So it's Friday morning, which with my work schedule is technically my Saturday morning and I am sitting here with my Peterson 2023 Halloween Jekyll and Hyde shape #313 system, smoking my every day blend of 1792 Flake which this and a few other pipes are dedicated to. While perusing the Smoking Pipes US and Europe websites as well as eBay and the tobaccopipes.com site too, looking at Petersons as a Pete Geek tends to do, those of you who love Peterson pipes as much as I do know the routine.
Just checking things out, looking at certain pipes, checking what is available in a specific shape and I felt the need to do a little writing, part as an appreciation and part as a bit of frustration as a pipe smoker and online consumer but mostly as a lover of Peterson pipes and their history and shapes and especially the muscular look of their stummels in the system lines.
Now this isn't going to be some long drawn out big winded post and I won't have a lot of history to read through either, it's more a catharsis of sorts for myself as something just annoyed me this morning and I am curious if any of the other Pete Geeks on the board have ever had the same thoughts. See, my favorite shape in all of pipedom is the Shape 4 or Bent Dutch Billiard, an overview of this shape for anyone who comes across this post who doesn't know what this silly Ogrish Canadian is talking about can check it out here on Mark Irwins Peterson Pipe Notes blog.
I am here to talk about the Shape 4's little brother, the Shape 313 or Deluxe 8s or in non system lines the 338 and what I see as a major inconsistency in its overall stummel Shape in online offerings. See, I love this shape as much as I love the large Bent Dutch but damnitall if this is one of the most inconsistently shaped stummels that comes out of Dublin these days. As my understanding goes the shape is meant to be a smaller version of the 309 / 4s / large bent dutch but more often than not the online offerings of it in different lines do not have what I see as the major makeups of what a bent dutch is. The straight almost perfectly cylindrical lines from the rim downwards into the front of the pipe with a strongly pronounced heel and foot, with on the opposite of that the almost straight down hard sweep from the rear rim/head to the muscular upwards curving shank. Sometimes the rear of the head/rim to the top curve of the shank barely have any space. I try my best to explain this but I guess some edited images will have to do as my exact terminology is not very strong. I am sure there is a name for this spot that I just don't know.
Here are three pictures taken from the internet will show what I am talking about all using Deluxe 8s shapes as an example.
Picture one has the nice cylindrical bowl good straight lines and a nice angled upward curve and space between the shank but the heel and foot don't have that strong pronounced muscular look to them, I jokingly call it the Jay Leno chin.
Now Image 2 has that "Jay Leno Chin" heel and foot I look for in this shape, very masculine and very much like my 309s and deluxe 4s pipes and at one time I owned at least fifteen 309s, four 4ab POTY and two Deluxe 4s (both of which I still have) but what this pipe is missing is that sweeping curve and sharper angle from the barrel to the shank. It is too much of a U shape and not enough of a sharp half V, if that makes sense
Then there is image 3... what is this? Looks like a normal curvy bent billiard without any of the qualities of what a bent dutch is, at least to me.
So I am curious, does anyone else notice this? I suppose only hardcore Geeks like myself would but I have seen there are others on the forums who might feel the same... or am I just a psychotic obsessive compulsive lunatic who puts too much emphasis on trivial things? As pipe smokers I suspect other folks, while maybe not Pete Geeks or even folks who like Peterson pipes might relate somehow, maybe you like Savinelli pipes or *insert factory pipe company name here* pipes or artisan pipes only, but still expect certain lines and looks to a pipe that carries a specific name or shape applied to it and see that there are regularly misses on online offerings.
If image 1 had the same heel/foot as image 2, I'd say it is a perfect offering of what the shape should be.
Now this isn't me looking to bash the company that I love and support, because I started with cobs and eventually some Stanwells back in the day, it was the P Lip and system that really got me hooked on pipe smoking, that and McClellands Frog Morton and Petersons Irish Flake and the Nic hit from that, I will always smoke my petes and love every one I own and continue to support the company.
I just needed to, I guess, get this off my chest, out of my head and put it out there and get some discussion going. It all started when I saw this damn near perfect example in a Spigot system 313 on eBay from TobaccoPipes.com's eBay store.
I was ready to pull the trigger when I realized... no, wait, it says two available, the chances of you getting the exact pipe in the image are slim to none and you'll probably end up with something that looks like image 3 above and be completely unhappy with it. But it seems they might have used the best example of what they shape should be, so maybe they are aware of what I am?
