143. The Mystery of Peterson’s Patent-Era Bog Oak Pipes
One of the the amazing things about Kapp & Peterson’s early history is the encyclopedic range of their shapes and lines. Not only did they produce four sizes of every System shape and an amazingly diverse range of Classic Range pipes, but they offered pipes beyond meerschaum and briar as well. As early as 1895, Charles Peterson was in contact with French clay pipe makers (considered to be the finest in the world) for the Patent System clay, but he also outsourced bowls to cherrywood and Irish bog oak makers, fitting these with the P-Lip and sometimes nickel bands. I’ve learned a little about Irish bog oak, and when I saw Gary had obtained what appeared to be a pipe identical to K&P’s shape 8 in the 1906 catalog, bought it from him to look at it more closely. I once owned a fabulous chubby Paolo Becker dublin morta (bog oak) pipe, and before it developed a burn out, it gave me some of the finest smoking experiences I’ve ever had, better than briar, I suppose, at least in the sense of being far different from anything I'd ever smoked. As you can see from the composite illustration above, the K&P pipe was virtually identical to this one. In size, the bog oak is a little larger than a traditional clay cutty, but not much. Because the 1906 catalog was printed at full scale, I could get a few of the measurements for the 8B. Here’s how Gary's bog oak compares: Shape 8 B Length from bowl to shank: 3.93 in. / 100 mm. (end of band) Total length of pipe: 5.2 in. / 132 mm. Bowl Height: 1.96 in. / 50 mm. Irish Bog Oak Pipe Weight: 0.95 oz / 28 gr Length: 5.2 in / 132 mm Bowl Height: 1.77 in / 45.1 mm Bowl Diameter: 1.21 in / 30.9 mm Chamber Depth: 1.59 in / 40 mm Chamber Width: 0.64 in / 16.3 mm I would guess K&P sourced their bog oaks from one of a number of local Dublin manufacturers, removed the finished mouthpiece, then fit a band and tiny P-Lip. There are actually a few photos of K&P bog oaks floating around, but the best I’ve seen, while of low quality, seems to have a P-Lip made of horn, rather than the amber, amberoid or vulcanite mentioned in the 1906 catalog: So who made K&P bog oak pipes? Kelly’s Directory of the Watch & Clock Trades for 1880 gives this list of manufacturers, indicating that there were a number to choose from right in Dublin: Baldwin David - 47, Henry Street, Dublin Cahoon Brothers - 16, Castle Place, Belfast Connolly Myles - 18, Wellington Quay, Dublin Goggin Cornelius - 13, Nassau Street, Dublin Goggin Jeremiah - 79 Grafton Street, Dublin Irvine & Co. - 25, William Street, Dublin Johnson Joseph - 22, Suffolk Street, Dublin Neill James & Co. - 14, Donegall Place, Belfast Newman Mrs. Catherine - 57, South Great George's Street, Dublin O’Leary…