The 24th annual St. Patrick’s Day commemorative will debut Wednesday at Smokingpipes.com. This year’s pipe returns to a classic F/T nickel army mount, this time around with in-house chocolate rustication, the obligatory SPD green stem and an SPD leather pipe rest. As this year’s release includes a number of rare and consequently exciting shapes, you may want to plan on keeping an eye on your email for the drop time or hire a surveillance team. Usually these drops happen in mid-morning here in Texas, so calibrate according to your time zone.
For the first time in several years, Pete Geeks will be treated to a number of rare and fascinating shapes in an annual commemorative issue, including a quartet from the Sherlock Holmes series (the Watson/XL17, the Original/XL11, the Baker Street XL13 and the Deerstalker/XL14):
XL17 / Watson
XL11 / The Original
XL13 / Baker Street
XL14 / Deerstalker
There will also be two shapes from the D group, the D6 from the original Danish shapes of the 1990s and the D20 from the POY 2016 (which was most recently featured in the Nassau Street Trinity Fox small batch):
D6
D20
Expect the D shapes and the Sherlock Holmes shapes to be in very limited numbers. They’ll go fast enough that you may not even see one! (Just sayin’.)
Other rarely-seen shapes in this year’s SPD include the B42 (Darwin), 124, 104 and 102. And notice the great Irish bends on the 124 and 104:
B42 / Darwin
124 (the original churchwarden shape)
104
I gotta say that I love the very Irish touch of the slightly bent stem. It knocks me out and should also making clenching just a wee bit more comfortable.
102
This year’s standard lineup, incredibly, includes another 21 shapes: 01, 03, 05, 65, 68, 69, 80s, 86, 106, 120 (not shown), 150, 221, 230, 304, 338, 606, 608, 999, X105, X220, XL02, XL90:
01
03
05
65
68
69
80s
86
106
150
221
230
304
338
606
608
X105
X220
XL02 Fat Bottom
XL90
So it’s quite a selection–the largest number of shapes ever assembled for the SPD, unless I’m much mistaken. Of course that means that there’s a greater chance you’ll find the exact shape in the exact rustication to suit you (and more on K&P’s rustication in a few weeks). I try not to look at any single one of them too much or my fingers will stray to the keyboard on the day and I’ll find several of these in my basket. Right now (can you tell?) I’m obsessing a bit about the little 221:
Certainly an unmanly thing for me to say, but it’s just too cute. It’s a shape that goes back to the Patent era, originating as the 20 and now seen as the 20s Deluxe and the 314 Systems (neither of which are easy to find by the way). It should be perfect for mornings with a cuppa or short smoke with a stout flake, or. . . . there I go again.
On to stamps. I believe we’re looking at a new kind of stamping here, but I haven’t heard back from K&P yet. The stroke across the “t” in “Peterson” looks higher than it used to look, doesn’t it? And the “OF DUBLIN” as well as “ST. PATRICK’S over DAY 2022” look like they’re all part of one stamp. It’s gorgeous. I love the deep serifs and bold strokes of each letter.
Finally, for those of you who (like me) have difficulty smoking an army mount, there is a pipeman’s hack I’ve been working on. While I suspect most pipe smokers don’t have any trouble with this type of pipe (or K&P wouldn’t make them), the gap between tenon and mortise and the fishtail with its straight-bore airway give me heat and turbulence problems. My preferences run to tobaccos with high sugar content anyway,which in combination with my pH can give me third degree tongue burns if I’m not careful. In consultation with my engineering guru Prof. Schantz, I’ve begun chamfering army mount acrylic F/T stems. It’s not a difficult DIY and I’ve reaped the benefits on my army mount Christmas 2019 304. I still have to be careful of my cadence, but with a smaller bowl this seems to work pretty well for me.
Many thanks to Josh Burgess, Kaz Walters, Andy Wike and Glen Whelan
at Peterson and Laudisi for your help with this post.
I love the green stem on the three in the last photo, a trick of lighting or color manipulation? The actual stem colors of the others don’t really do it for me. Lucky for me these are rusticated pipes this year, not a fan at all, I can save my P.A.D. money for something else.
Agreed. While I’m impressed with the shape range, these just don’t do it for me. ?
Lighting / digital darkroom on the electronic strutcard and my photo as well. I was just playing around, though (hmmm… that’s kinda what I do, I guess). The real color is seen in the individual photos.
No P-Lip, no sale! I don’t understand why Peterson can’t figure out how to injection mold the acrylic stems with the P-Lip integral to the mold. If they don’t want the machinery, I’m sure there is some company in the world that would like to have their business.
I am glad to see that they stopped painting the bowls green.
I hardly agree, about the P-lip and the color of the bowl, but an interesting range anyway 🙂
Stephen, the only P-Lips in acrylic so far have been on the Systems–as I’m sure you know. K&P outsources their stems, and has since they lost their bowl turning facility in the big Pipe-Ockopolyse of the mid 1980s. They were lucky to survive the world crash, going from 100+ employees to just 20. But they survived. They are working on stems across all the lines, but I’m told it’s a lengthy design and execution process.
