Stanwell Pre-2010 Chess Rook Sandblasted Freehand Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked, 9mm

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.

Though Stanwell famously incorporated modern, Danish-style pipes into its portfolio in the early post-war years, I’m not 100% certain as to when the first Stanwell “freehand” pipes debuted. They were made from at least the 1970s onward, as one surviving catalog from that decade attests (where they were sold under the banner of the “Free Hand Pipe”), and because many Stanwell freehands include the registration number stamp, which was discontinued sometime around 1980. In any case, this particular Stanwell freehand comes from a little later, and has a rather interesting set of circumstances behind it.

The “Chess” series was one that appeared toward the end of the 20th century, and was something of a revival of freehand pipes within Stanwell’s output. Originally, the task of making them fell to Stanwell’s in-house carvers, but it was later contracted to a fellow by the name of Poul Winslow. We today know Winslow as one of Denmark’s finest artisans, and one of its most successful. And it is certainly true that Winslow showed prodigious talents as a freehand carver back when he was Preben Holm’s second in command back when the latter was still making pipes. After Holm’s early retirement and passing, Winslow started his own workshop, but starting afresh—even for someone with Winslow’s talents—is never easy. Luckily for him, Stanwell had its eye on Winslow. Winslow traveled across Europe making Stanwell pipes in real time at shop exhibitions (his sheer speed at carving a high-quality pipe is something to behold) and, when he returned, Stanwell had him make freehand pipes for the company, which were marketed as the Chess series. I’m fairly certain this is one of Winslow’s, as earlier iterations of the series were slightly different in style. It’s a little more his style, too (not overly freeform, for example).

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

Details:

Length: 6.5″ / 165.1mm

Bowl Width: 0.90 / 22.86mm

Bowl Depth: 1.35″ / 34.29mm

Weight: 2.4oz / 70g