Sasieni Family Era Sportsman Fantail Smooth Pot Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

Description

Along with names like Barling, Charatan, and Dunhill Sasieni holds a special place in the history of English smoking pipes – one near to its very beginnings. So the story goes, Sasieni himself worked for Dunhill during its early days. But eventually he left Dunhill, having his own ideas about how pipes should be made, and founded Sasieni. This was 1919, and Sasieni has been the closest thing to a household name in English pipes ever since.

As Hal Roth details in his recent article on Sasieni (see Updating the History of Sasieni Pipes and Their Subsidiary Brands on Pipedia), the Fantail, also known as the Slendaline, was invented and patented by Alfred Sasieni, son of Sasieni founder Joel Sasieni. Originally patented in the UK in 1952 as the “Slendaline,” before being patented in the US the following year under the “Fantail,” and “Sportsman Faintail” names, Alfred’s invention was one aimed at reducing the overall weight of a pipe so that it could be more easily clenched. To this end, a unique, slender, fanning ebonite stem was designed, which was paired with several of Sasieni’s smaller, lighter existing bowl shapes (and possibly some wholly new ones, too). This one looks to be a Fantail variant of the Sasieni Moorgate, otherwise known as the “58,” Sasieni’s house pot shape. Given the inclusion of the British patent registration number on the shank, I would imagine that this was made during the family era of Sasieni pipes and, furthermore, not long after it was originally patented—i.e., during the early 1950s. To err on the side of caution, however, I’ll put it down as a 1950s-1979 make.

The condition is good. Some inner rim darkening and a couple of small scratches on the bowl.

Details:

Length: 6.1″ / 154.9mm

Bowl Width: 0.92 / 23.36mm

Bowl Depth: 1.36″ / 34.54mm

Weight: 1.6oz / 38g