I posted elsewhere about my wanting a Peterson 302 after cleaning one up for a pal. I haven’t been able to find one until now, although I did find the big de-luxe 02 while I was searching the auction sites. However, my luck changed last week and I found this beautiful 302 going on a european E-bay site. I put in a big bid hoping to scare others off but was surprised to get it for only €31.00. I was prepared to pay much more for this lovely example of the standard system 302.
It isn’t in my possession as yet, I’m still waiting for the postal boys to do their thing, but couldn’t help myself posting this.
I will update this post once the pipe is with me.
Update. 04/07/2009
I have it already. It is as good as the pictures suggest. The best description I can give, is that it looks like the Peterson 303, but all grown up and fed on steroids. It smokes like a dream and I can tell already, this one is going to see a lot of tobacco! Well worth the €31.oo that I paid for it.
The last of the Dutch clay pipe makers from Gouda, in Holland, has retired. Here is a short film showing his methods and revealing a little of the history of this dying craft.
I was once privileged enough to visit him at his workshop in Gouda many years ago.
That should be all the introduction necessary for this pipe. Even if you don’t speak Italian. I was in Milan for the weekend and visited Cosimo and Leonardo at Al Pascia at Via Torino 61, very close to the magnificent Duomo Cathedral. I spent a glorious hour there, looking at a collection of pipes that boggles the mind and makes one wish one was a millionaire. My wife, understanding my passion for this sort of thing, tactfully left us to get on with it.
Alas, I am not a millionaire, but I can feel like one while I smoke this gorgeous Mastro. Perfectly engineered and beautifully decorated with the faux spigot, this delightfully grained pipe is a joy to own and use. The pipe is stamped on the left hand side with “Mastro de Paja” “Fatta a mano” (Hand made). The underside of the bowl is marked “Per Al Pascia”.
On the right hand side of the bowl is stamped “Pesaro” together with the sought after Sun stamp. The silver on the shank is also stamped with the Mastro signature and the stem is further decorated with a round silver badge.
This pipe is so well balanced that it will hang by the button on the mouthpiece from my lower teeth without my having to bite down on it with the upper dental equipment. The mouthpiece is 20 mm wide and 8 mm thick at the button.
The maker of this pipe decided not to give it a full spigot and opted for a traditional stem fitting and placed a silver sleeve to give the impression of a spigot pipe. A beautiful piece of intelligent camouflage, as true spigots have a nasty habit of shaking loose during use. The effect of that happening with a bent pipe is obvious. Imagine dropping this magnificent piece of briar onto a hard surface.
I took the first opportunity I could to smoke this masterpiece and filled it for the first time in the late afternoon on returning to our hotel. I sat in the little garden with a cup of coffee and enjoyed my new pipe in the shade of a creeping vine, which covered the pergola around me, offering some protection from the sun and the 28 degrees heat of the late afternoon. I shall never forget that simple experience in the heart of Milan. “Black Mallory” never tasted so good or smoked so well. The pipe smoked to the bottom of the bowl and returned nothing more than a fine grey ash.
And, for the guys at Al Pascia, many thanks for a memorable hour in your company, the pipe and your kindness. This pipe will be the pride of my collection. I truly hope that we meet again.
I found this pipe on Ebay. Having cleaned up a Peterson 302 for a friend, I decided I had to have one. His was a standard system 302, a very nice model in itself, but the bowl is the thing that got me. It is delightfully round and big enough to sit well in my large hand. The standard 302 has the usual sculptured stem that seems to personify a Peterson but I wasn’t able to find precisely that anywhere. Then this one turned up. A 302 bowl but in the Sterling Silver range. The stem is nicely fitted through a big silver ring and I like the beefy appearance of the Sterlings. This one was listed as a Peterson Dublin.
I understand why when I look at the pipe. The silver band has a lot of markings! It is inscribed with “Peterson’s Dublin” which pretty much identifies it. It is also stamped “Sterling Silver” and bears the traditional hallmarks. The year mark is hard to read but I believe it is the 1975 stamp. Those more knowledgeable will doubtless correct me if my assumptions are wrong.
The bowl is also stamped with the “02” which denotes the size, beside “Made in the Republic of Ireland”. Turn the bowl around and one can see another stamp, “Peterson’s” over “Dublin & London”. Strangely, there is no Peterson “P” on the stem.
Unfortunately, the previous owner, or perhaps the seller, had been a tad over zealous with a reamer and the bowl was very slightly out of round at the top near the stem side of the bowl. I gently rounded it up again with a little high grade sandpaper and the damage is no longer noticeable. I needed to clean up the outside of the pipe and the airways were not exactly clean either, but with an hours care and attention the bowl turned out looking like new. There is a little area of cross grain on the front of the bowl but otherwise, this is a picture full of birdseye. The stem appeared black in normal light but in the sunlight one could clearly see signs of oxidisation. I decided to give it the full monty. I soaked the stem overnight in chlorine and then buffed it back to smooth the following day. The result was stunning. The pipe shone like new from end to end.
