Stanwell (c.1960s) Reg Era Hand Made 83R Smooth Pot Estate Briar Pipe, Danish Estates

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.

During the 1960s, Stanwell introduced a series of shapes under the collective name “Giants.” True to their name, these were Stanwell’s oversized pipes, and while they weren’t quite magnums, they were often comparable to, for example, a post-war Dunhill OD shape in size. The “83R” and the “89R” (“R” was the typical designation for “Giant” models) were Stanwell’s interpretations of an especially wide English pot shape, ones not unlike the Charatan’s contemporaneous Outsize Pot designs. The two shapes were very similar, with the most notable difference between them being the cut of the mouthpiece; the “83R” was tapered, whereas the “89R” was an unusual, “stepped,” fantail-like saddle variant. This is an example of the former, and comes from Stanwell’s higher-end Hand Made line, with that handiwork having paid dividends in the wealth of bird’s-eye grain around its broad bowl. As for dating, from surviving catalogs, it is evident that the “83R” was introduced as early as 1960. The “Giants,” however, seemed to disappear from Stanwell’s shape charts by the mid-1970s, and the “83R” itself is not present in the 1970 catalog. I would expect, therefore, that this one was made in the 1960s, give or take a couple of years at either end.

The condition is very good. Some finish fading and chamber slightly over reamed, though nothing major.

Details:

Length: 5.8″ / 147.3mm

Bowl Width: 1.04 / 26.41mm

Bowl Depth: 1.41″ / 35.81mm

Weight: 1.9oz / 54g