Enterprises, who provided a fair bit of firsthand knowledge of the company and its products. One question, though, keeps popping into my inbox – “When is the book coming out?”
Well, I can’t give you an exact date, but the Brigham book project is officially underway! With the enthusiastic support of Brigham Enterprises, I am currently eyebrows deep in boxes of company archives and other historical documents, setting up interviews, building a company timeline and tracking down names and dates.
You can help, too! Did you or someone you know work for Brigham? Did you shop at one of their Toronto stores back in the day? Perhaps you were one of thousands of tobacconists and smoke shops across the country that retailed Brigham products? Share your story and add to the growing body of work that will become this book!
And, as always, keep those photos of your Brigham pipes coming! They have been invaluable in building the Brigham Pipe Shape Chart and serve as road markers on this Canadian company’s production journey through the decades since Roy Brigham first learned his craft as a young man in Toronto in the 1900’s.
I’m looking forward to transforming all the raw data and sometimes seemingly random facts swirling around my office into a coherent and hopefully interesting history of R. Brigham & Co, including information for pipe smokers and collectors and maybe even a little on restoring your estate Brigham pipe thrown in for good measure.
Keep an eye out for progress reports and Brigham trivia as the book takes shape. I hope you will enjoy following along.
Until next time, Happy Piping!
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