378. “A Real Pippin”: Pipe and tobacco Magazine’s 2003 Peterson POY
PSA: 2nd Call for the Official CPG 100% Irish Donegal Tweed Cap (see end of post) Athbhliain faoi mhaise dhuit ! Happy New Year to you! A handful of unsmoked Pipes and tobaccos magazine POYs of various makes (including some J. T. Cookes) surfaced recently on Smokingpipes.com, including three Naturals and a Terracotta by Peterson. While I don’t normally turn to F/Ts or straight apples, I couldn’t resist the combined history behind this one. I was a subscriber to Pipes and tobaccos for many years, and completing the 1996 -- 2019 run of the magazine at Christmas about ten years ago was a highlight in my life as a pipeman. There's never been a pipe smoker's magazine like it, nor I suspect will there ever be one again. And as Peterson's P&T commemorative just marked its 20th anniversary, I thought it might be fun to look at what went into its making and where it fits on the Peterson “apple tree” (see Post #230, revised). The Peterson P&T apple was the 5th of the magazine’s annual POYs, an annual commemorative which included pipes by such luminaries as Eltang and Former, J. T. Cooke (twice), Brad Pohlmann, Castello and several others. K&P had launched their own POY (known as the “Limited Edition” for many years) just seven years before, in 1997. This would be the magazine’s only Peterson commemorative. #22 of 250, Natural The shape chosen was the 502, an elegant, elongated apple. It’s from K&P’s 500 shape group released in the early 1980s for the European market (see Post #49) and features the tapered spigot first introduced with the relaunch of K&P’s spigots c. 1978. This is one of two types of spigot Peterson makes, which I refer to as the “modern,” and was joined in production by the beaded “vintage” style (reminiscent of the double-beaded Patent era spigot) that graces the Spigot System line. Of the two, the vintage is used to adorn P-Lips and accompanied by a domed ferrule, while the modern utilizes the "F" or Facing / Flat Mount on Classic Range pipes. We see more of the vintage these days because of the System Spigot, although the modern also makes regular appearances. The nearest current production shape to the 502 is the 87. As you can see with a top and bottom comparison here, they’re similar, the 502 having a "chopped" rim and slightly less cheeking toward the crown: While the photos aren’t spot-on exact in set up and angles, a look at the measurement below shows they’re pretty close: 87 DeLuxe Natural (2023 HM) Length: 5.78 in./146.81 mm. Weight: 1.60 oz./45.36 g. Bowl Height: 1.74 in./44.20 mm. Chamber Depth: 1.44 in./36.58 mm. Chamber Diameter: 0.76 in./19.30 mm. Outside Diameter: 1.49 in./37.85 mm. Stem Material: Vulcanite 502 Natural (32/250; 2003) Length: 6.04 in./153.42 mm. Weight: 1.84 oz./52.16 g. Bowl Height: 1.83 in./46.48 mm. Chamber Depth: 1.38 in./35.05 mm. Chamber Diameter: 0.76 in./19.30 mm. Outside Diameter: 1.61 in./40.89 mm. The similarity of the two shapes doubtless…