Life, 1927-11-17 · page 45 of 48
Life — November 17, 1927 — page 45: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **cigarette/pipe advertisement**, not a political cartoon. The page features a dignified military officer in white dress uniform with captain's insignia, posed formally while smoking. The ad celebrates the "BBB Own Make" pipe as an iconic British product associated with empire and tradition ("visions of empire"). The appeal is to masculine sophistication and imperial heritage—English gentlemen from Manchester to Hong Kong have smoked these pipes. The key commercial message: WDC (likely Wm. Demuth & Co., a New York tobacconist) has acquired American distribution rights and will continue the traditional "Individual Baking Process" that supposedly makes BBB pipes superior. The $3 price point targets affluent buyers. The military officer serves as a status symbol—associating the product with authority, tradition, and refined taste during what appears to be the interwar period.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ml Lie “BBB Own Make” Pipe holds a pla no history, and in the hearts of history's makers. From Manchester to Melbourne—from Halifax to Hong Kong—Englishmen have scen in its smoke, visions of empire —and of home's green hedgerows Now, WDC have acquired the exclusive right to produce this fine pipe in America. Theirs to Searry on” the old BBB Individual Baking Process which has for generations made “BBB Own Make” the sweetest, ost sati-feing of pipes. The “BBB Own Make” Pipe is now available in a rariety of shapes at the establishments of better tubacconists, $3 the pipe—plain or ripple briars Win. Demuth & Co, 240 Fifth Ave. New York City comicbooks.com