Stanwell 1998 Pipe of the Year Sandblasted Liverpool Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Stanwell is one of Denmark’s most celebrated and enduring pipe companies, having been founded by Poul Nielsen shortly after the second world war. Over the last six decades, Stanwell has established itself as both a leader in innovative Danish design and for producing well-priced pipes with precision construction and engineering. Many of its designs were created for the company by iconic pipe-makers in the Scandinavian scene, such as Sixten Ivarsson, Anne Julie, Jess Chonowitsch, and Tom Eltang.

Since 1979, Stanwell has, without fail, released an annual, limited edition Pipe of the Year (as well as a German market Jahrespfeife between the 1990s and 2000s). As with many Stanwell models, these pipes have, for the most part, been designed by Scandinavia’s most acclaimed pipe makers, including Sixten Ivarsson, the late Jess Chonowitsch, Lasse Skovgaard, Manduela Riger-Kusk, and Poul Winslow.

This particular Pipe of the Year, from 1998, was designed for Stanwell by the company’s most prolific collaborator, Tom Eltang. Given Eltang’s functionalist sensibilities, a relatively traditional, lightweight Liverpool such as this one makes perfect sense, though its hybridization by way of brandy bowl lends it an ample amount of Danish distinction. Lastly, I will note that most Pipe of the Year models from the 1980s and 1990s were sandblasted, typically in a strikingly craggy fashion, and that this one is certainly no different.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. Some slight scuffs on the rim, though nothing major.

Details:

Length: 6.1″ / 154.9mm

Bowl Width: 0.75 / 19.05mm

Bowl Depth: 1.62″ / 41.14mm

Weight: 1.2oz / 36g