ACCORDING TO RELIABLE INFORMATION FROM AN UNDISCLOSED OFFICIAL SOURCE THE POY 2021 4AB WILL DROP IN THE US AT 12AM EASTERN STANDARD TIME ON 3 DECEMBER 2021. SMOKE THIS MESSAGE AFTER READING.
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ACCORDING TO RELIABLE INFORMATION FROM AN UNDISCLOSED OFFICIAL SOURCE THE POY 2021 4AB WILL DROP IN THE US AT 12AM EASTERN STANDARD TIME ON 3 DECEMBER 2021. SMOKE THIS MESSAGE AFTER READING.
Shhhh….
Pocket watch synchronized. Thank you sir.
Joe, I hope it’s the pocket watch from post 196.
It’s going to be so hard to choose which one.
Yes! Thanks for the heads up!
I have to say, the pipe pictured is an awesome looking pipe…and don’t chastise me for saying this….the shape is not one of my favorites. I don’t even have one Pete in that shape…..yet?
You know John, I think it is a strange shape. But you know I’m kind of a weird guy to begin with. I’ve heard lots of other folk notlike it–it’s too simple a shape (simple lathe-turning, blah blah blah), it’s too small, et al. I think the attraction is very personal. For me it has to do with my first Peterson and my devotion to movies and Sherlock Holmes. Anyway… there’s always another pipe. Of course, there may not be any more POY2021s in just a few hours… 🙂
Same here. To me it’s the archetypal pipe. The first Peterson and first pipe was this shape, and it established in my mind what a pipe is on its essence.
I actually did procure one. A sandblast with decent ring-grain…I hope. I think it may even be one of the “display” pipes.
Yea! Hope you enjoy it, John. Mine smokes marvelously.
Well, it’s not a natural, or even a smooth, but from the sounds of it the naturals were pretty much non-existent and the terracotta’s were nearly so. The heritage finish barely beats out a single stained sandblast, and a nice ring-grain blast even one-ups the heritage for me. I will say, add a copper band to the heritage and they come to life for me for some reason, such as the XMas this year. Now if I hadn’t baulked on a smooth Hansom for a minute or two?
Is Smoking Pipes the place to buy?
William, it’s more like that’s the firstplace you’ll see them as well as the largest selection. Laudisi owns K&P now and also distributes Peterson pipes. So other shops will carry them if they bought them from Laudisi. SPEu, Smokingpipes Europe, is also Laudisi and operates over the Peterson shop in downtown Dublin.
Thanks Mark, do you anticipate your book being available tomorrow too?
William, the last I heard it was supposed to be made available today. Perhaps in the regular update? I don’t honestly know.
Just recieved the email and ordered the book!
The book is now available on Smokingpipes.com
Mine is on the way
I am SO happy. #77 in Heritage … now I can sleep.
I got #79!
#77 just arrived and has such a nasty, conspicuos fill that it has to be returned. I could cry!
William–I’m crying with you. There are still 29 available in Heritage, sandblast and rustic at https://www.thebackyshop.co.uk/search?search%5Bname%5D=Peterson+Pipe+of+the+Year . Kris Parry–proprietor–is a joy to deal with.
Hi Mark, sorry to bother you but I tried exectly that. Got an email back they currentley dont ship outside the UK.
No bother. Jorgen says he got his at Harris & Simmonds, UK. I found one just now on eBay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115137766597?hash=item1acebee4c5:g:I6IAAOSwYvthtQv6 . Sandblast. Same pipe on US eBay site: https://www.ebay.com/itm/115137766597?hash=item1acebee4c5:g:I6IAAOSwYvthtQv6 . $220 US.
Thanks for the info, but I checked h-s days ago and they have nothing new.
So I rechecked after I read your message & nope nothing new in stock.
Maybe Jorgen bought same them all ?
Martin, today 7 feb. I noticed that Black Swan Shoppe still have rustic and sandblast in stock.
Thanks Mark, I took the “hint” from you on Friday and I think that all will end well!
Setting the alarm too, but don’t think I’d sleep a wink in anticipation anyway!
