Barling: Admiral Guinea Grain (1825) (9mm) Tobacco Pipe

The Barling pipe-making name dates to 1812 when respected silversmith Benjamin Barling began adorning meerschaum pipes with quality silver, establishing B. Barling and Sons, LTD. In the subsequent decades, that silverwork was extended to briar pipes from France before Barling eventually began crafting pipes of their own in the early 20th century, growing to become among the most lauded English pipe makers of that era. In 2020, Kopp Pipes revitalized the iconic marque, continuing the Barling legacy with a range of classic shapes in a variety of finishes — all marked by a sterling silver lion's head logo on the stem and with many further adorned by silver in honor of Barling's origins.

Like Barling's Trafalgar series, the Admiral line honors British Admiral Horatio Nelson. An iconic commander for the British navy throughout the late-18th and early-19th centuries, Nelson is perhaps best known for his victory over allied Spanish and French fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, downing over 20 enemy ships without losing one of his own despite being outnumbered. The Admiral was fatally wounded in the battle, passing shortly after its end, and he's remembered by London's Trafalgar Square and its centerpiece, Nelson's Column. As a pipe series, Barling's Admiral line presents a number of traditional designs accented by an intricate, filigree band of sterling silver along the shank, with this "1825" bent Billiard dressed in the smooth Guinea Grain finish, which designates pipes that showcase particularly exceptional grain.