WWII German cigarettes and Wehrmacht pipe

The Kurgan

The Kurgan

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I buy a lot of militaria from various sources, but I was quite happy with yesterday's purchase...

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Now, sometime over the past 70 years, somebody peaked inside the cigarette package, as I can clearly see the packaging is open under the white paper seal, but all cigarettes are there and the packaging is intact. I am very tempted to smoke the damn pack, what the hell! For certain, I will use the pipe. Hard to make out the manufacturer stamp.
 
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a little talc powder... and, the pipe maker is revealed to be: "BRUYERE GARANTIE" or is that a quality/assurance stamp? Don't know too much about pipes. :)

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Quick Internet search found this

"Bruyere Garantie" isn't a specific pipe manufacturer per se, but any manufacturer could stamp this on their pipes. Mostly on those "Seconds" that weren't "good" enough to carry their brand-label. This stamping got introduced shortly after WWII, where the supply for Briar was hard by times and this stamp was saying "Hey...this is a quality (briar-)pipe!!". There were also some manufacturers claiming pipes to be briar, that weren't. So the "Bruyere Garantie" (=guaranteed briar) stamp was a "stamp of approval" if you will. Most of those pipes have kitted parts, but I have two of them so far and they smoke very, very good unless the rather "second-ish" appearance of the pipes.
Most of them are rusticated or sandblasted to hide the rather bad quality of the briar most of them have. Doesn'T mean they don't smoke well tho! It's hit&miss.
 
Depending on when they were made, I might be a little leery of smoking German cigarettes. Early in the war, they still had access to American tobacco (hence the "Kentucky" on the package), as well as tobacco from their own fields, Holland, Turkey, Egypt...

As the war progressed, outside supplies were progressively cut off, and regardless of what was on the label, an increasing amount of filler was used, they couldn't source enough from Holland or their own fields. Supposedly, the Swedes ran a bit of an underground railroad supplying Tobacco and other products to Germany (purely for profit related reasons).

Near the end, German cigarettes were what the Germans smoked if they couldn't get anything else. They were mostly filler with a hint of actual tobacco. Captured cigarettes were prized, and could be traded for all manner of supplies.
 
Pipe cleaning tool like that can still be purchased everywhere,except it won't have reaming tool.That has to bought separately unless you go with different design.
 
The Kurgan said:
Probably pretty darn raunchy and stale. :)
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more like lighting up a fuse between your lips than a cigarette. Just do as most oldtimers did when the tobacco got a little dry, put a slice of fresh apple in the package for a week or so...it'll smoke like new. More than one winter coat was hung on a nail for the summer only to have the owner find an open pouch of tobacco in the fall the first time it was worn again, apple slice worked every time.
 
Big Uke said:
Ah, the things my Dad told me he could get from trading "real" cigarettes right after the war in Germany. (Yes, that too)
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Cigarettes were the only real currency. My dad did drawings of Allied soldiers in trade for cigarettes, which were then traded for life's essentials. ;)

Grizz
 
Excellent find ... congrats ... :)

Some of these old soldier's kit bags are as much fun to find as a good milsurp itself ...

My wife found this about 10 years ago and added it to her Enfield collection..

It's amazing to see all of these individual items from the 1940's, stamped with government ownership military "broad arrow" markings, including the individual cigarettes stamped "HM Forces".

1937 Pattern - WWII British Soldier's Haversack
(Packed with soldier's personal kit dated from the 1940's)

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Here's a link to a 167 pic detailed photo montage to the 1937 Pattern - WWII British Soldier's Haversack (click here)http://imageevent.com/badgerdog/bri...litaryaccessories/1937patternbritishhaversack

Regards,
Doug
 
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