Anyway enough rambling, time to finish this pipe of 1792, get off the computer and tend to the honey bees. If you know what I am talking about and can relate, let me know so I don't feel so insane, if you think I am insane, hell let me know too...
Just checking things out, looking at certain pipes, checking what is available in a specific shape and I felt the need to do a little writing, part as an appreciation and part as a bit of frustration as a pipe smoker and online consumer but mostly as a lover of Peterson pipes and their history and shapes and especially the muscular look of their stummels in the system lines.
Now this isn't going to be some long drawn out big winded post and I won't have a lot of history to read through either, it's more a catharsis of sorts for myself as something just annoyed me this morning and I am curious if any of the other Pete Geeks on the board have ever had the same thoughts. See, my favorite shape in all of pipedom is the Shape 4 or Bent Dutch Billiard, an overview of this shape for anyone who comes across this post who doesn't know what this silly Ogrish Canadian is talking about can check it out here on Mark Irwins Peterson Pipe Notes blog.
I am here to talk about the Shape 4's little brother, the Shape 313 or Deluxe 8s or in non system lines the 338 and what I see as a major inconsistency in its overall stummel Shape in online offerings. See, I love this shape as much as I love the large Bent Dutch but damnitall if this is one of the most inconsistently shaped stummels that comes out of Dublin these days. As my understanding goes the shape is meant to be a smaller version of the 309 / 4s / large bent dutch but more often than not the online offerings of it in different lines do not have what I see as the major makeups of what a bent dutch is. The straight almost perfectly cylindrical lines from the rim downwards into the front of the pipe with a strongly pronounced heel and foot, with on the opposite of that the almost straight down hard sweep from the rear rim/head to the muscular upwards curving shank. Sometimes the rear of the head/rim to the top curve of the shank barely have any space. I try my best to explain this but I guess some edited images will have to do as my exact terminology is not very strong. I am sure there is a name for this spot that I just don't know.
Here are three pictures taken from the internet will show what I am talking about all using Deluxe 8s shapes as an example.
Picture one has the nice cylindrical bowl good straight lines and a nice angled upward curve and space between the shank but the heel and foot don't have that strong pronounced muscular look to them, I jokingly call it the Jay Leno chin.
Now Image 2 has that "Jay Leno Chin" heel and foot I look for in this shape, very masculine and very much like my 309s and deluxe 4s pipes and at one time I owned at least fifteen 309s, four 4ab POTY and two Deluxe 4s (both of which I still have) but what this pipe is missing is that sweeping curve and sharper angle from the barrel to the shank. It is too much of a U shape and not enough of a sharp half V, if that makes sense
Then there is image 3... what is this? Looks like a normal curvy bent billiard without any of the qualities of what a bent dutch is, at least to me.
So I am curious, does anyone else notice this? I suppose only hardcore Geeks like myself would but I have seen there are others on the forums who might feel the same... or am I just a psychotic obsessive compulsive lunatic who puts too much emphasis on trivial things? As pipe smokers I suspect other folks, while maybe not Pete Geeks or even folks who like Peterson pipes might relate somehow, maybe you like Savinelli pipes or *insert factory pipe company name here* pipes or artisan pipes only, but still expect certain lines and looks to a pipe that carries a specific name or shape applied to it and see that there are regularly misses on online offerings.
If image 1 had the same heel/foot as image 2, I'd say it is a perfect offering of what the shape should be.
Now this isn't me looking to bash the company that I love and support, because I started with cobs and eventually some Stanwells back in the day, it was the P Lip and system that really got me hooked on pipe smoking, that and McClellands Frog Morton and Petersons Irish Flake and the Nic hit from that, I will always smoke my petes and love every one I own and continue to support the company.
I just needed to, I guess, get this off my chest, out of my head and put it out there and get some discussion going. It all started when I saw this damn near perfect example in a Spigot system 313 on eBay from TobaccoPipes.com's eBay store.
I was ready to pull the trigger when I realized... no, wait, it says two available, the chances of you getting the exact pipe in the image are slim to none and you'll probably end up with something that looks like image 3 above and be completely unhappy with it. But it seems they might have used the best example of what they shape should be, so maybe they are aware of what I am?
Anyway enough rambling, time to finish this pipe of 1792, get off the computer and tend to the honey bees. If you know what I am talking about and can relate, let me know so I don't feel so insane, if you think I am insane, hell let me know too...
It's a hard knock life for us, it's a hard knock life for us, instead of treated, we get tricked...
