Stanwell 2008 Pipe of the Year Partially Sandblasted Rhodesian Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

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.

There is one pipe maker in particular, however, who has designed more Stanwell Pipes of the Year than any other, that being the Danish master Tom Eltang. For the 2008 release, Stanwell teamed up with Eltang once again, who ultimately designed this pipe. The shape is essentially a Rhodesian, albeit a very unusual one, with a slightly bent, oval shank reminiscent of a Zulu. Funnily enough, there was a Stanwell shape many decades ago, the “05” designed by Sixten Ivarsson, which blended those two Anglo-French staples to a similar effect. Eltang’s 2008 design could be considered something of an homage, especially given the functionalist affinities between the two masters. On a final note, as this was made in 2008 (or possibly late 2007), it was one of the last Stanwell Pipe of the Year releases to have been made in Denmark, in the company’s famous Borup factory, which is always a bonus.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating.

Details:

Length: 5.4″ / 137.1mm

Bowl Width: 0.75 / 19.05mm

Bowl Depth: 1.44″ / 36.57mm

Weight: 1.3oz / 38g