Thanks for the heads-up, and great work behind the scenes Mark!
I’m gonna have to squeeze a nap in this afternoon! ?
Thanks for the info, and good hunting.
I am going for treatment at the hospital tomorrow before they are on and I think they are
sold out when I am back home. On the other hand, I am stocked up with 4s and 309 but an AB would be fine.
Many Thanks for the heads up Mark. It’s nothing I have interest in buying, but will have fun watching the spirited buying and scrambling by many to scoop one. My saying is “there’s ALWAYS another pipe” lol
Well, well, well… Looks like a late bedtime for me. Smoking Capstan Blue in my 313 Dark in anticipation of ordering it’s bigger brother.
Regrettably, I wasn’t able to grab a Heritage, they went faster than I could scroll. But, anticipation of the POY 2021 release, plus the thrill of the hunt, made the last few months rather exciting. I wound up selecting a rusticated, so I’m a happy piper. Thanks for your blog, it’s a great read for Peterson fans, and a great escape from the day to day.
Thanks, Wiz. I went for a Rustic as well. I always feel like I’m in the minority, but I think the rustication on these is actually rather awesome. 🙂
Dear Mark, you forgot to write “smoke this message after reading.” I have a question: should we use the “fold and stuff” method or the “rub it out” method?
David–updated as suggested! LOL. If you haven’t read post 166 (put “166.” in search box) go for it. Charles Peterson’s packing method is fantastic. It really works on the System pipe (no surprise, right?).
Will do.
Thank you for the notice and advice, Mark! I got the one I wanted.
Yea! Super cool, Rob.
I used the site’s search filter to find “fresh” bent billiards between $100 and $300. A minute before the drop there were 19 pipes available, none of them POYs. After a screen refresh there were 193 fresh pipes available. Twelve hours later there were 31, none of them POYs. So it appears that between 160 and 175 of the 500 were offered (and quickly sold) on the Smokingpipes US site, and at least 325 went to other vendors for sale. I just wanted one with a reasonably nice sandblast, to smoke and enjoy, and chose No.200/500 within a few minutes.
Glad you got one, Rob, and yeah, I just saw 2 this morning on eBay from retail tobacconists. I know Doug at Cargohold bought 3 and is going to sell 2 of those at his shop and keep the third for himself. I expect a lot of those 300 or so pipes will be showing up around the world in the next few weeks.
I just placed my order for rusticated #397/500. I shouldn’t be this excited for a pipe.
Brandon, this is WAYYYY past my bedtime. But I got up to watch the fun, and DANG if the rustic #451 didn’t start bobbing up and down on the screen. I thought I was hallucinating. Very strange. But now I see there’s an email from PayPal. And one from Smokingpipes… What the F***? I honestly had no idea how cool these rustics would be. “And all for the low, low price…”
I did not realize that stuff in your cart is not safe at Smokingpipes 🙁
So I lost my Heritage, but ended up with two consecutive number terracottas, so very happy. No Naturals – guess we gotta get up in five hours and head for Smokingpipes.EU 😉
And THE BOOK – You gotta get the book! (two for me, as one will be a Christmas gift).
Mark – much thanks for the great write-up and advanced warning!!!
I wonder why there were no naturals offered for sale…
Strange – guess they’ll all be at SP EU? Also thought it odd that the Heritage sold out so quickly – guessing people thought it was the one Rathbone smoked, but I’ve never seen a pre-wwii Peterson with that dark of a stain. I was hoping for a Natural, but doubt I’ll wake up early enough to get one from SP EU.
Good luck to those who try!
Hi Mark A BIG thank you for the heads-up earlier today with this post and the great overview #256 that cemented my purchase. I was able to secure a terracotta one and at 4pm local time (I’m in Australia) I didn’t even miss any sleep.
Thank you again and they look to be flying off the site!
