You are currently viewing 368. The XL5BC / CPG Pipe of the Year 2023 Celebration

368. The XL5BC / CPG Pipe of the Year 2023 Celebration

Many thanks to all who participated in this year’s Pete Geek Pipe of the Year event. The time spent developing an idea then seeing it pass through the stages of development and come to fruition is considerable and I hope you’ll join me in thanking pretty much everyone at Kapp & Peterson for the spectacular job they’ve done.

I’m always so impressed with the photograph skills of our community, and as always, delighted to share with everyone what has been sent. There’s still plenty of time, of course, to submit a photo of your CPG pipe for this year’s merit badge.

If you’re on the WAIT LIST–
drop codes will be sent out Monday or Tuesday for the remaining pipes
at both SPC and SPE!

 

JOE MARTI

 

RAPHAËL FOESSER

 

 

DIXON SMITH

Congratulations, old boy!  Despite the leprechauns who rendered “Pipe Notes” as “Pipenotes” and insisted on labelling the XL5BC an XL5S, Mr. Holmes’ legendary pipe is properly stamped and its history fully documented.  I received my copy, No. 68, today, and I’m almost as delighted with A Chat with the Smoker as I am with the pipe itself.  I’m so glad you included “The Case of Sherlock Holmes and the XL5BC” in the leaflet.  When the next revision of the Bibliography of the Writings About the Writings is published, one important essay will be missing, but you and I and a few others know where to find proof that the historic meeting between the Great Detective and the “famous Russian of Dublin” did indeed take place.*  And when the translation of the Latvian biography of Charles Peterson is published, I fear that there will be no mention of that meeting, but all we have to do is to reach for our copy of A Chat with the Smoker, for there it will be, hidden in plain sight.

 

JEFF ULRICH

 

STUART WHELAN

Well my PPN POY arrived yesterday on Halloween (our time Down Under) and it was a bit “gnarlier” than I expected so I have called it “The Beastie”.

 

SCOTT LLOYD

 

JASON CANADY

#114 has a nice craggy blast and I love it. It’s like an ancient tree full of wisdom and stories to tell. The finish on this pipe is great and I especially love it’s a System.

 

 

ROLAND DOLL

 

 

MARK HUNT (aka NEVADITUDE)

 

DENNIS RICHARDS

Here is my PPN pipe 2023. I think they did a great job on this pipe. Going to dedicate this pipe to my grandpa James Sullivan who gave me my appreciation of Peterson Pipes through his stories of Ireland and the wee people. Big adventures to a six year old!

 

MIKE AUSTIN

 

GARY HANSEN

 

CHRIS LAUER

 

WALT MOULTRIE

My CPG PoY 2023 (10/130) has arrived and I’m happy to report it is both a terrific smoker and has some quite nice looking grain.  I think your choice of stain was quite a success, it is certainly reminiscent of tree bark and adds a pleasant rustic-ness to the pipe.  I also discovered that the stem is practically identical to those used on this year’s 9B revival release (which to my knowledge was not offered with the option of a filter) and can be used interchangeably.  A little extra utility for those of us that enjoy filters but not exclusively; four pipes for the price of two.

 

TOM CUFFE

 

JAMES BOURGAULT

 

LEE SKIVER

 

JON UMPHERVILLE

She made her way to the (now) frozen North yesterday and I immediately rubbed out and dried some of my home stoved Luxury Bullseye Flake for her maiden voyage. I love it, it is amazing and the blast is gorgeous when looked at up close, seeing the little swirls of what is now sandblasted Birdseye. I got 84 of 130, one digit off my birth year. Absolutely love the pipe, this is one Pete Geek who won’t be letting it sit on a shelf for a year to flip for a profit on eBay that is for sure.

 

MARK IRWIN

 

MICHAEL MIKROPOULOS

 

ERIK RYNDERS

 

 

Banner by Jason Canady
Background painting for Mark Irwin photo
“Easter Morning–Gethsemane–Ground Zero”
painting by Leslie Irwin (collection of Mark Irwin)

 

* While the “Chat” article wasn’t meant to confuse, I realized afterwards that there are scores of SH fans who don’t know about the “Writings About the Writings,” which must have left them scratching their heads.  To make a long story short, “The adventures of Sherlock Holmes have inspired a vast body of literature dedicated to the proposition that the Great Detective was not a mere work of fiction, but an actual historical person. Since the 1920s these “writings about The Writings” have contributed fascinating new insights into the stories, enhancing the pleasure of reading them. You can get a good start on this by a quick glance at the Gasogene Books website, then pick up any number of additional volumes, as there are lots of famous (and not so famous) writers who’ve contributed, from Christopher Morley to the Baring-Gould and Klinger Annotated SH sets to books like Zach Dundas’s compelling The Great Detective. As this is exactly the kind of thing we encounter in postmodern novelist Thomas Pynchon’s work (I wrote my dissertation on him) and you’ll encounter in my novel The X Pipe when it debuts, I hope you’ll delve into it a bit. “The game,” as Holmes said to Watson, “is afoot!”

 

You might
want to take a look
at this:
RUA DELUXE
(a fellow Pete Geek tells me Tuesday is the drop)

 

Pete Geek Zippo?

Jon Umpherville is looking for a Pete Geek Zippo. If you’ve got a spare & are interested in parting with it, please contact him at iconoclast85@gmail.com

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Nevaditude
Nevaditude
11 months ago

Great looking pipes! I will run through them again, there are some real beauties shown.
Mark, speaking of beautiful, I love the powerful background pic. I am so glad so many shared the pipes, I don’t see a dud in the entire group! I say well done Peterson of Dublin AND thank you for doing what you all do so well. Pete Geeks love that about y’all.

