Laughingmoon Pipes (Robert Vacher)

Laughingmoon Pipes is the brand of the briar pipe workshop American maker Robert Vacher runs on his own. Address records place the workshop first in the town of Litchfield in northeastern California, and in later years in Jacksonville, Florida. Since every stage of production runs through one hand, the brand is counted among artisan-scale makers.

Moon, Star, and Four Digits

Three separate marks appear together on the pipes: the brand symbol made of a crescent moon and a star, a handwriting-style "Vacher" signature, and a four-digit number. According to sources compiling stamp records, this number also serves as a date key; on this reading the first two digits give the pipe's sequence number for that year, and the last two the production year. On this reading, a pipe bearing 2013 on its body is the twentieth piece of 2013.

The brand's name also rests on the same pair. A laughing-moon-shaped charm Vacher found in a bead shop, along with a moon-and-star motif jewelry stamp sold at the same shop, supplied both the symbol and the stamping tool at once. The reason "laughing" was chosen over "smiling" is said to be the risk of confusion with the name used by the Missouri Meerschaum brand.