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Message: <blockquote data-quote="glpease" data-source="post: 127065" data-attributes="member: 18">I don't know the Esterel grade at all, so I can't be of any assistance, there. GBD made SO many grades, many of which were destined for specific markets. There was a guy from Brazil, if I recall correctly, selling a bunch of new old stock from a shuttered shop, and I didn't recognize most of the lines he had. A bunch of pipes from the 60s or 70s with names I'd never seen. It's fascinating to think about today's pipe culture in comparison to that of a century, or even just a few decades past. Closer to the beginning of the 20th century, and well into the 1940s, factories turned out millions of pipes per year, as compared with today's thousands. The pipe was then not a novelty, but almost a requisite. Yet, we continue, and boldly so! Even though we are fewer in numbers, our culture has survived and even flourished. I wonder if there were many enthusiasts in those years, or just pipe smokers. I wonder if the cottage industry of artist pipe makers could have made much of an impact, then. Or small batch tobacco blenders. We are fortunate to be pipe smokers in this day, I think!</blockquote>