The other problem with the plip unfortunately is Peterson’s experience with the plip on special edition pipes is that the potential clientele pool shrinks rather drastically simply because, contrary to a lot of us Pete geeks, and I identify myself as one, the potential customer for a special edition like the Christmas Pipe or the St. Pats pipe is often put off by the p lip. Lets face it the plip is an acquired taste among pipe smokers, most of whom prefer the fishtail, a rather crass commercial analysis but I am afraid it is a true one.
Nothing crass about it, Doug. I agree 100%. The P-Lip folk are a minority, probably even among Peterson lovers. I think it has always gone with the turf. Charles Peterson established the business with his new-fangled patent, but not long after his death the company knew it had to complete with the traditional button brigade, and there for awhile during the Dublin era I was afraid the P-Lip might just become a “monument.” And it did, practically, when they pulled the plug on most of their vulcanite P-Lip stems. But things have turned around a bit now, with Laudisi willing… Read more »
I was, at first, hesitant to post a critical comment, not wanting a midnight raid from the Peterson thought police, but I, too, shall not be bidding for on of these SPD pipes. Like John and Chris, neither the green stem nor the rusticated finish do much for me while, like Stephen, any purchase would depend on there being a P-lip. For me, one of the primary requirements for a Peterson is that lip. I do own fishtail Petes, such as the Christmas 2021, but I bought that because it was the only one offered. I can see the business… Read more »
Richard, no Orwellian “Thought Police” among the ranks of the Pete Geeks that I know of. We are broad church and rarely raise our voices unless we’re asking for another pint. That being said, there is a broad demographic to consider as a pipe factory, isn’t there? While my preferences run to Systems and vulcanite, I have bought various Peterson collections and individual pipes that I’m glad I own that were fishtail or acrylic. I even bought the Halloween System this year. But if you look at the last post, there are so many new releases every year that it’s… Read more »
I really like the generous choice of shapes (especially the rare shapes) that Peterson has offered thus year. As I don’t have a SPD yet I am especially intrigued by the 124. I may have to see if I can acquire one of these but I have a feeling there aren’t going big to be many of these shapes available.
The green stems on the last photo look`s amazig. I dont have a spd pipe yet, so maybe a D20 at last.
I’m with Martin! I haven’t gone the SPD route, but love the D20 in all its incarnations.
Of course, P-lip and system should be the default for any Peterson, but there’s still a long tradition of Petes sans patents.
Like Mark and John, I’m happy to partake in a little DIY too, and thereby make these pipes even better smokers. One thing I do in addition to the chamfer is open up the fishtail a bit to make it a deeper ‘vee’. I find this also keeps the airway smooth and open, though requiring an easier, lighter breath.
Lee, this is a good idea. I’m going to give it a try. I have one of those little slot files from Vermont Freehand…
I love the new nomenclature stamp, well done. Great tip on the military bit chamfering, I’ll have to give that a try (although I experience no heat or turbulence issues with my primarily English blends), well, just because it looks cool!
Thanks, Al. It’s a fun DIY and make even heighten the flavor profile of your favorite English blends, who knows?
I’m liking the 221 as well. I have a 20s from ’87 I believe and a 314. Both came to me like new and are amazing smokers. (Amazing to me how someone buys a pipe, especially a deluxe and it sits for over 30 years unsmoked. I thought the bowl would be to small (after having my 302 for so long) but it’s larger than it appears and they smoke so wonderfully I don’t mind refilling.
Ay carumba! I’ve been looking for a 314 Rustic System P-Lip all day. There is Nary A One to be found!!
I’ll email you if I see any. I found mine when not really looking. It just popped up at a good price and I grabbed it on a whim. Now it’s one of my favorites.
Thanks, Alex!
Hey Mark I am not at my store right now but I think I have got a 314 rustic system in stock. We try to keep at least one or two of all the system finishes and shapes in stock continuously. If you like I will contact you tomorrow once I am at the store
Love the brighter green stems on these. Not familiar with the 104 shape though. What’s the story on this shape?
I really like the brighter green in the group photos too but the individual pipe photos look like it’s the same green as last year. I wish the green stems had the P trademark.
Yes, the brighter green is cool. But it’s a Photoshop or RGB illusion. The color is really very like what you see in the individual pipe photos.
Still looks brighter than last year’s. Incredible designing this go around, regardless.
Daniel, the 100 shape group dates to the 1906 catalog. I suspect K&P found a box of the 104 stummels somewhere and said, “Hey, let’s make up these smaller straight billiards!” It’s been awhile since I’ve seen them, and I suspect (since these are rusticated) that when they’re gone, they’re gone. There’s already a bit of redundancy with the X105 and 106, and I can see having a really small one like the 101 and the 102, but both?
