Loading
Loading
Brand Dating Guides
Bewlay was a chain of English tobacco shops, not a factory. Other firms made its pipes, so their marks date it best.
Updated 2026-10-01
Welcome. If your pipe says BEWLAY, this guide helps you place it in time.
Bewlay was a chain of tobacco shops in England. It sold pipes under its own name.
The shops did not make the pipes. Well-known English and other pipe makers made them.
So a Bewlay name alone gives only a wide range. The maker's marks and a silver band tell more.
Our facts come from Pipedia, pipephil.eu and an old Bewlay leaflet with no printed date.
Pipedia is an online pipe encyclopedia. Pipephil.eu is a website of pipe stamps and logos.
Where the sources disagree, we show both. We say when a fact has one source only.
Each rule has a rank: high, medium or low. High means strong, agreed evidence.
Medium means one good source or a general rule. Low means a wide range or a weak hint.
From a shop in the Strand to the 1980s
The Bewlay leaflet says Thomas Bewlay opened a small shop in the Strand, London, in 1780. One source only, the firm's own words.
That date is for the shop. It does not show Bewlay briar pipes in 1780.
Salmon & Gluckstein was a chain of over 100 tobacco shops in England in the early 1900s.
Imperial Tobacco was formed in 1901. P J Davey, a pipe historian, says Imperial bought Salmon & Gluckstein in 1902.
Pipedia, from the book of José Manuel Lopes, says the shops then took the name Bewlay.
Pipedia's Bewlay page says Bewlay & Co. Ltd. traded from the early 20th century until the 1950s.
Pipedia and pipephil.eu both say Imperial Tobacco then took over the brand.
So the sources disagree. Davey puts Imperial's purchase in 1902; the Bewlay page reads as the 1950s.
Pipedia says the shop chain closed in the 1980s. One shop may still trade on Carr Lane in Hull.
The Bewlay leaflet speaks of almost two centuries since 1780. So it was printed before 1980.
This shows Bewlay pipes were still sold after the 1950s. The leaflet itself carries no year.
Read the maker first
Pipedia names six makers: Barling, Charatan, Loewe & Co., Sasieni, Huybrecht and Orlik.
Pipedia's photos say the Briar Cut was made by Sasieni. The Emerald and the Old 49 were made by Barling.
Lopes says the earlier Salmon & Gluckstein pipes were probably made by La Bruyère, a French firm.
Davey says the Salmon & Gluckstein chain finished briar pipes that were made in France.
So look for a second maker's mark on your pipe. Then read the guide for that maker.
This website has dating guides for Barling, Charatan, Sasieni and Orlik.
Name, grade and shape number
The leaflet shows the name Bewlay in joined, handwritten-style letters, called script.
Below it stands the grade name, then LONDON ENGLAND. The Military grade says LONDON MADE.
The leaflet shows a letter B on the mouthpiece.
Pipedia shows BEWLAYS in hollow capital letters and calls it likely early. It gives no year.
Pipephil.eu shows three stamps: Bewlay Dental Standard with a patent number, Bewlay Popular with 258, and Bewlay Sandblast with 257.
The leaflet names these grades: Popular, Military, Thirty, Twenty, Olde 49, De Luxe, Dental, Briarcut and Standard.
Pipedia also shows Lightweight, Extra and Emerald. Our sources give no years for any grade.
The leaflet has a chart of 18 shape numbers. For example, 265 is a small billiard and 480 is a zulu.
The leaflet says a D marks a Dental shape and an M marks a Military shape.
Some Bewlay pipes have a silver band. A British silver band carries hallmarks.
The hallmarks show the year the silver was marked. This is often the best clue on a Bewlay.
Pipedia shows a Bewlay hallmarked 1909. It also shows a Bewlay of about 1906.
Read the marks with our guide to UK silver hallmarks.
That guide is on this website at faridunhill.com/encyclopedia/uk-silver-hallmarks-dating-guide.
The leaflet says the shop began in 1780. That is not the date of any pipe you hold.
Shape numbers like 143, 257 or 258 are shape numbers, not years.
The patent number on the Dental Standard is not a year. We hold no table that turns it into one.
Grade names like Popular, Military, Extra or De Luxe are also used by other brands.
The sources disagree on when Bewlay pipes stopped. So we set no end year for the brand.
Read the name on the left side of the shank.
BEWLAY or BEWLAYS on the shank
A start only. Pipedia shows examples of about 1906 and 1909. The end year is disputed, so we set none.
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 Bewlayyou can't place? Our shelves usually hold a few — documented to this same standard.
Bewlay in the Shop