Kaywoodie (c.1929-32) Drinkless Suntan Rock Ambera 7207 Smooth Billiard (Unsmoked Estate)

Kaywoodie pipes are as American as apple pie. Starting in 1919 as a pipe brand for KB&B, a pipe shop dating all the way back to 1851, Kaywoodie has since then been a staple of American-made pipes. In the present, many Kaywoodies are collectors’ items, in addition to being fantastic smokers.

Kaywoodie pipes can be rather difficult to tie down to a specific year of production. Unlike certain other makes, where the year a given pipe was manufactured is clearly denoted in its nomenclature, Kaywoodie pipes are usually only able to be isolated to an approximate period, such as pre-1936, or post-1955. Some Kaywoodies, however, can be tied to a much narrower timeframe, on account of a confluence of crucial factors in their design.

To start with, this one has a four-digit shape code, which places it prior to 1936. It also features the “KB&B” logo of Kaufman Bros. & Bondy, the original owners of the Kaywoodie make, on its shank which similarly puts it prior to 1933. And then there’s the reference to an applied-for patent for the pipe’s Synchro-Stem screw tenon, a patent that was granted in 1932, which would put the pipe’s manufacture in that year or prior. Given that the pipe is also from Kaywoodie’s Bakelite-stemmed Rock Ambera line, which debuted around 1929, it can be further isolated to circa 1929-32.

One thing that remains somewhat mysterious, however, is the pipe’s stem inlay. As with a few of Kaywoodie’s high-end lines prior to the midcentury, this one features a black cloverleaf inside of an inlay. However, unlike all of those other high-end lines, the inlay on this pipe is not a circle, but a cube. It is very unusual and not something I have ever seen before, but as this pipe came in with a few prototype Kaywoodies (including a White Briar tavern clay-style churchwarden), I am left wondering if this pipe might also be a prototype, with its non-standard inlay reflecting that status.

This pipe is completely unsmoked. There are a couple of worn out fills, though that’s quite typical of a pipe from the era thing one belongs to.

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.79 / 20.06mm

Bowl Depth: 1.59″ / 40.38mm

Weight: 1.3oz / 38g