Stanwell (c. 1970s) Reg Era Royal Briar 305 Smooth 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.

“Stanwell” is an odd name for a Danish pipe company. But it was chosen deliberately to emulate the names of the great English makes of the time. Even the “Stanwell” nomenclature was, originally, stamped in a cursive, florid script, one eerily reminiscent of Sasieni. As far as shapes go, however, Stanwell was closer to Dunhill than most other English contemporaries—not because of the style of the pipes, but because of the hundreds of shapes that have come and gone across their many decades of operation. Based on extant catalogs, the “05” seen here (“3” is the finish code) appears to have had a drastically short lifespan, replacing a different “05” shape (Stanwell did this a lot) in the 1970s before simply disappearing by the early 1980s. I have a pet theory as to why this might have happened, though first I should give a short description of the 05 shape itself. It is a Rhodesian, but it’s a rather distinct take on that classic shape. Its shank is oval in design, rather than circular, and its overall curvature is far closer to a Zulu than anything else. In fact, with these things put together, I’d be inclined to consider it a Rhodesian-Zulu hybrid (a Zimbabwean?). In any case, it’s little surprise that the shape is attributed to Sixten Ivarsson, who was especially fond of Zulu shapes, oval shanks, and did indeed carve a number of interesting Rhodesian renditions during his career.

Now, the question as to why the 05 disappeared is impossible to answer definitively, though two factors may have influenced its demise. The first is that Stanwell began increasing its focus on the German market in the 1980s, and there is simply no way to incorporate a 9mm bore for a filter in the 05 Rhodesian without substantially changing its design. The second possible reason for the 05’s demise is that, in the early 1980s, Jess Chonowitsch designed a bulldog rendition for Stanwell, the 156, with a quite similar figure, but which was also broad enough in its shank to admit a 9mm bore. Taken together, that would be my theory as to why the otherwise very graceful shape 05 was retired.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original (now quite flaked) bowl coating. There are a couple of scratches and blemishes on the bowl, though nothing major.

 

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.78 / 19.81mm

Bowl Depth: 1.56″ / 39.62mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 40g