THIS JUST IN: This Friday, JUNE 10th, 2022, at 10am Dublin time (that’s 4am CDT, 5am EDT), Smokingpipes.Eu will be releasing their third Nassau Street special edition, the Ulysses.
An extraordinary special release for System geeks, the Ulysses is a 9B (that’s right, tapered) Deluxe PSB in an edition of only 25 numbered pipes. Only a handful of 9Bs have been released a few years ago now, a couple in Italy and a couple at SPC. Before that, the B version was deleted by the mid-1950s and even then wasn’t seen in any numbers all the way back to the Patent and IFS eras.
Adam O’Neill, Marketing Manager and orchestrator of the Nassau project, writes, “While the actual centenary of James Joyce’s seminal novel was on the 2nd of February earlier this year — exactly 100 years after publication by Sylvia Beach’s Shakespeare and Company in Paris, France — most celebrations are being held on the 16th of June, a day known to some as Bloomsday, and the day the meandering and circuitous events of Ulysses take place.
“Celebrating the centenary of this simultaneously lauded and condemned masterpiece, we’ve partnered again with Peterson to release the third installment of our exclusive Nassau line, this time in honour of Joyce’s accomplishment — the Ulysses [the second was last year’s Trinity Fox]. Taking the historic 9 Bent Billiard and pairing it to a wear-gapped tapered stem and broad silver mount— a combination known as the 9B — it’s finished in a PSB grade sandblast and a warm brown stain.
“When we were talking about what to do for the Ulysses the 9 shape seemed a natural choice. Ulysses was set (though not written) in 1904, so the timing is about right, give or take a decade. We also knew a PSB was the way to go, as it evokes the straw hats that Joyce wore and are quite popular at Bloomsday celebrations. To that end we considered a natural finish, but we’d already done that for the first Nassau release, so wanted something a little different. As for fittings, to me the wear-gapped mount and stem of the 9B was the only choice, as I felt it reflected Leopold Bloom’s character — a man apart, destined to be an outsider despite living and working beside his peers and neighbours his whole life.”
Keep a lid on it (the 1906 Hinge Cover 9B)!
Thanks to Adam O’Neill for
the advance intel, great banner & Ulysses 9B photos!
As you can guess, I will make sure I am awake for this ! I like how the past year has shaped a second “author” series with the bard and Dracula releases 🙂
I wonder if the Edgar Allen Poe special will be an Ebony 408 Spigot. It’s sort of fun to look through the shape and style chart and imagine what could be. The variety is almost endless. The 9B in the illustrations here is an amazingly sinuous shape given it’s apparent mass. The blast on this one is every pipe smokers dream. Thanks for the sneak preview. My recently acquired Dracula is a fine smoker that actually got unsolicited positive comments by total strangers.
OMYGODOMYGODOMYGOD!
IT IS THE GRAIL!!! (one of them).
Ralle, I think that Jan could use a drawing for Røkringar !
Jorgen. Tell him to contact me and we can se what he wants : rallehast@hotmail.com
Jeg har givet Jan besked.
Price?
Find it… the price is €225.
Nice blast on that one. I love the shape and the tapered space fitting silver mount. I wish they would try some other contrast color combinations though. These stummels look like they could be the “culls” (but nicely grained for sandblasts) from the 9BC tribute POY run? Peterson is definitely giving their new sandblaster a workout lately. They are hard at work emptying their warehoused bins of rough stummels too. Good business practices like this will keep them making pipes for another 150+ years. Better for the environment too, they don’t have to harvest as much briar and the rough… Read more »
Looking forward to joining the madness of trying to score one of these.
So to confess how retro my world view is, when I saw Mark’s email in my inbox I immediately thought “now why would Peterson be celebrating Homer?”. The joke is obviously on me although I will tell you I read both Homer and Joyce in college and I must say Homer was much easier to understand. So Mark, any idea as to the price of this one?
I just saw the price at 225 Euros, remarkably inexpensive for such a first class and limited number.
Maybe someone mentioned this and I’m not seeing it,
But Friday is June 10, not 9. So is this a Thursday drop?
Sorry Scott. It’s the 10th. Just checked.
Bummer – overslept. Hope those who wanted one were successful!
I think that I prefer the graceful taper and shape of stem on the 1906 version. But perhaps with the rugged PSB blast, the more bulbous modern version of the stem is a good fit. All 25 sold in 10 minutes.
Fascinating. This is certainly my favorite of the 3 Nassau releases thus far. Did you get one?
I did!
I’m wondering if these are vintage 9B bowls or the newly 9B inspired bowl from the previous POY? Everything about this pipe is right up my alley. I woke bright and early for a chance to snag one as I could tell these are really special and with only 25 made something to go for. I feel blessed to have snagged no. 4 and I can’t wait to see it in person.
Jason, I’m making inquiries. They certainly look like they could be. So AWESOME that you scored one!!!
Hi Mark! My name is Austin, I’m a pipe maker for Peterson. Apologies for posting randomly on this post but I need your expertise! As per usual, I was browsing eBay for Pete’s, and snagged an interesting one from France, which series I’ve never heard of, and was wondering if you might know anything about it. It’s stamped Peterson’s Wizard, the COM is Made in the Republic of Ireland, and it’s faint, but I think the shape stamp is an O2 or 02, I’m not sure. It’s a chubby billiard, not big, only 5inches in length, but I can’t seem… Read more »
Austin, I’m responding here as well as in our email correspondence in case anyone else has a WIZARD or knows of this line!
It’s surprising that while the pipe is stamped with “Nassau 9B” and pipe number, there is no place I can find where it is marked “Ulysses”. I had assumed that like the Sherlock Holmes series, the moniker would be stamped. Not a big deal, but surprising to me. I had a bit of an adventure with the shipping of my pipe. No fault at all on the part of Smokingpipes.eu.The box was sufficiently large and sturdy, and as we know, the boxes used for Peterson pipes are also fairly stout. However, I was nervous opening the parcel containing my Ulysses.… Read more »
I responded to the wrong comment from you, but let me say again THAT PIPE IS AWESOME. There. I feel better.