Stanwell (Old and New) Your feelings

[group4]

Fellow and Fellowette Pipe Smokers, to those of you who own older production (Danish) Stanwells, are you more covetous of your Danish produced pipes? Or do you make no (significant) distinction between those and today's Italian-produced pipes?

I ask because I had fallen out of love with a lot my Stanwells, most purchased over the last fifteen years; so I put them away for possible sale a few years ago. Recently I broke out those pipes and have been smoking them only to find that I still like them...and what's weirder, they seem more valuable to me now that Stanwell ceased production in Denmark.
Any one else feel like this? Or am I alone.

Go. Discuss amongst yourselves.

 

[cyndi]

We have 2 1948 Stan's, a 1948-1955 Stan and a modern Stan. One of the 48s is a major pain in the ass to keep clean, but other than that they are all excellent pipes. I don't think there is any difference in quality - the PITA is a funky shape and the others are standard shapes.

 

[jchaplick]

Personally i havent noticed too much of a difference, Personally i am not a person to care for the looks of a pipe, as long as i dont absolutely hate the shape, i just like good smokers and stanwells usually are god smokers so thats good enough for me

 

[nemrod]

I haven't noticed any particular difference between the pipes (produced 1982, 1989, 2010 and presumably 2011) I own/have owned. I know the switch was relatively recently, but does anyone know more precisely?

 

[juni]

All my Stanwells, danish and italian, smoke really well. The horn is the most difficult one, because of its shape.

 

[rigmedic1]

Never had a Stanwell. On my bucket list though. Has anyone determined if the new are any different from the old?

 

[vroomfondel]

There actually is quite a lot of bitching about the Italian Stanwells by some rather vocal members of the German-speaking pipe communities. But I personally haven't seen any Italian Stanwell I would disagree with engineering-wise so far. The two Danish Stannies I call my own are absolutely spot on and very good value for money.
You can tell the difference through the stamping, the old ones have "Made in Denmark" and the new ones are stamped "Danish Design".

 

[rigmedic1]

Thanks!

 

[nemrod]

vroomfondel: good tip about the stamping, but every single Stanwell I own are sandblasted and none of them have those stamps.

 

[lonestar]

I dont have any of the new production, so I cant answer that.

I will go out on a limb and say the old Stanwells are my favorite factory made pipe by quite a wide margin.

 

[group4]

Sounds inconclusive. I guess I'll hold onto the best of my Stanwells, like the Hans Christian Andersen churchwarden I bought years ago.

There was something about Stanwell's Danish origins...I'm quite sure the Italians are doing a good job with new production, but it would be a little like buying a Petersen that was made anywhere but Ireland. Not quite right.