Stanwell (c. 1980s) Vario 62 Partially Sandblasted Dublin 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.

The 1970s marked something of a turning point Stanwell’s pipe designs. Slowly but surely, the slight and slender, neoclassical shapes that had been the bulk of its catalog disappeared, with sturdier, more “Danish” designs taking their place. This shift was especially evident in the make’s flagship Dublin renditions, such as the plateaux-topped shape 62 seen here. In the mid-1970s catalog, for example, no fewer than 4 variations were featured on much the same theme (the 62, 63, 63M, and 64), alongside other, more different Dublin renditions. With the 62, however, it was not quite as great a leap from, say, the 1950s shape 82, as the 63, 64, or other 1970s Dublins, retaining the hallmark narrow, stepped mouthpiece and general lightness that characterized the Stanwell pipes of preceding eras, but with a much wider, more assertive bowl. As for its creator, the 62 was a Sixten Ivarsson design (as was every shape mentioned in this paragraph), and a very good one at that. It did survive a good few decades in Stanwell’s catalogs, albeit with some minor tweaks, though this one appears to be an early 1980s make, based on the narrow, white “S” logo on the pipe’s ebonite stem.

The condition is good. Some inner rim darkening.

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.78 / 19.81mm

Bowl Depth: 1.59″ / 40.38mm

Weight: 1.0oz / 30g