Serial Number: P0119
Status: Display
Description:
Bruyere Garantie Pipe
Byron Davis served in the 29th Infantry Division in World War II. He was stationed in England, France, and Germany and participated in D-Day. Among the things he carried home are a wooden smoking pipe stamped “Bruyere Garantie” on the bowl. Pipes started being stamped with that during the WWII era when briar was difficult to come by due to the war. Due to the inaccessibility of briar, companies started using alternative materials like mountain laurel and “mission briar” (manzanita) that were in abundance in the US. These two trees are in the heath tree family and are very similar but considered to be inferior for pipes. The stamping means “guaranteed briar” and indicates that it’s the traditional briar from the heath tree that grows in the Mediterranean.