Nevaditude
Nevaditude
11 months ago
Reply to  Mark Irwin

Don’t it though? ??

Christopher Lauer
Christopher Lauer
11 months ago

I second what Nevaditude said!! A huge thanks to Mark, K&P and Laudisi for making this PPN a huge success.

Martin
Martin
11 months ago

Nice Pictures Indeed.

Harald Stoe.
Harald Stoe.
11 months ago

I am waiting for my pipe, which is on it’s way to me. And seeing all these wonderful photos is not really a solice 😉

Redcoat’s Return
11 months ago

Wonderful Pipes of The Year…I was tempted but went for the Christmas pipe this year. Somehow that gap on the stem…is not my thing…I like smooth connected curves…on many things…?? I’ll look for the Rua Deluxe anyway..?

Gary Hamilton
Gary Hamilton
11 months ago

I completely get it. I’m in the same camp, as I cannot visually get past the “disconnect” in the flowing lines between shank and stem when you get to the dreaded “gap”. Probably a good thing for me or I’d have way more pipes in the rack than I do. They are still very nice pipes though, just not my cup of tea.

Disgruntled Local
Disgruntled Local
11 months ago

Good lookin’ run of pipes, congrats to the owners

bbjs62
bbjs62
11 months ago

Very nice pictures indeed !!
Congrats to all CPG:s and a big thanks to Mark for all efforts.
Sorry to say my PPN XL5BC gone MIA… not seen since UPS made their pickup in Dublin almost two weeks ago.
Meanwhile I managed to pick up three excellent Kapets, two pre-republic (02 and 69) and one early republic 417. Karma maybe.

Nevaditude
Nevaditude
11 months ago
Reply to  bbjs62

Be encouraged in that the same thing has happened to me a few times. Most recently was the Jekyll / Hyde. It took a long time and was MIA in Ireland for 2 weeks, when suddenly it appeared arriving in NYC the same day after I emailed Federica in Dublin. She said most likely ‘delayed’ and then it started moving again. It was stationary somewhere in Eire for a while, then was westward bound. It has always arrived, now having sent pipes bak the other way…well, they languished in customs for 6 weeks until sent back. Peterson never even saw… Read more »

Walt Moultrie
Walt Moultrie
11 months ago
Reply to  Nevaditude

FYSA I’ve learned the hard way that when sending from the US to Ireland your shipment will be held pending payment of customs charges (you will not always be notified of this) and returned if not paid. If you are returning an item purchased in Ireland (for example from SPE) you can have the import fees waived by contacting An Post and providing them a copy of the original receipt.

Nevaditude
Nevaditude
11 months ago
Reply to  Walt Moultrie

Many thanks!

bbjs62
bbjs62
11 months ago
Reply to  Nevaditude

Thanks, keep my fingers crossed.
Yeah UPS in Europe are random, usually my SPE parcels go Dublin-France-Germany-Sweden… many times faster to order through SPC and USPS even that it has to go over the pond. This time UPS lost track of it.
Logistics mysteries.

Last edited 11 months ago by bbjs62
Scott
Scott
11 months ago

Great looking pipes. Thank you Mark and all involved.

Gary Hamilton
Gary Hamilton
11 months ago

Beautiful pipes fellow Geeks! And a big round of applause to Mark & Peterson for creating this wonderful addition to the System line!

Chuck P
Chuck P
11 months ago

Can we please know how many POTYs are left? Pretty please? Just as a teaser.
Also, Rua won’t be the only finish offered right? Not sure I like the tomato red hue personally ?

Andy Camire
Andy Camire
11 months ago

What a wonderful choice y’all made in choosing this shape for this year’s CPG POY. Peterson surely did a bang up job of sandblasting each and every one and the stem is such a perfect match. Thanks for everyone sharing their photos, it’s a delight to see the many faces and great pipes. And Mark, the chapeau is really stylin’. My Dad wore a Borsalino daily which looks a lot like the one you are sporting. Cheers to all.

Warren Paige Simms
Warren Paige Simms
11 months ago

How is this different than a XL315?

Trent
Trent
11 months ago

The XL5 is the Deluxe version of the XL305/XL315. As such it comes with a wear-gap stem (in this case the short tapered BC) with chimney/tenon extension, and silver band. The stain and finish used on this XL5BC are not available on any other System pipe. There may also be a difference in bowl grading, but I’m not sure about that.

Lvacgar
Lvacgar
11 months ago

Is the Rua Deluxe mentioned above the same “Deluxe Anniversary” pipe you teased at the end of post #367?

Paul Combs
Paul Combs
11 months ago

Great post and great pictures – thanks all for sharing! Mark, dig the yellow tint on the lenses. Around here, that is for night skiing. ?

Jonathan Umpherville
Jonathan Umpherville
11 months ago

Mark A big thank you is owed to you and the people involved in making this happen, from the design team to the factory workers to folks involved in shipping the pipes out and everyone in between. I keep thinking I should smoke my beloved English blends in this pipe, but I am unsure so for now Virginias it is… for now. I’ll always regret missing out on the first CPG pipe but this one is a beauty and smokes like a dream, it is never going anywhere. And Mark, an extra thank you for posting up that I am… Read more »

Last edited 11 months ago by Jonathan Umpherville
Walt Moultrie
Walt Moultrie
11 months ago

All excellent looking pipes. Many thanks to Mark and to the folks at K&P for making this possible, it is very much appreciated.