Smoking this pipe is also an experience I enjoy. It is large enough to take a generous portion of my favourite mixture and it smokes effortlessly to the bottom of the bowl, which probably says more about the engineering of the pipe than my smoking capabilities! It is comfortable to hold in both hand and mouth and is a well balanced pipe. I’m thoroughly pleased with this addition to my growing collection.
The price? Almost embarrassing; I only paid $41.00 for it.
It was indeed with some trepidation that I decided I would have to smoke the Racine from 1920. The pipe simply cried out for tobacco but one shouldn’t rush into these things, Firstly, the briar has been drying for nearly ninety years as a pipe. Lord knows how long the original block had. I may be up in the order of 110 years with out this piece of wood having been dampened or heated. Afraid then, that I might damage the wood in some way, I went slowly to it.
I packed the pipe loosely with mainly virginia, a little burley and latakia for flavour. I only packed the bowl to a little over half way. I decided on the virginia because I believed that the oils boiled out of the tobacco would be promptly soaked up by the dry bowl and will probably set as a ghost for a long time to come. As most tobacco blends hold a good deal of virginia anyway, this seemed the most reasonable course to follow. Gently then, and with one match poised over the bowl, I lit the pipe. It fired up straight away. Which is no surprise, I’m an old hand at lighting a pipe.
Smoking a new pipe is never a rewarding experience. One is in effect charring the wood inside the bowl and this generally imparts a harsh taste to the tobacco smoke. I tasted it here too, but it was not as unpleasant as is usual. I smoked the pipe until it died of its own accord and found nothing but ash left in the bowl. It held about an hour. The bowl was beautifully darkened inside and I could see no sign of burning. I cleaned the pipe and put her to rest in my rack.
The following evening, I tried again, packing the bowl slightly higher and repeated the gentle process that is required for break in. Smoke slow, gentle and be mindful of the temperature. Once again, it burned to ashes and the bowl took no damage. The taste was definitely better. There is a good draw on this pipe despite the somewhat restrictive size of the inner tube which effectively reduces the airway to 2 mm. I thought I may try smoking it again “sans tube” for comparison.
Since then, I have smoked two or three bowls in the pipe and it is coming along nicely. This will be a good pipe. No doubt about that. I realise that when writing about it before, I did not really describe the size or dimensions of this pipe. It was made in another era, when tobacco was perhaps less expensive. I feel this pipe was also made to impress. It has some generous proportions!
Length = 175 mm
Bowl height = 50 mm
Bowl Diameter = 35 mm
Chamber depth = 40 mm
Chamber diameter = 23 mm
Button width = 10 mm
Airway = 3.5 mm
Inner tube airway = 2 mm
I was very fortunate the other day. I found someone selling some very old pipes. Nothing new in that you might say, there are a thousand of them on Ebay every day. And you would be right. The difference here is, that these pipes are unsmoked. Which makes them new. From 1920 odd. How about that? Talk about air dried briar. These pipes are nearly ninety years old. And I still haven’t gotten round to filling them up and smoking their first charge of tobacco in that long and pristine life. They were found in an attic in Germany after the death of a tobacconist. They have been in that family for a long time. I assume, it was a family business.
Both pipes have a French feel about them. I believe they were made in St. Claude, the home and birthplace of briar pipes. One is marked “Racine Bruyere Extra”. There was a pipemaker, Olivier Racine. This could be one from his workshop. I have a hard time with this though, as racine is also French for root. But I like to think it is a Racine, with a capital “R”. The second is not stamped in any way with a name. Merely “Bruyere Garantie”, which is absolutely French and supports my St. Claude theory. The pipe makers of St. Claude were a humble lot. Everyone was in on the business. The entire village population was involved in one way or another. No need for a carvers name, as just the town’s name was enough. At that time, the “Bruyere Garantie” stamp was its own passport and absolute credential.
The larger “Racine” pipe is fitted with an aluminium inner tube, much like the Dunhill pipes of the same name. Inner Tube. This was designed as a channelling device for the smoke, allowing any tar or other goo to collect in the shank. One has to boil these inner tubes occasionally to free them from carbon and tar build up. Both pipes have horn stems and, what I believe to be, bone tenons. There are no marks or damage on either pipe. The airways on both pipes are wide open. The engineering is a little naive but very good. Solid handiwork all the way through. Both pipes are decorated with low grade silver rings which have taken on a copperish hue after the long years in the attic. I will not be trying to polish these rings to a silver shine. They appear almost golden to the naked eye. Please note, I have not needed to polish these two at all. They are as new.
