Loading
Loading
Brand Dating Guides
Medico pipes carry no year. Two facts still help: the 1933 start and Brylon from 1966.
Updated 2026-10-18
Welcome. If your pipe says Medico, this guide is for you.
Medico is an American brand of filter pipes from S.M. Frank and Co.
Medico never stamped a year on its pipes. So most windows here are wide.
Two facts are firm: the brand start and the bowl material. Each rule below has a rank: high, medium or low.
1900 to 1955
Pipedia says Sam Frank began selling pipes in 1900. His company was S.M. Frank and Co.
With the pipe maker Ferdinand Feuerbach, the company made Royal DeMuth and Hesson Guard Milano pipes.
In 1955 S.M. Frank bought the Kaywoodie brands. Pipedia says Medico went on without many changes.
We have a separate guide for Kaywoodie.
1933
In the early 1930s smokers worried about tar and nicotine in tobacco smoke.
In 1933 S.M. Frank launched an absorbent paper filter. The Medico pipe was made to hold it.
Pipedia shows the filter patent number 1,967,585, dated 1934.
pipephil shows a pipe stamped Pat. 1919959 and 1967585.
So no Medico pipe is older than 1933. All of them use a push bit with a filter inside.
from 1966
In 1966 S.M. Frank made a new bowl material called Brylon.
pipephil says Brylon is a heat-resistant resin mixed with wood flour.
Before 1966, all Medico pipes were made of briar wood.
After 1966, some lines used Brylon to keep the price low. Other lines stayed briar.
So a pipe stamped Brylon was made in 1966 or later.
pipephil says Brylon is heavier in the mouth than briar and smokes hotter. S.M. Frank also used it on Yello-Bole pipes.
The usual stamp is Medico, with a line name and a material word.
The material word is often Imported Briar, Select Briar or Brylon.
The stem logo on most pipes is an M inside a shield.
Early pipes have a plus sign on the stem instead, like the cross on a medic's sleeve.
Pipedia gives no year for the change from the plus sign to the shield.
pipephil shows many Medico line names, all without years.
Some of them: Apollo, Bold Rebel, Casino, Cavalier, Conqueror, Crest, Gold Crest and Husky.
More of them: Jet Stream, Lancer, Medalist, Onyx, Rogue, Standard, Tuxedo, V.F.Q. and Whitewall.
The Gold Crest on pipephil has a 14 carat gold band.
A newer list on Pipedia, from TobaccoPipes.com, has five briar lines and eight Brylon lines.
The briar lines there are Silver Crest, Premier, Bold Rebel, Kensington and Windsor.
That list calls V.F.Q. a Brylon line. pipephil shows a V.F.Q. stamped Imported Briar. We show both.
Read the material word on your own pipe. It tells you more than the line name.
Magnet-Top: pipephil says two or three magnets sit in the rim. The pipe can rest on any iron surface.
Ventilator: a metal pipe on pipephil. It cannot be smoked without the paper filter.
Crest Artisan: Pipedia shows one made in Italy. No year is known.
College class pipes exist, such as a University of North Carolina Alma Mater pipe.
Pipedia also says the English firm Cadogan and Oppenheimer Pipe sold Medico.
Some Medicos carry a small shape number on the right side of the shank.
We know of no published Medico shape chart.
Two numbers are named on rebornpipes, one source each.
76 is a Rhodesian on a V.F.Q. pipe, one source only.
149 is a pot with a saddle stem on a Gold Crest, one source only.
pipephil shows 25 on a Crest and 80 on a Gold Crest, with no shape name.
A shape number never gives a year.
Do not read a patent number as a year. A patent number stays on pipes for many years.
Do not read a shape number as a year.
Do not call every Medico briar. Check for the word Brylon.
Do not call a pipe old only because it has a filter. Every Medico has one.
Each row comes from our Medico cabinet.
Medico stamp of any kind
The brand began in 1933 with the paper filter. It is still made.
Bowl stamped Brylon
Brylon was made in 1966. Pipedia and pipephil both give 1966.
Plus sign on the stem, not the M in a shield
Pipedia calls these early pipes but gives no change year. 1955 is our own wide guess.
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 Medicoyou can't place? Our shelves usually hold a few — documented to this same standard.
Medico in the Shop