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Brand Dating Guides
Bentley pipes were designed by the Dane Former, made in Switzerland from 1986, then in Germany.
Updated 2026-10-22
Welcome. This guide helps you read a pipe stamped BENTLEY.
Bentley pipes carry no year stamp. We know of no shape number list.
The country stamp gives the best window. Switzerland and Germany give two different periods.
Each rule below has a rank: high, medium or low.
1962
Bentley is the production brand of Hans Jonny Nielsen, called Former.
He got the nickname as a child. He looked like the actor George Formby.
At 15 he repaired pipes for two years in a Copenhagen pipe shop.
In 1962, aged 21, he was hired at W.Ø. Larsen in Copenhagen.
He stayed about 10 years. He became supervisor of the workshop.
He checked quality, trained new carvers, and made and graded pipes.
The workshop had 19 carvers, among them Teddy Knudsen and Tonni Nielsen.
He then left to make pipes under his own name, first for buyers in Japan.
1986
In 1986 he was asked to go to Switzerland.
His task was to modernise the old Bru-Bu pipe works in Kleinlützel.
There he developed a new high-grade pipe with the English name Bentley.
He spent the next 10 years in Switzerland.
Smokingpipes says the first Bentley pipes were sold in 1987. This is one source only.
Smokingpipes also says Former designed every pipe and watched over the production.
Our sources do not agree on this point, so we give all three.
The Pipedia Bentley page says he worked there for Herman Lane.
The Pipedia Bru-Bu page names Dr. Horst Wiethüchter together with Former.
Smokingpipes speaks only of a Swiss investor.
None of these changes the dates of the pipes.
1878
Josef Brunner opened a small pipe workshop in Kleinlützel in 1878.
In 1932 a Mr. Buhofer joined the family firm. It became Bru-Bu, also known as BBK.
Bru-Bu closed in the late 1970s.
In 1986 Bentley production brought the old workshop back to life.
1997
In 1997 Former and his wife Daniela bought the factory machines.
They moved them to Lauenburg on the Elbe, in Germany.
Bentley production went on there at Dan Pipe, a pipe and tobacco firm.
Dan Pipe was founded in 1972 by Heiko Behrens.
Later the couple went back to Denmark. Our sources give no year for this.
The Pipedia Bentley page says he still makes these production pipes in Denmark.
So we do not know when Bentley production in Germany ended.
Look for the name BENTLEY in capital letters.
Then look for the country: made in Switzerland or made in Germany.
Pipedia shows Bentley pipes with both country marks.
Some Bentleys were made as house pipes for shops.
One example is the Schneiderwind shop in Aachen. Its annual pipes have their own guide.
A collector note on Pipedia gives sandblast grades 1 to 5.
We have not seen a factory chart for these grades. Treat them as unproven.
A Bentley is not a W.Ø. Larsen pipe. The link is the man, not the company.
Larsen never owned, made or sold the Bentley name.
A Bentley is not made in Denmark. Former is Danish, but these pipes are Swiss or German.
Pipes stamped FORMER and MADE IN DENMARK are his own handmade line, not Bentley.
Bentley is also named as a possible line of Kaywoodie seconds.
That American use has no link to Former.
Do not read 1878 as the age of your pipe. That is when Bru-Bu began.
Each row comes from our Bentley cabinet. No Bentley stamp gives one year.
BENTLEY name on the pipe
The brand did not exist before 1986. No Bentley pipe is older.
Made in Switzerland
The Kleinlützel years in the old Bru-Bu works.
Made in Germany
Made at Dan Pipe in Lauenburg from 1997. The end year is not known.
What We Don't Know Yet
Published deliberately. If you hold the catalogue, hallmarked example, or period document that closes one of these gaps, write to us — corrections are credited. Every open question across the encyclopedia is gathered on the Open Questions page.
Changelog
Sources
Holding a Bentleyyou can't place? Our shelves usually hold a few — documented to this same standard.
Bentley in the Shop