Peterson Pipe of the Year 2023 Rustic w/ Silver Cap Estate Briar Pipe, Irish Estates

Description

Peterson pipes generally need no introduction, but just in case you’re unfamiliar: in 1876, a Latvian named Charles Peterson immigrated to Ireland and was hired making pipes in a workshop owned by Frederick and George Kapp. After rising through the ranks to become head craftsman, Peterson bought into the Kapp’s business, which was renamed, Kapp & Peterson (K&P). During this time, Peterson himself applied for several patents for pipe designs, including the world-famous Peterson’s System. Since then, Peterson has become one of the most recognizable names in pipe smoking and continues to produce high quality pipes from their headquarters in Dublin.

For their 2023 Pipe of the Year—an annual tradition since 1997—Peterson fans were treated to a limited edition reissue of a very special shape, the X160. The shape had originally debuted at the turn of the 20th century, during Peterson’s “patent era” but, by the time of this reissue, it had been out of production for what seems to have been close to 100 years. Thanks in no small part to Peterson’s in-house pipe specialist, Giacomo Penzo, Peterson were able to produce a replica based on an ancient meerschaum X160 model, which was used as a prototype for the 2023 release. For the first time in generations, pipe smokers were able to purchase the X160 once more, and to enjoy the distinctly old-world stylings of this swan neck, army mount, bent egg billiard. The pipe was produced in no less than eight finishes, to be selected depending on one’s preference, but one subset of 2023 POYs was to be rarer than any other: the silver cap model. To my knowledge, Peterson has not disclosed exactly how many silver capped POYs were made for 2023, but it has been stated that only the rusticated variant could be found with this extra adornment. It was also made clear that only a very small number of rusticated 2023 POYs would receive silver caps, due to the time consuming, labor-intensive process of fitting them in-house from sheet sterling silver.

The condition is great. A few very light scratches on the silver cap.

 

Details:

Length: 5.8″ / 147.3mm

Bowl Width: 0.76 / 19.30mm

Bowl Depth: 1.66″ / 42.16mm

Weight: 1.9oz / 56g