The Doodler

The Doodler is a pipe model introduced by American pipe maker Tracy Mincer in the early 1950s, designed to cool the smoke through holes drilled into the bowl wall. The model does not carry Mincer's own name; it was stamped as a brand in its own right and continued to be produced under the same name in later years by the firm that bought the design.

Origins

Mincer lost the name of the brand he had founded in 1934 and which had gained wide distribution in the postwar years, in 1953; the details of this process are covered in the article on Custom-Bilt. Records show the new model came about in 1952, with the turning of the bowls contracted out to the National Briar Pipe Co. of Jersey City, New Jersey. The same firm also marketed its own brands, including Biltmore, Forecaster, Kleenest, and Rembrandt.

Sources do not fully agree on the timeline of the design's change of hands. One account has National Briar buying the model around 1960; another has Mincer continuing to make the pipe himself until the mid-1960s, with production passing entirely to National Briar only after that. Mincer's year of death is likewise disputed: the same body of sources cites 1964 and 1966 separately. Production is reported to have ended in the early 1980s; since this date rests on a single collector source, it should not be taken as certain.