I was getting excited at adding to my POTY collection but… US drop was 00:00 EST or 02:00 my time; by the time I got on to SPC only sandblast and rustic versions left. Sitting on SPEu for 10:00 GMT, They only had 1x heritage and 1x natural and a couple of terracotta (9mm filters…) and everything else was rustic or sandblast. The brown and natural had gone within seconds. Personally I am extremely disappointed with the way this POTY release was handled. With so much pre-release hype it should have been obvious that 300 with very few of the… Read more »
Me to I checked between 10:30&12:00 a clock and bam at around 12 they finialy pop up but only 4 rustic and 4 sandblast. My email at home says somthig of 27 pipes for today, but I dont see 27 at any given time on the site ?
Personally I am very disappointed this time.
Sorry to hear that, Martin. I know my friend Bob was on right when they hit the SPEu site and got a nice one, but he didn’t say how many they had.
Nuts. I missed this entry. I dutifully went to sleep a bit early last night so I could awaken at 4 am to hit the .eu site, then planned to check the .com site later in the morning for their release. At least I snagged a couple. An okay sandblast and a rusticated, but nothing particularly special.
Thank you so much, Mark! Snagged a terracotta with some bird’s eye and a nice sandblast. Happy with those. It was amazing watching the pipes disappear from the site at such speed. Picked up your new edition as well – can’t wait to read the interview!
By the way, there are a couple already on EBay …
Just received notification that I didn’t get the terracotta that I purchased. Very disappointed in this. There were a few terracottas left when I made the purchase (yes, SP took the money) and had I known, I could have picked another. Not at all happy about the way this has gone.
I heard from another friend who got a “double-order” cancellation. Makes me think there was something FUBAR with the programming, or that SPC got slammed too hard. I know this happens to Pipestud’s Consignment shops all the time. He’s even incorporated a routine “so sorry” thing when you try to buy from him…
Yeh, happens at Pipestud fairly often, judging by the apologies. SP, though, is a much bigger operation. Their site is excellent but their payment system isn’t up to it. No reason for that in this day and age …
Thank you so much for the heavy lifting on this and withstanding my many inquiries (I’m sure I wasn’t the only one).
I’m so happy to report that my PAD* couldn’t withstand the desire for something I’ve waited for about as long as a baby gestates. I bought #79 in the Heritage stain (my first) on layaway, something else I wouldn’t have known about until you pointed it out. As Christmas fast approaches, this was the linchpin that made it all work.
Thanks again for all you do to further promote our love of the ol’ Pete.
*Peterson Addiction Disorder
Congrats. I also didn’t know about layaway, or I might have gotten up in the wee hours to attempt grabbing a ‘Natural’ at SP EU. The prices on those were … Yikes!
Yeah, I noticed the natural price was way up from 2 year’s ago, when they were $300. I don’t know what they were last year–can’t remember & I didn’t score one on SPC–they were gone before I could decide!
The naturals last year were ~$320. It seems I recall that there were about 10 or so?
And…I’m pretty sure the “offline order” worked perfectly.
As far as I know, they did not do the whole “shiesty” “double-sold”..I’m sorry, go cry somewhere else.
I’m pretty sure I used “offline order” without issue, and those pipes had to sell nearly as quickly.
Yeah, that’s $130 less than this year’s! OMG. By the way, Swanne Shoppe (the Bakkyshoppe) has a dozen Heritage POYs and some of the blast and rustics today.
“SHIPMENTS OUTSIDE UK TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED” ?
Oh Yes they currently dont ship outside the UK .
Tried to make a purchase 3 days ago. Sadly they have what we want.
I looked last night and saw some. I’m about half glad they didn’t have a terracotta or, God forbid, a Natural *Angels Vocalizing* (What was that? Did you hear that?) my PPAD might have (female dog) slapped me into getting one?
“Hurt, the Hellish Angels Sing….” Christmas can be a very challenging season. I understand the Peterson Acquisition Disorder Christmas Help Line is now open 24/7. (I’ve already placed 6 calls. At $5.95 each, it’s a bargain. Saved hundreds of $ in therapy.)
Thanks Mark
Odd ‘cos I checked them when I couldn’t find any on SPC or SPEu on the day.
Fortunately I have a brother in Suffolk so another parcel on its way to address for safe keeping until I can get there from South America (I’ve lost count but amongst other things he’s already got several Petersons patiently waiting for me!)
