Old George

Ever had one of those pipes you take for granted? You know the one. It’s always in the rack, generally un-noticed and not the prettiest piece of briar in the collection that is your pipe rotation. And yet it still remains there because it’s the one you go to when you have to do stuff. Stuff like gardening, walking the dogs, cleaning the car or stacking next years firewood. I have one. It’s an old billiard from Georg Jensen. I know it is twenty four years old. The pipe is clearly stamped “SSM 87”, which means that it was produced for the South Sealland championships in 1987. This pipe then, has a history. I picked it up many years ago in a local auction. I remember it being in relatively good condition and it was fairly easy to clean it up and refurbish. It hadn’t been smoked much. Things have changed since then and “Old George”, as I call it, became one of my regulars for outdoor use. Rain or shine, this fellow comes with me and takes a hammering, time after time, and still keeps going strong.

The Georg Jensen I know of was not a pipemaker. He was a designer. Designing everything from chinaware to decorative gold and silverware, furniture and lord only knows what else. It might be an idea, to try to find out who made this pipe. As it was made for a championship, there must have been quite a few made, which would probably involve some kind of industrial production. That limits the field slightly but still leaves a dearth of options. I may have to research this. I just piqued my own interest.

But I digress. The old pipe is a very good smoker. It delivers every time I light it and it does not appear to be fussy about what I offer it. It smokes both Virginas and latakia blends with equally good results, doesn’t ghost easily and has always been a sweet pipe. It has never soured, despite my abuse of it. As I said, it isn’t the prettiest piece of briar I own but it is surprisingly dependable. There is a smidgeon of cross grain on the front of the bowl but nothing to get excited about. It does have a general pleasant appearance though, being from a bygone era where billiards were stylishly longer than high. The stem is exactly half the length of the pipe. Easy draw, lightweight and comfortable, I suppose that’s why I hang to this old warrior. In fact. I wouldn’t be without him.

Markings: “Georg Jensen Pipes”. “Made in Denmark”. “SSM 87”. And here’s the one I wonder about, “Goodwill”. Which has me thinking of Kriswill as a possible maker.

Dimensions: Length: 157 mm. Height: 50 mm. Bowl Ø: 36 mm at the maximum. Chamber: Ø 19 mm x 41 mm deep.

So how about you, dear readers. Do you have a pipe that that can take it the way Old George does? Let me know.

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Update..
…and the mystery is solved. Thanks to some hard work by one of my readers..
The pipe maker is a Per Georg Jensen. Now working for MacBaren tobacco. I clipped this from the MacBaren website and I hope they will forgive me for this:

Throughout my adult life I have been among pipe smokers – the first 23 years as a pipe maker with Georg Jensen Pipes and the last 4 years as ”Tobacco Professor” at Mac Baren.

So, there he is.