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Brand Dating Guides
Read the stem, not the bowl. The country stamp gives the main window.
Updated 2026-10-21
Welcome. If your pipe has a metal stem and a screw-on briar bowl, it may be a Falcon.
Falcon does not stamp a year on its pipes. So the windows here are wide.
The best clue is the country stamp on the metal stem. Line names help too.
Each rule below has a rank: high, medium or low.
A Falcon has a metal stem. A briar bowl screws onto it.
Under the bowl is a metal cup, called the humidome. Moisture from the smoke collects there.
The bowl comes off. So owners swap bowls between pipes, often across many years.
For this reason we date the stem, never the bowl.
1936 to 1968
The American engineer Kenly Bugg created the Falcon in 1936.
During World War II production was limited.
In 1949 George Hunt took over production and marketing.
Pipedia says six million Falcon pipes had been sold in the United States by 1954.
In 1968 production in Chicago stopped.
from 1961
By 1961 production had started in England.
So from 1961 to 1968 both countries made Falcons. A pipe from those years can carry either stamp.
After 1968 every new Falcon was English.
Today the maker is BPM International in Hoddesdon, England.
The Alco was launched in 1964. We have no end year for it.
The Brentford was launched in 1967 and withdrawn in 1979. This is a closed window.
The Falcon International came in 1977. It has a removable mouthpiece and a filter.
Pipedia shows a Shillelagh, a twisted-stem Falcon, made around 1968. That is one example only.
Look on the metal stem for the word Falcon and a country stamp.
Made in USA, U.S.A. or Chicago means an American stem.
Made in England means an English stem.
Some stems also carry a small falcon bird as a logo. We have no years for the logo.
Falcon gives its bowls names, not shape numbers. We found no number chart.
One dealer, Smoke-King, describes four bowls, one source only.
The Dover is a tapered bowl with thick walls. The Algiers is a smaller tapered bowl.
The Genoa is the standard bowl. The Istanbul is larger and more like a strawberry.
A bowl name never gives a year.
Do not date a Falcon by its bowl. Bowls move from pipe to pipe.
Do not call an English Falcon post-1968 by the stamp alone. England started in 1961.
Do not call every American Falcon a 1950s pipe. The American window is 1936 to 1968.
Do not read a bowl code such as AN 7 as a year. One dealer reads it as a mould number.
Each row comes from our Falcon cabinet.
Made in USA, U.S.A. or Chicago on the stem
American production began in 1936 and stopped in 1968.
Made in England on the stem
English production had started by 1961. It still goes on.
Brentford line name
Launched in 1967, withdrawn in 1979. Pipedia gives both years.
Falcon International line name
Introduced in 1977. The end is not documented, so the window runs to today, 2026.
Alco line name
Launched in 1964. The end is unknown, so the window runs to today, 2026.
Falcon word on the stem, no country read
The whole life of the brand, 1936 to today. Read the country stamp for more.
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 Falconyou can't place? Our shelves usually hold a few — documented to this same standard.
Falcon in the Shop