School me on Cutty Shaped Pipes

[bayareabriar]

My usual limit for impulsive purchases of old pipes is about $30.

But now and again I splurge and spend a little more, with another limit around a hundred dollars for either an extraordinary pipe or something I don’t have, yet.

This is my first real, honest to God Cutty, and it has legs, and it’s a high grade Weber that unboxed in perfect condition ready to smoke, for $47 delivered. It’s a fairly large pipe, as well, polished and fancy, with beautiful grain.

I know the Cutty shape began with clay pipes.

But for those who know more about the history of the Cutty, tell me all about em’.

Why the name Cutty, I’d like to know?

Why is the bowl slanted forward?

Why are Cutty briars so scarce?

Any purpose for the legs besides making them a sitter?

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Cutty pipes are definitely associated with Scotland in their etymology. A Scottish Cutty-stool is/was a 3 legged short seat. Hence, the Cutty name for that shape. 3 points of contact.

 

[bayareabriar]

You can pipe in the haggis on Burns supper while piping on your cutty-pipe

 

[OzPiper]

A few canted Cuttys


A couple of less-canted Cuttys


A Belge


A walrus

 

[Chasing Embers]

Like I said last Sunday, that's a walrus.

 

[OzPiper]

And a rather fanciful explanation of how the nub or foot came about

 

[Chasing Embers]

Cutty pipes are definitely associated with Scotland in their etymology. A Scottish Cutty-stool is/was a 3 legged short seat. Hence, the Cutty name for that shape. 3 points of contact.

More British being slang for short, stubby, and even a short pipe.

 

[Briar Lee]

Like I said last Sunday, that's a walrus.

It seems it’s arguably not a proper Walrus because the two legs are too short, and not canted so the pipe can sit in two positions, up and laying flat.

The Walrus shape originally appeared in the W.O. Larsen Catalogue back in the 1960s as a Danish reinterpretation of the classic French Cutty shape. We suspect the shape was birthed more from a desire to capture elegant form rather than another means of showcasing proportional grain. Whatever the case, Jesse took his cues from the very first artist to make the shape, Sven Knudsen - the older brother of the very famous Teddy Knudsen, and sought function, form, and a very high contrasting grain with spectacular results (it sits in two positions!).


The original Cutty pipes likely didn’t have the Churchwarden style curve to the stem, being straight to help with the wire in the mould.

My Weber is Cuttyesque.

Whatever Weber listed it as, the Weber company made some extremely well made and finished briar pipes in their five dollar Golden Walnut grade during the thirties and forties.

This one is about as nice as any pipe ever gets.

 

[bobomatic]

I've been looking for a reasonably priced cutty for a few weeks. I've been surprised at how hard they are to find... or maybe I'm not looking in the right place. I've seen some out there, but none that really grab me. The selection is pretty thin. ebay estates are few and far between on this style. The search continues....

 

[Winnipeger]

I've been looking for a reasonably priced cutty for a few weeks. I've been surprised at how hard they are to find... or maybe I'm not looking in the right place. I've seen some out there, but none that really grab me. The selection is pretty thin. ebay estates are few and far between on this style. The search continues....

It's not a super common shape nowadays. There are a few nice Ashtons, BriarWorks, Savinelli, and Rossi examples at smokingpipes.com right now. Most of these don't have a spur on the bottom. I like the looks of the BriarWorks cutties but I don't buy acrylic stems so I can't vouch for them. Good luck on your search!