I may part with one of them at a later date. I am not sure yet. I believe that I will definitely keep the Racine. It is large and heavy enough to be interesting and I will probably end up loving the old thing to death. Horn between the teeth is a new feeling altogether and cannot be compared easily to vulcanite or acrylic stems. I absolutely adore the old buttons on the stems. Large enough to be comfortable but without being so large as to make me salivate uncontrollably. The old pipe makers obviously knew their stuff.
Enough said, I will leave you with the pictures. Enjoy them as much as I do.
Now then, where do I find some ninety year old tobacco…?
You can’t really be there and not find something to add to the collection. Apart from the competition, I go to the national championships to learn a bit more about this hobby, meet carvers and others of like mind and look at pipes. I went early to avoid the crowds and get a good look at what was up for offer. There was quite a bit to see.
In my pipe club, which just happens to be the largest club in Denmark, we have a tame pipe maker. Benner. Also known as Bent Nielsen, he has been making pipes for years and apprenticed under Karl Erik Ottendahl.
Karl Erik, unfortunately, died in 2004 but Benner has rescued some of Karl Erik’s old stock which didn’t get sold while he was still alive. So, apart from his own pipes, Benner had a few Karl Eriks on show. I decided that I had to own this one.
A lovely pipe, just about big enough for my tastes, decorated with a box ring on the shank. Quarter bent and extremely light, the draft is wide open.
Now, with blood on my teeth, so to speak, I went off in search of other goodies. Once again, there was a lot to look at from all the various artisans at the show but having just bought the Karl Erik, I needed to go bargain hunting and tighten the purse strings.
Estate pipes are always available at these shows. Some are better reconditioned than others but as I am able to do a little work myself, I can allow myself to look at the entire spectrum. And I did. There were two or three stands with any number of pipes from every manufacturer one could think of and prices to match. But I found a real bargain.
A Stanwell Pipe of the Year from 1998. A ten year old beauty. I know what POY’s normally cost and to find this one at about a third of the original price was a true find. In fact I even haggled the price down a bit which is something I rarely do but may adopt in the future! This is a nice and relatively large Stanwell sandblasted POY. Well decorated with silver, (which really needed a good polish) and an oval mouthpiece, it was designed as a filter pipe but I have fitted a 9 mm plug and discarded the filter. Once again, a quarter bent but with a deep bowl that really takes a wad of tobacco. This is a pipe for relaxing with. Stanwell has been criticised for not being good at the art of sandblasting but that has been rectified of late. This example, however, is a gem from 1998. The rings on this pipe are even on both sides of the pipe and run almost diagonally upward from the stem to the front of the bowl. There is a true sunshine burst on the underside of the bowl which, although being slightly off centre, is delightful to behold. There are no teeth marks or other damage to the pipe so I believe I got an absolute bargain with this one.
Finally, of course, we got to the serious business of slow pipe smoking. The main event, if you will. My individual results were not spectacular, the pipe died on me after 50 minutes, but my team achieved a third place in the team event so all was not wasted. The competition pipe in Denmark is provided, as a rule, by Stanwell. This year was no exception. The championship pipe is a billiard, sandblasted and decorated with a silver plaque and badge. I usually have my championship pipes in my rotation but only as relief pipes for my more regular rotation. This is because I generally find them a little small, preferring a larger pipe and chamber. This one may get to see a little more tobacco than the others though. It is a nice little pipe and surprisingly comfortable to have between my teeth.
Three pipes then, and one very enjoyable day. I met old friends, made a couple of new acquaintances and generally had a good time among my peers and fellow pipemen. We smoked a lot of tobacco too! Indoors. Ha!
Now I’m looking forward to October. The international competition is in Hungary this year. It’s been a long time since I was there. I only have one pipe from Hungary.
But that’s another story.
Tomorrow is the day I look forward to every year. It is the Danish National Championship day, in slow pipe smoking. I will not win. I have no chance of winning. I never do. But I will go there and be part of the madness. That is all part of the fun. I will see old friends, make a new one perhaps, and will get to see a heap of the carvers best offerings. Maybe, I will come home with a new pipe. I don’t know until I’ve seen them.
One thing I know will happen, is that someone, sooner or later, will ask me about my pipes and how much I smoke them. This is because all my pipes, even the old ones, look like new. I lavish care on my pipes. They were expensive, to a greater or lesser degree, they give me pleasure, they are my friends. They have been with me through rough times as well as good. They have never let me down. I feel I owe them the same loyalty.
Not only that, someone, at some point in time, worked hard to match a piece of wood to a piece of vulcanite or acrylic rod, to give them shape and definition, to polish them to a high shine and were then kind enough to put them up for sale. After all that, how could one not appreciate the effort and not, at least attempt, to preserve the item at hand? Even my less expensive pipes get looked after.
