My recent enquiry to Peterson’s Dublin factory, has born fruit, those magicians have just returned the pipe with it’s newly restored, made to measure, black acrylic saddle stem. I am very pleased with the new replacement stem, as I consider this to be a very significant pipe from Petersons wonderful past. For collectors the Patent Era appears to have been from K&P’s formation in 1890, until the expiration of the patent; through to approximately peterson pipes 1915. The late Mike Leverette in his ‘A Peterson Dating Guide’ extended this period to 1922.I believe this was purely to take cognisance of the P-lip patent which expired at around this time. Whenever I go through the old Peterson catalogues, it is like being a big kid all over again, drooling over illustrations and line drawings of pipes which I long to hold and admire. Owning such pipes is like having access to miniature time capsules.
Love it or hate it, the System isn’t just a novelty offered by Peterson; it is the Peterson pipe. Its engineering and overall design are intertwined with the marque’s foundation and raison d’être. They’re the invisible source behind Peterson’s unique Irish aesthetic — its muscular shank and transition, tubular profile, and generous bend. The marque’s overall shaping style has a distinctly antique form because it has remained largely unchanged for over 120 years.
A Peterson pipe isn’t just a utilitarian tool; it’s a piece of history you can carry with you in your travels, a faithful companion to accompany you through all that life offers. As the oldest continuously operating briar pipe factory in the world, we at Peterson have a certain tradition to uphold, a legacy of craftsmanship dating back over 150 years. Whether you’re browsing for your very first pipe or are a seasoned collector in search of a rare gem, know that every pipe in our catalogue carries with it that same preservation of tradition. A Peterson pipe isn’t just a utilitarian tool; it’s a piece of history you can carry with you in your travels, a faithful companion to accompany you through all that life offers. And for that, I’d like to just take a moment and thank Mark and Gary for their tremendous effort here, and for letting us summarize, paraphrase, and directly quote from this excellent resource. They’ve set the story straight and hopefully opened all of our eyes to the unique tradition, quality, and character behind the oldest continuously operating pipe factory in the world.
Sometimes at this point I will clean the internals but the band bothered me so I decided to address that issue next. It was not only lifted about a 1/8 inch leaving a gap between the end of the shank and the end of the cap, it was also turned in such a way that the stamping was not aligned as it originally had been (Photos 11 – 12). I found photos of the 11S on the internet that showed the original position of the band and I wanted to bring this band back to match the position shown in the photos. I heated the band with my heat gun to soften the glue so that I could turn the band to the correct position and also press it back into place on the end of the shank (Photos 13 – 17). Eventually I wanted to flatten he beveled edge of the band to make the surface flush once again but would do that a little later in the process.
Over 100,000 pipes are made every year at the Peterson factory; traditionally most are smoked in the UK & Europe, but increasingly more are being enjoyed by smoker’s worldwide. I had seen this pipe on many occasions when I had previously visited Bonds E bay site. I have always been attracted to it and admired the classic shape, size and finish. They were offering the same pipe in various finishes and stem fittings.
Peterson then went on to produce more non limited versions of the Mark Twain pipes, this time without numbers, from 1983 through to 1989. In 1899, Peterson opened the first in a series of several successive shops in London, England, that lasted until the late 1960s/70s. English made peterson pipes actually spanned the period between the pre Republic and Republic eras.