Gotcha. Thanks for the education ?
Mark, So how does the size of the 104 compare to the other small straight billiards? More specifically, one of my favorite shapes is the old 31 (my first was a SPD 2018). I find the 15 to be very close. I recently acquired an Irish Made Army 102, which is close but slightly larger, and I wouldn’t want anything bigger or heavier than that 102. I do like the slight bend in the 104. I only hope they didn’t go overboard with it, as they did (in my opinion) on the new 701 small tankard. Second question: are they… Read more »
Thanks for the article as always! I’ll be snagging a 68 and a 124.
I’m liking the rustication on these, far more attractive than the golf ball look on the Christmas pipes. Looking forward to the article on rustication, that should be interesting.
I have always liked the D6 shape. I like a stem bent anywhere from 1/8 to 3/4 but coloured or opaque stems have never appealed to me for some reason. Nothing here to tempt me but I appreciate the information.
Hey Mark; I love the army mounts but I have exactly the same problem that you have, the turbulence issue causes a lot of moisture to build up and the resulting gurgle is not pleasant, requires constant pipe cleaner applications. Your chamfering looks intriguing but I am afraid to fiddle too much. Any helpful hints on that would be appreciated.
This is something I do quite frequently. I use a basic 1/2″ countersink bit, place it in the end of the tenon airway, and spin it by hand. That way, I’m able to go slow, keep control over how deep and wide I want to go, and avoid any of the flyaways. Pretty simple and easy mod ?
Thanks, Daniel! I received a pin vise for Christmas and am anxious to try it instead of my variable-speed drill and see if I can avoid the heat-flyaway the fast spin produces on the acrylic.
Hi Mark,
A much better tool than a pin vise to hold a big counter sink bit is an old drill chuck. It allows you to apply more pressure, torque and control. Just take one off a old broken power drill.
Tom
I started buying the SPD since I started smoking a pipe. I love to see what Peterson dies with them every year and have never been disappointed with the pipes. I am especially excited that they included some of the Sherlock shapes and will probably be getting one of those this year..
As of 2:30 p.m. US Central on Tuesday, 18 January, six of the SPD models, including the D6, are already showing sold out on the Laudisi corporate site. I assume the company has taken early phone orders, with the result that some stock won’t even make the SPDC web drop.
Could be! On the other hand, I think Laudisi allots a % of pipes to their retailers and to their own SPC and SPEu. Could be totally off base here, but I think that’s how they operate.
Thanks, Mark. You’re right that I was assuming it was all the same inventory, which might be a jump.
As much of an old fuddy-duddy as I am, it just doesn’t make sense that I LOVE THESE GREEN COLOUR STEMS! I even fuss at cumberland stems that aren’t the brownish look. Always black stems for me, but the GREEN just is doggone GREAT! No matter – FT or Plip. And, I wonder about the rustication – didn’t we see that one craftsman in the factory that produces this work? My gosh, it’s great – and gnarly! But he must have been working on these 24/7 for the last 6 months to make as many as Peterson will sell! Overtime… Read more »
Linwood, I hear the Fellowship of Gnarly Briars is now requiring ALL its members to acquire one of the Blaszczak Brothers’ rusticated Petes, whether in the SPD, Christmas, SH or POY. Is that true? I can certainly see why. Micoli is probably looking down from Pipe Heaven with a beatific smile. There are actually 2 craftsmen, brothers, who do this work. I have interviewed them and will post that interview in just a few weeks’ time.
It’s just after midnight, US Eastern, and they’re on-sale now at SPC. They posted about 600 of them.
David, yes, this surprised me. I woke up around 1:30 and thought to look. I guess this is going to be “a thing” when the new pipes drop now. They were down about 100 pipes by the time I saw the email.
I managed to get a 104 before they disappeared. I wasn’t expecting the midnight release, but was up reading late and realized the time, so I checked the site. Glad I did. The D shapes went really fast, though I wasn’t looking to buy one.
Well…. I snagged a Darwin AND the D20. I could have easily added the D6 and I could have easily added a few more to the cart! Thanks for the post Mark! Something tells me this is going to be another year of cool shapes!
Now your Trinity Fox has a friend to talk tobaccos with! And the Darwin.. yes!
So Mark, the pipes dropped. What did you decide on? I picked up my favorite 606 and snagged one of the D20. As a SPD collector I couldn’t resist the unique shape and collectibility.
I’m glad you got the D20! And that 606 is a fantastic pot–I’m so glad K&P brought it back. I love that 221, but Doug helped me out with the System version, which leaves the massive and gnarly XL17 / Watson as my runner-up. It’s simply so HUGE so NODOSE so LUMPIFIED. Just have to decide which, there’s lots of variety still available…
Sadly no D20 shape on SPEu, but I got my beloved B42 for the Piperack.
Reminds me of an old Southern joke: it is a trick – there are two of them!
More B10, B42 and 124 SPD pipes just added @ SP …