To prove my point, here is an old Stanwell “Royal Prince”, model no. 50. It is as old as any of my pipes. I picked it up at an auction and paid very little for it. The stem was brown with oxidisation, the bowl was full of cake and it was dirty beyond belief. I bought it because I felt sorry for it. It deserved more. With the oval shank and stem, it is the classic billiard type that all men should own at least one of.
I washed it. Literally. With liquid soap to remove the gunk on the outside of the bowl. I soaked the stem in bleach overnight to remove the oxidisation. I swabbed the insides of the airways out with alcohol on pipe cleaners. It took ages.
I took my trusty penknife to the inside of the chamber, gently scraping out the cake that had built up over who knows how long, until I had a carbon layer a hair’s breadth left.
The stem gets rough from being soaked in bleach. It turns beautifully black again but needs sanding down to be smooth afterwards. I used some old worn out 1000 grade sand paper to gently remove the roughness.
Finally, I had the pipe in good condition again. No pits, no fills, no scratches or dents. One very tiny tooth mark remains on the top of the stem but it is so small that it is invisible unless one has a magnifying glass. No charring on the rim.
The fact that I have a buffing machine is a great help. Using a wax loaded with jewellers rouge I brought the stem back to a shining black tube. I changed wheels and used a soft white wax to polish the entire pipe and then finally, I gave it a buff with carnauba wax. This can be done by hand using a special additive known as “elbow grease” but it is a time consuming job. The results were stunning in comparison to what I had bought. Friends did not believe it was the same pipe. All that was four years ago and the pipe is still looking good today.
One recurring problem with these older pipes is that the vulcanite stems continue to oxidise. This is due to the sulphur content in the material itself. To combat this, one should keep vulcanite stems out of direct sunlight. I find that if I coat my vulcanite stems with a thin layer of beeswax, they are more resistant to oxidisation. Just remember to wipe the stem before smoking the pipe and give a little wax afterwards when cleaning the pipe before returning it to the rack.
A little care goes a long way and if one does it regularly, one’s pipes will be there for life.
My wife jokingly accuses me of caring more for my pipes than I do for her. I tell her that there is only one of her. I have 90 odd pipes. Do the math!
Another pipe I just could not say “no” to. I found it one evening in the local tobacconist’s shop, close to our meeting place, while visiting my pipe club . The proprietor is one of our club members. I really only wanted to top up my tobacco reserves but when I saw this, I was lost to it.
A lovely little pipe, slightly shorter than the 2007 Pipe of the Year but equally as well made and also designed by Tom Eltang. The pipe is decorated with a silver ring on the bowl, a silver Stanwell badge and the POY plaque on the shank. The pipe is stamped “No. 56”. it being number 56 of 305 produced, and is marked “Made in Denmark”. The stamping is crisp and clear.
The pipe is 135 mm long and the maximum bowl height I can measure is 45 mm. The chamber is 30 mm deep and bored at 18 mm. The gentle curving makes it comfortable to hold between the teeth. The stem and shank are slightly oval. The grain runs diagonally upward from the base of the bowl ending with a pleasant and tight birdseye on the front and top.
Truly, this is a beautiful piece of briar. I hope my pictures do it justice.
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This will be a pipe for a special occasion. It is light, elegant and easy to transport in a breast pocket. I have not smoked it yet, but will shortly, as the appropriate occasion presents itself. After all, it isn’t that long to Easter now!
I decided it was maybe time to thin out the herd. I have many pipes and keep acquiring more as time goes by but I have a few that I rarely smoke. I have also caught myself going after pipes that are, shall we say, from the higher end of the market. I decided maybe I should sell off some of my lesser used, though still very good and serviceable, pipes to finance my collection.
I investigated Ebay and all the others and found out, to my horror, that they do take a considerable amount in commission. There was only one thing to do then. Start my own website. I don’t need to charge so much, because no-one is going to grab my money for auction fees. Once the site is paid for, and it isn’t that expensive, I can sell anything I wish at very affordable prices. I’ll be happy, my customers will be happy and we can all have a bit of fun.
My friends have encouraged me and one or two have asked me to put a few of their pipes on my site too. I have done so. My pipe club is also interested. They have thrown a few into the mix as well.
So, dear readers, if you are looking for a bargain, follow the big old link at the top of this page – to “Exile’s Place” – and have a look at what I’ve got.
You will find some exclusive championship and club pipes. These are really limited editions of a sort. They simply won’t get made again. They are all dated. There are a few high end pipes too and some for those that are less monetarily fortunate than others due to either study or other circumstance. I like to think I have something for everyone.
Here’s the really good bit. I am not doing this for a living. Just for pocket money. So I don’t need to overcharge!
Time to get back to some honest trading.
