Spigot pipes?

[sablebrush52]

I think you should take your own advice.

Quit while you're behind. You're simply making an infantile donkey of yourself. But that's your privilege if that's who you need to be. I'm done with you.
Thank you MLC for more history and info. As always, you bring something useful to the forum.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Al, wow, those ornate bulldogs are GORGEOUS!!
Does anyone know where the term "spigot" comes from, or why it applies to these type pipes?

I'm always reminded to water my garden whenever I read the term "spigot pipe."

 

[sablebrush52]

Does anyone know where the term "spigot" comes from, or why it applies to these type pipes?

This is from Merriam-Webster
origin: Middle Engish - first known use of the word dates to the 14th century
definition: a small peg or plug, especially for insertion into the vent of a cask.
I suppose that it's the physical resemblance to a spigot tap in the side of a barrel that's the basis. The spigot shank mount has a circular flat surface - like a miniature keg - into which the stopper gets inserted. The shank cap on a military mount is hemispherical.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

That makes absolute sense. Duh, the dictionary, who'd a thunk it? Ha ha.

Thanks sable!

 

[ssjones]

Yep, Peterson rules the Army Mount, seen in their catalog as early as 1896! An excerpt from their website:

"The Spigot style evolved from the practice of soldiers in earlier centuries who repaired broken pipes by sliding a used cartridge case over the shank and reinserting the mouthpiece.

From the thread that MLC linked above.

"earlier centuries"

?????
That sounds like a tall tale on Petersons part, or perhaps artistic license in marketing.

 

[buroak]

That is a tall, fanciful tale. The metallic cartridge only came into widespread use in the second half of the 19th century.

 

[gloucesterman]

Although the spigot mount undoubtedly pre-dates the Peterson marketing story, there are a number of cases which suggest that the practice they refer to is grounded in fact. What is highly likely is that they more resembled "emergency repairs" than the finished products we see today. Based on Sable's comments Full Spigots, Half Spigots and military/Army mounts are similar but not the same. How common the Military/Army mounts were before WWl isn't the same question as when Spigot Mounts originated. Peterson may not be far off the mark if we isolate the Military/Army mount from the others. I don't know when they actually came into existence but someone out there probably does.

 

[sablebrush52]

Whatever the truth is about the origin of military and/or spigot mounts, or bands for that matter, such adornment was tremendously popular until the 1920's. These pages from the pre WW1 Barling catalog are a good example. All of the pipes illustrated have either a band, a spigot, or a military mount.

 

[bungee]

Great thread and lots of good info.
Today, while looking around for more data, I found a couple of listings for european auction houses featuring Austrian meerschaums from 1780 which have a spigot connection.

I also found a site dedicated to marine and navy antiques which also carried two meerschaums, with spigot connectios, dating from the early 1800s.
All pipes were hallmarked.
I'm on my phone now, but I will post pics and links tomorrow or on Sunday.
Cheers,
J

 

[gloucesterman]

Jesse, in that set #132 were all those bits interchangeable? If they were now I understand your Barling preference. Pretty impressive.

 

[sablebrush52]

Jesse, in that set #132 were all those bits interchangeable? If they were now I understand your Barling preference. Pretty impressive.

Yes, they were. But all of the top makers produced sets like this.

 

[dmcmtk]

I have a Peterson's Spigot floating around somewhere...mid '70s as I recall. Definitely a Silver on Silver mount. I should go look for it...

 

[drwatson]

Lord- And I may also be wrong (if I am sable will correct me) :rofl:
But I think the story you are referring to about WWI and the shell, is for "normal" military mounts. I have heard that story two about a broken shank and someone shoved a spent shell over it to fix.
To be honest I have a few spigots, and a couple military mounts and besides the metal/silver around the stem..There does not seem to be much difference.

 

[bungee]

The links:
http://www.seaborne-fartygsmagasinet.com/miscellaneous3.html
http://the-curiosity-shop.nl/shop/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=66
Cheers,
J

 

[sablebrush52]

I remember this seller. For a while he was putting some amazing pipes up on eBay. I've been doing a bit of looking as well and this construction seems to go way back. 18th century is longer than I would have thought, but why not? I've looked at meerschaum pipes dating to the 1850's.
Screw threaded stems were common and I'm not sure that they would count as either military or spigot, since quick disassembly would have been difficult. Mortise and tenon construction began being used around the turn of the last century.
One of my favorite pipe makers, Paul Tatum, used cartridge shells as a stem cap on occasion.

 

[misterlowercase]

I don't know when they actually came into existence but someone out there probably does.

If anybody'd know, it probably be Benjamin Rappaport, tobacciana scholar extraordinaire - a blog that he's associated with posted an old French meer catalog from 1880 and it includes a few friction fit stems, more than several in the spigot style and one in the army style,

check it out:

p. 11, 17, 18

http://tobaccopipeartistory.blogspot.com/2015/09/au-pacha-catalog-1880.html
Also note the swan-necked bent billiards on the first few pages - looking very much like the famed 56/120/LC family.
I'm no meer expert, but I've read that at some point as briar pipes gained in popularity, the meerschaum carvers emulated some of the more basic briar shapes, so quite possibly the shapes in that 1880 catalog had briar predecessors sometime a bit before that date?