Hope you can get home for Christmas, Andy. “Home is where the Petes are,” as the saying goes…
Well I’m home in Brazil for Christmas… ..and I’ve plenty of Pete’s here. Hopefully should make it to the UK sometime next year; mind you I said that last year, and the year before too…
…still, worrying about when I get to finally smoke my new pipes is very low on the list of problems caused by the Pandemic.
p.s. they still had 9 heritage 4AB’s left when I last checked.
I agree, things to be grateful for: home; Petes; not having COVID!!
Okay, I laughed when you changed the acronym to Peterson Addiction Disorder. That’s great! And you’re so welcome. This was great fun until the water ran out of the bathtub and the drain backed up on the orders…
Hate to have to mention this, but just got an email from Smoking Pipes saying one of my pipes had been double-sold. They have no pipes in reserve to address such situations. Of course, if I had known there was a chance that this would happen, I would have gotten up early for the Smoking Pipes EU drop, and grabbed another.
This isn’t the first SmokingPipes problem I’ve had, and it was addressed the same as the others: “We’re sorry” (i.e-“too bad, go away please”)
Exactly – I received the same. The customer service person was polite enough but that does little to help the disappointment. I suggested to her that perhaps in the future SP should consider setting aside a small number of pipes in case a particular pipe is double sold. At least the losing customer could be offered an alternative in such cases. As it is, I didn’t find out for almost 11 hours by which time they were long gone so no chance at another. I know the possibility of a double sale is there, but I also know (after 30… Read more »
I’m a retired programmer/analyst. I get that some outdated software does not lock items while in the cart, but as you know, once it hits the payment process, it’s absolutely locked. This looks like human intervention. I also asked the Customer rep about putting me on a list in case more become available, and he said, “Sorry, we have no mechanism for that.” Yes, you absolutely do! I won’t detail it, but it isn’t rocket science. SP just doesn’t care. They sell out everything they offer, so they aren’t worried about repeat customers. This is my second big SNAFU with… Read more »
You are absolutely correct, Scott. I was told someone purchased the one I purchased “just seconds” before I did. In computing, seconds are an eternity, so there was ample time to lock and notify. I’ve dealt with systems that handle far more critical items and we didn’t have this issue.
It is infuriating when this happens.We all have this hunting instinct and to have our prize snatched away at the moment of triumph is hard to take . Couple of yrs ago I bought a Limited Edition , a real grail pipe for me , and was elated. Next day came the email to say I had been beaten to it. I was most unhappy but had to accept defeat . A while later -Mark may recall this as I was replying to an email from him at that moment – they offered me the same pipe again . The… Read more »
“When it hits the payment process, it’s absolutely locked”.
Where does that process begin? In the past (several years ago) I lost several pipes that I had hit the “Pay” button and had begun typing in my card information and lost them by the time I finished.
William, my name is Steve, the Customer Service Manager at Smokingpipes. I’m sorry to hear about the frustrations you’ve had with purchasing your pipe. I’ll direct you to my response to Scott for more specifics, but I encourage you to email info@smokingpipes.com to Steve, and I will personally do everything I can to make this right for you.
In this day and age of computers, there should be absolutely no reason an item should be “double-sold”. Thinking about how things could go down, I can see a potential problem. Someone could add as many pipes as they could to their cart, then sort through them until they found the one they wanted. Hence screwing everybody else waiting.
I received the same email this morning at 6:14am Alaska Standard Time. My order for a Terracotta 100/500 was placed and confirmed at 8:07pm AST. There were still plenty of options left at this time if I was notified that this particular was not available any longer. Now there are none of these pipes available anywhere. There is a way to resolve this issue if they want to but they don’t seem to care to do so. They could fill the orders in the order that they were received until their are no more pipes available. Anyway, even though my… Read more »
That’s amazing – I also had terracotta 100/500! When I went to pay for it, it said it was no longer available. I went scrambling and managed to get another.
Very sorry to hear you missed out.
That’s too funny!! Wish I would have received the same notification as there were plenty left at the time and I could have easily purchased another one. I was monitoring these sales for at least three hours (since it was still early evening in AK) and I wasn’t notified of my double sale until 10 hours later.
