Stanwell (c. 1960s) 20 Smooth Boat Dublin 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.

Stanwell’s shape 20 is one of the strangest, most unconventional designs within the make’s history, which is quite an accomplishment given Stanwell’s tendency to position itself at the frontiers of Scandinavian pipe making. Created for Stanwell by Sixten Ivarsson in the late 1950s, it is also, along with the similarly early shape “01” “Nefertiti” and shape “10” strawberry (also both of Ivarsson design), one of the rarest pipes Stanwell ever produced. It would be reasonable to assume that part of the scarcity of these shapes is the sheer complexity of their designs and how labor-intensive it was to manufacture them. In the case of the “20,” seen here, the design is characterized by a long, narrow, opera-esque bowl, with flattened sides not unlike the blowfish shapes that would emerge from Denmark decades later. In the case of this one, however, the shaping is more evocative of a boat than the creatures swimming beneath it. The stem is similarly unusual, with a kind of faux military mount “stepped” figure that was only ever featured on a handful of Stanwell pipes (the aforementioned shape “10” being another).
As for dating, this is a slightly difficult one. Of the surviving Stanwell catalogs from the 20th cetury, the shape “20” seen here is only found in one of them: the 1960 Export Catalog. By the mid-1970s, it had, furthermore, been replaced by a more conventional bent Dublin rendition (also designed by Sixten Ivarsson). This example is a little unusual, as it does not feature the abridged trademark registration number seen on most pipes from before the mid-1970s (the Featherweights being one notable exception) pipes, nor the pipe’s shape number. However, what is stamped on the bowl is a reference to Tabak Keistler, a tobacconist in the town of Frankenthal, Germany. It would seem that the pipe was either made specially for Tabak Keistler, or was made during a touring promotional event there, which was common for Stanwell in the 20th century. Either way, it is a rare and most welcome sight.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. There are a couple of very small scratches on the bowl and some slight, residual oxidation on the pipe’s vulcanite mouthpiece, though nothing major.

Details:

Length: 6.5″ / 165.1mm

Bowl Width: 0.77 / 19.55mm

Bowl Depth: 1.32″ / 33.52mm

Weight: 1.6oz / 48g