Stanwell (c. 1980s) Vario Partially Sandblasted Egg 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.

Stanwell’s Vario line first appeared around the 1980s, if memory serves, and was distinguished by a previously unexplored theme among Stanwell’s designs: mixed finishes. As gestured to by the name, Vario pipes were variously smooth polished and sandblasted, before being given a two-tone finish that was similarly divided between the different sections of the bowl. I did not note a shape code on this one (something not uncommon for Stanwell pipes), but the form is instantly recognizable, as it is a classic Stanwell Peewit rendition, the number “30.” Sixten Ivarsson designed close to a dozen of these very popular Peewit and Peewit-adjacent shapes for Stanwell between the 1950s and 1970s, with this particular variant having debuted in the 1970s, replacing the previous shape 30, which also happened to be a Peewit variation. As for when this one was made, I’d assume early 1980s, based on the thin, white Stanwell “S” stem logo and lack of a registration number stamp.

The condition is very good. Some inner rim darkening.

Details:

Length: 5.8″ / 147.3mm

Bowl Width: 0.86 / 21.84mm

Bowl Depth: 1.53″ / 38.86mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 42g