Agreed, something stinks here real bad.
Christopher, Scott, and William–I’ve been on the road today but trying to monitor everyone’s comments. After last night’s fun, this morning was like waking up after a great party but with no hang-over, at least for the first two or three hours. But I’ve had three or four personal emails that describe your situations exactly–the “double order” cancelling thing and the having one pipe of the order cancelled thing. I don’t know that SPC monitors our comments, although they often read the blog, but I am writing the folks at Peterson and few connections at SPC to make sure SPC… Read more »
Thanks Mark. Both times when they F’d up with my orders, I called, asked questions, made suggestions. Both times, at some point, I got the response: “We don’t have the mechanism to do that.” That’s a big problem, as there is always a mechanism to right a wrong. If people ‘at the top’ heard that response, they’d freak out. This is a matter of training the front-line customer service people on how to say “Yes, we’ll fix that.” At SP, the answer is almost always “No, we don’t have the mechanism.” I know you don’t want to hear that, but… Read more »
Naw, I think it’s right for you to speak up. They just haven’t had a chance to respond yet.
Hi Mark, thanks for contacting SPC on behalf of everyone that got shafted with this debacle but unfortunately it won’t remedy what has already happened. If there order tracking system is inadequate to handle this type of selling frenzy then that is something they need to correct for the future. I do a lot of online ordering in Alaska and have never been denied an item when I have a confirmed order and the funds have been transferred. In mine and Scott’s sale it looks like this pipe had to be triple ordered (not sure what time Scott’s email confirmation… Read more »
But, I was able to purchase one of your new SH books on 12/2/21 and am really looking forward to receiving this.
Christopher, Please accept my apologies on behalf of Smokingpipes. As I mentioned in my response to Scott, this was a situation that we could and should have handled better. I encourage you to email us at info@smokingpipes.com, addressed to Steve, and I will personally do what I can to take care of this for you.
Hey Scott, my name is Steve, I’m the Customer Service Manager at Smokingpipes. I’m sorry to hear about the problems you had with trying to purchase your pipe. I know how frustrating it can be to miss out on such a special release, especially when you already felt that you had secured your purchase. I apologize sincerely for our error. I can assure you that no one from our company manually canceled your purchase. We do have systems in place that prevent duplicate orders, and they work very well in the overwhelming majority of cases. However in cases such as… Read more »
OMG what happend here. Me in person was very disappointed this year with the opening sale of the POTY . I was on my computer frequently and then the pipes pop up jippee, scroll down and I think WTF just 8 pipes , no luck for me this time. At home checked my email & read somthing about 27 pipes (if thats true). I was so often on site but never see twenty seven. You guys in the US have also problems I read double sold pipes and cancellations. I was so hyped up, put this was a joke marketing… Read more »
That email was a joke (in very poor taste). I’d been on earlier but thought I would follow the link (just in case they had added more…); when I clicked the link SPEu were showing ZERO pipes.
My personal opinion is SPC/SPEu made a right hash of this.
Hi Martin, Yes, Adam O’Neill at SPEu had 27 and that website would have had them up for about 1-3 minutes before the email got to you. So between, say, 10:12GMT and time you looked at home, they had sold down to 8. Did you order a pipe, or not? Here in the US the numbers dropped from 191 to 62 in about 24 minutes.
Hi Mark, No I didnt order a pipe, because I dont wont a rustic and a blasted 9mm.
I was looking for the real deal terracotta or naturale with stinger of curse.
Very strange opening sale of the POTY this time.
After the fact: So Mark, I actually stayed up to midnight to watch the fun. I was undecided about a purchase as I’ve spent a lot these past two months already, ( and I have yet to buy my Bride’s Christmas gift!). As promised, just past the stroke of midnight they appeared, like Sherlock himself out of a thick London fog. I actually went on and had one in my cart…but I couldn’t pull the trigger. Why??? Because I don’t like the pipe!! There is nothing, in my opinion that is attractive in this shape. OK, I know that there… Read more »
Totally get it, Marlowe. It’s a weird shape, right? But it’s always been my favorite. Hmmm. That says something about me that I’d rather not think about too hard. 🙂
Yeah, I had a blast at the “launch party” last night and was high on it this morning, until I began hearing about the glitches in checkout software that caused the cancelled orders. That was a bummer, but SPC is doing its best to get things sorted.
