Swan Neck/ LC shape

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Hillcrest

Lifer
Dec 3, 2021
3,832
19,502
Connecticut, USA
I think it's stamped '2', but all those one-off giant Petes seem to have a meaningless single-digit number. It's really a giant 69.
That is a pipe I will look for now ! I like that. Maybe I can find one in a light smooth finish ... with straight grain on the sides ... and birdseye on the bottom ... that passes a pipe cleaner ... etc, etc, etc. .... ;)
 

runscott

Lifer
Jun 3, 2020
1,294
2,842
Washington State
That is a pipe I will look for now ! I like that. Maybe I can find one in a light smooth finish ... with straight grain on the sides ... and birdseye on the bottom ... that passes a pipe cleaner ... etc, etc, etc. .... ;)

One-off old giant Petes show up every now and then on ebay. I don't know the story on them - perhaps they were ordered...or maybe Peterson just kept a few oddball shapes and sizes in their Nassau Street shop. I'm a sucker for anything approximating the Dunhill 120 or LC, mainly because I've never bought off on the myth that Rathbone had to be smoking a Dunhill or Parker in his early SH movies.
 

Hillcrest

Lifer
Dec 3, 2021
3,832
19,502
Connecticut, USA
One-off old giant Petes show up every now and then on ebay. I don't know the story on them - perhaps they were ordered...or maybe Peterson just kept a few oddball shapes and sizes in their Nassau Street shop. I'm a sucker for anything approximating the Dunhill 120 or LC, mainly because I've never bought off on the myth that Rathbone had to be smoking a Dunhill or Parker in his early SH movies.
Runscott, I had completely forgotten this thread, at least consciously, and was looking for a 9mm pipe to try. I normally go for smooth finish but came across this Vauen Olaf in estate pipes on SP.EU, at a discount, and ordered it this morning. Not a Pete though. The description said bent egg but it seems very close to a swan neck to me and somewhat similar to yours that I admired. Can't wait to try it when it arrives. Thanks for planting the idea. ?

1655396792013.jpeg
 
May 9, 2021
1,691
3,622
56
Geoje Island South Korea
Let's just identify what makes the "swan neck" on a pipe. It's not the stem so much as the shank. Go back to the early LC and similar pipes, what we see is a lot of curve in the shank, much more than a typical bent billiard (which is essentially a straigh-line shank at an angle).

9aPeIUD.jpg


Here's two pipes on the bench, (one stem not bent yet) from years ago, but the top pipe has a much straighter shank, the bottom pipe much more curve, more "swan neck", even though they are approximately the same angle, a 1/2 bent pipe.

iPkuin2.jpg


If you build this thing chubbier but carry the curve, you get into a "Peterson" esque aesthetic. They have a lot of heavy shanks, and a lot of nicely curved shapes (like the Professor).

ztdbqd5.jpg



If you go the other way and make it as thin as possible (to the point of needing curved drilling perhaps, as those old French pipes did have pretty often), you get the true elegance of the LC shape proper.

1lsVkW1.jpg
Hell yeah, Sasquatch!
 
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Hillcrest

Lifer
Dec 3, 2021
3,832
19,502
Connecticut, USA
Can you call this pipe swan neck brandy?Or what shape it is??View attachment 152149
I have seen similar pipes on websites referred to as both bent brandy and bent volcano ... maybe it depends on the maker's preference. I would think it a brandy shape because it mimics a brandy snifter.
I do not believe that is a swan neck per Sasquatch's description above.