Upon receiving my Peterson Saint Patrick's Day 307 and realizing that it wasn't just a close shape of the XL90, but to my eye, the exact same shape as the XL90, I did a little digging just to confirm. I mean, to me it's obviously the same, but perhaps I was missing I very, very slight difference. I could be wrong... But apparently I was right. The 307 is indeed the same shape as the XL90, and in fact one of Peterson's oldest shapes, originally cut by Charles Peterson himself way back in 1896 as the "shape 9." It is also the same as the 9S (DeLuxe System), and has been designated in the past as the 9 B.C. with a short tapered stem.
From an article on Peterson Pipe Notes... "THE B.C. is the oldest bowl shape of the quartet still in production, and is a favorite among estate collectors, where it is found as the 9BC, the BC designation indicating a tapered (B) short (C) stem. It originated in the 1896 catalog as shape 9, and most Kappnists* have at least one of these in their rotation in its various permutations—the XL90 Classic Range or 307 Standard or 9S DeLuxe System being the most commonly seen these days. The 9BC came to prominence in the US in the 1950s and seems to have been a special favorite of Rogers Imports Ltd., as most of them are found in the old Rogers Imports Shamrock line."
I've often thought about returning to my collecting of the XL90 shape, even recently eyeing a beautiful flame grain spigot, and I now know that I have more to choose from, only with different numbers associated with them. I always imagined the 9S, for example, as being a much smaller pipe, although knowing that the "S" indeed meant "System" and not "Small." I think it's because I was informed, perhaps by mistake, at some point that the system pipes were all smaller pipes than the typical standard shapes. Obviously that assumption is very wrong.
It's just a little something I thought was very cool and interesting, and thought I'd share with the rest of you. The article I read is here... http://www.petersonpipenotes.org/tag/peterson-xl90 ... about the Peterson Trom Dubh collection.
Ahhhh... I love learning new things about one of my favorite pipe manufacturers :
:
From an article on Peterson Pipe Notes... "THE B.C. is the oldest bowl shape of the quartet still in production, and is a favorite among estate collectors, where it is found as the 9BC, the BC designation indicating a tapered (B) short (C) stem. It originated in the 1896 catalog as shape 9, and most Kappnists* have at least one of these in their rotation in its various permutations—the XL90 Classic Range or 307 Standard or 9S DeLuxe System being the most commonly seen these days. The 9BC came to prominence in the US in the 1950s and seems to have been a special favorite of Rogers Imports Ltd., as most of them are found in the old Rogers Imports Shamrock line."
I've often thought about returning to my collecting of the XL90 shape, even recently eyeing a beautiful flame grain spigot, and I now know that I have more to choose from, only with different numbers associated with them. I always imagined the 9S, for example, as being a much smaller pipe, although knowing that the "S" indeed meant "System" and not "Small." I think it's because I was informed, perhaps by mistake, at some point that the system pipes were all smaller pipes than the typical standard shapes. Obviously that assumption is very wrong.
It's just a little something I thought was very cool and interesting, and thought I'd share with the rest of you. The article I read is here... http://www.petersonpipenotes.org/tag/peterson-xl90 ... about the Peterson Trom Dubh collection.
Ahhhh... I love learning new things about one of my favorite pipe manufacturers :
:
