Stanwell N2 by Nanna Ivarsson Smooth Rhodesian Estate Briar Pipe, 9mm, 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.

At the end of 2009, Stanwell closed its factory in Borup, Denmark, which had been the location in which nearly every Stanwell pipe had been manufactured for the previous 40 years. Despite Stanwell resuming manufacture in Italy in 2010 (which was contracted to the Barontini company), the Borup closure was a sad event for Danish pipes and indeed the end of an era. One consolation, however, is that the Borup factory went out with a bang, rather than a whimper. Or, rather, it went out with an Ivarsson. Just before Stanwell production moved to Italy, Stanwell debuted a small run of four pipe shapes designed by Nanna Ivarsson. Nanna Ivarsson is, of course, the granddaughter of Sixten Ivarsson, whose partnerships with Poul Stanwell catapulted the make into Danish  pipes superstardom, and a world-renowned artisan in her own right. These four shapes were the first (and, thus far, last) to be designed by Nanna Ivarsson and were stamped in a distinct way from other Stanwell pipes. First, the shapes were given alphanumerical shape codes, rather than simply numerical ones: N1, N2, N3, and N4. They were also stamped with “An Ivarsson Design,” which had only previously been used in Stanwell’s early decades, for Sixten’s shapes exported to the Japanese market. It appears that the first two Nanna Ivarsson shapes, N1 and N2, were manufactured in Denmark, being stamped as such. It is unclear where N3 and N4 were manufactured, as they feature neither a “Made in Denmark” nor a “Danish Design” stamp, the latter being typically used for Barontini-made pipes. This is shape N2, a characteristically Nanna design that could be described as a plump, highly organic hybrid of the Dublin and Rhodesian shapes. The shank accent is Elforyn, also known as Ivorite.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. It is chambered to allow for the use of 9mm filters or for the use of an adapter if one prefers non-filtered use.

 

Details:

Length: 5.6″ / 142.2mm

Bowl Width: 0.81 / 20.57mm

Bowl Depth: 1.33″ / 33.78mm

Weight: 2.1oz / 60g