Hey Mark , nice to see you have a new book out . I have a copy of the 1st edition and will get this one too .
Alex, thanks! If that’s really the 1st, I know you’ll enjoy this one. It should have been marked “Advance Proof” with all the errors and mistakes it had in it when I brought it to the Chicago show. Happy Smokes & Enjoy!
ah no it’s the second edition I have . Got it on eBay I remember .
I think you’ll like the new one. It is as perfect as we can make it, and I don’t think we’ll print anymore. I want to move on to some new projects.
Oh dear! I didn’t hear about the glitches.
I tried but failed to buy one of the only two POY 21 available from Smokingpipes-eu. Both came in a rusticated finish and I would have preferred the sandblast, but hope springs eternal. I have also seen a ‘Peterson’ on ebay that puzzles me. It has ‘Shamrock’ on one side of the bowl and ‘a Peterson product’ above ‘made in the Republic of Ireland’ 221. All the stamps are upper case/ capitals. On the stem is the letter ‘S’ where I would expect the ‘P’ to be. It is a medium bent, well used, but I have never seen such… Read more »
These Shamrocks were good and cheap pipes with good grain but also with a fill or two.
I think I have five, the first one brought in the early 70ties for 70 Danish kroner,cheap at the time.
I agree with Jorgen, Richard. Inexpensive but great value. They really helped spread the Peterson word here in the US, because they were so plentiful. The originals from the late 1930s to late 1950s had a nickel band with a shamrock and the nickel mount marks. The one you’re talking about is the European-market version, which was first seen in 1945 in the K&P catalog. Fishtail only.
Richard , there are around 30 in 3 finishes at backyshop .co.uk if you look now
This year was very good for a Peterson lover like me. With beautiful engineered system pipes ,proper three step drilled reservoir´s and spot on stingers. PSB´s, X-Mas, Helloween,heritage finishes. A real raise in quality under Laudisi my personal opinion.
And for me this year POTY was the cream of the crop. But all this glitsches, cancellation,
doubel sold pipes leaves a bitter taste. My dream Pipe to end this year unverfilled.
At least I want to say thank you Mark for the awesome platform & storys you provide here.
Martin, did you have a problem ordering a POY? If you did, Steven at SPC wants to talk to you. His email is here in these comments. Please write him. And thanks for the compliments. I really enjoy sharing Peterson with you.
The one sandblast I did manage to get showed up today and it is absolutely wonderful. Feels great in the hand, the blast is very near PSB quality and the stem is amazing. Overall, it is classic Peterson. So very glad to have it. By the way, Mark, mine is stamped with 2021 in addition to the other markings.
I did have a lengthy email conversation with Steve, SP’s customer service head, about the purchasing issue I and others had and I believe he and SP are sincerely committed to preventing these type of issues in the future.
William! I thought those sandblasts were very classy, and in speaking with Peterson, even they say there’s sometimes a very fine line between the sandblast and the PSB blast. And I’m really glad SPC is taking care of everyone who was disappointed with cancelled orders. I know I’m prejudiced when I say this, but I honestly think they are 100% devoted to their customer’s satisfaction.
Yes, I think you are correct about their commitment to customer service. This was a bump in the road but hopefully it’s smooth sailing going forward.
I can only hope that there is a possibility the 4AB will stay in the lineup as a regular offering, particularly after all the work was done to create such a close replica. It would seem quite the shame for it to disappear again. I know I would purchase several, that’s how good they are.
Well, I bought a sandblast before i went to the hospital: When home again my pipe was sold to someone else: I could have my money back or another pipe. I took a sandblast
Premier shape 313, not all the same same pipe but it smelled a little of bird.
The next day Harrison & Simmonds had some so I bought a Heritage.
After a long wait both pipes arrived today with half an hour between.
The poy looks like pearwood but the shape is fine.