The Tinder Box Jura Partially Rusticated Pot Estate Briar Pipe, Other Estates

Description

The Tinder Box is a historic North American tobacconist, originally founded in 1928. Over the years, a number of established pipe manufacturers have produced pipes for The Tinder Box house-brand, including Charatan, Savinelli, and Ascorti.

The Jura brand was one made for The Tinder Box by the Shalom Pipe Factory in Israel, also known for its Alpha pipes. But I’d wager that the first thought many pipe smokers will have looking at this pipe, at least as far as a country of origin might go, is not Israel, but Denmark. After all, this is a Stanwell shape. It is not like a Stanwell shape, either; it is a Stanwell shape. It is the Stanwell shape 1240, the only shape to my knowledge with a four-digit shape code, from the proportions of the bowl to the very unique stem design. Stanwell only made the shape quite briefly, from around the 1960s to the 1970s, but it is very difficult to forget. But that leaves us with a question: how does one end up with a pipe whose brand name is presumably intended to evoke the Jura region of France, and whose country of manufacture stamp indicates Israeli production, yet whose design is also Danish. This is something that has puzzled me for many years now, as a closer examination of the Shalom Pipe Factory reveals a significant number of pipes which are Stanwell shapes. The Jura brand is practically all Stanwells, while Shalom’s other brands, like Alpha, also feature many Stanwell shapes. I can only assume that Stanwell and Shalom had an agreement of some sort, whereby the latter was allowed to either use Stanwell’s shapes for its pipes, or even where Shalom imported unfinished Stanwells to finish and sell as Shalom products. Who knows. At least we got a distinct variation on a rare Stanwell shape out of it.

The condition is fair. Some rim darkening and handling marks.

Details:

Length: 6.0″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.88 / 22.35mm

Bowl Depth: 1.49″ / 37.84mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 42g