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Public Service Announcement

The 10^th Anniversary PPN Pipe of the Year is going into production this week and should be ready for purchase in early November.  The Google sign-up form will be available as soon as I receive the samples and put up photos for your consideration.  A Google form for the matching Zippo Sterling Armor lighter will be posted simultaneously.

THE 2024 HALLOWEEN PIPES ARE ALMOST HERE

by D. H. Billings

Hundreds of years before a particular Nazarene taught us how the poor and the meek are blessed—and even before the Celts first came to the small island just west of Britannia—ancient pagans gathered each fall for a festival (Smith, 2020). They gathered together to mark the end of the summer, the beginning of the “Dark Days” (Moody, 2023), and to celebrate the harvest (Smith, 2020). This festival began around October 31, lasted three days, and was called Samhain (pronounced “Sow-in”) (History, 2023).

As the millenia progressed and as the Celts arrived in Ireland, the beliefs and rituals surrounding Samhain evolved. The Celts believed that during the time of this festival, the veil between the physical and spiritual realms was lifted (Smith, 2020); and as they feared that the Faeries who would cross over into our realm would take their children into the spiritual realm, they built great bonfires to keep these spirits away. They also disguised their children so that any of the Faeries who did come around would not recognize them as being human (Moody, 2023). As Christianity spread across Ireland, the Catholic Church moved the holiday of All Saints Day (also called All Hallows Day, their celebration for those who had passed on) from May 13 to November 1. This effort of syncretism ended up merging traditions from the two holidays together, effectively creating something new (Smith, 2020).

The fishtails create a great aesthetic, which, in combination with specific
bowls and stem bends, add a great Gothic touch

By the time the 15th century rolled around, many of the traditions we now associate with All Hallows Eve had started to emerge (Smith, 2020). People carved lanterns out of turnips in order to keep Jack of the Lantern (a deplorable soul believed to steal from the living) away, and the practice of trick or treating had begun in an effort by the Catholic Church to encourage people to share their food with the poor and less fortunate (Moody, 2023).

Of course, as time continued to progress, things continued to evolve. All Hallows Eve became known as Halloween, turnips were replaced with pumpkins, disguises turned into fun costumes, and feeding the poor was transformed into passing out candy (hopefully Reese’s). On top of that, most of the religious connotations disappeared and some random guy with a William Shatner mask became the mascot for the holiday.

That all being said, I grew up in a ridiculously fundamentalist Christian home where most secular things were banned. Rock music, toy guns, The Legend of Zelda, Star Wars, Star Trek, and even Care Bears were banned. And Halloween? Yeah . . . no. It was, after all, the “Devil’s Holiday,” and my mother wasn’t about to let me go get candy in the name of Satan.

That isn’t to say that I didn’t ever celebrate Halloween or go trick or treating. I absolutely did—despite my mother’s best attempts to keep me away from “the World.” The church attached to my school would have a Harvest Festival as an alternative to the holiday (which was, ironically, closer to the original pagan holiday), and for a few years I would go to this with some friends of ours. Before going to the church function, this family would go trick or treating in their neighborhood. I distinctly remember this sense of community, the costumes, the decorations, how everything just felt electric. It left such a mark on me that, as as grown man and a father, I make sure to take my daughter trick or treating every year as it has become my favorite non-religious holiday. I love pretty much everything about it: the spookiness, the movies, the gazing upon all the decorations in the lead up to the big day, seeing all those amazing costumes, the enjoyment on a broader community level, and (of course) my own daughter’s excitement. I’m not too keen on the drinking, partying, and “slutty [whatever]” costumes—but then again those things were never my cup of Witches’ Brew. No judgment if that’s what you prefer, just I’ve always preferred the spooks, scares, and the joy on children’s faces.

Considering all this, when Peterson announced their first Halloween pipe in 2021, I was ecstatic (see Posts #246, #303, #363). FINALLY, a pipe to commemorate the holiday that I’ve come to love so much! They had previously produced a similar line (named after the original Samhain) more than a decade prior to this, but that had disappeared off the market pretty quickly and was in such limited supply that I only know of one person in the pipe community who was able to get his hands on one. This new line, however, was going to both be more experimental in nature and more readily available for purchase.

The first year’s line broke all the rules. It took the finish from the Dracula line—with its black sandblasted bowl and swirled red/black acrylic stem—and put it on a System pipe. While Peterson had previously played around with limited edition and holiday pipes being System pipes (most notably the 2019 St. Patrick’s Day line), this was the first time that the stem had been anything other than black. It was, simply put, groundbreaking.

The next year, the Halloween line featured a black sandblasted bowl and a bright orange military mount stem. While it wasn’t a System pipe, it was quite beautiful; the color scheme was so on-the-nose for the holiday that I expected the Great Pumpkin to appear out of the blue to smoke one of these pipes. Unlike the first year’s pipe, however, the 2022 Halloween line took some time to sell out.

For the third year (2023), Peterson again decided to embrace the concept of a spooky System pipe—only this time around, the line wore the Jekyll and Hyde finish. Arguably more of a spiritual successor to the first Halloween pipe than the 2022, last year’s line flew off the shelves pretty quickly. On a personal note, out of the first three years, this design is my favorite.

This year, Peterson is once again utilizing the same Dracula finish that they used in 2021. However, instead of having a series of System pipes, Peterson is presenting this year’s Halloween line in some of their newer shapes that are callbacks to the history of pipe smoking itself. Longer, sleeker stems paired with either a smooth ebony or a black sandblast. Admittedly, I would rather see a new finish as opposed to a previously used one (I love it when Peterson goes all out with their experimentation), but I also understand that we have not seen this stem presentation in something as elegant and as old school as a demi-churchwarden. And, honestly, those stems are amazing.

As part of the Classic Range, the 2024 Halloween pipe avails itself
of the Dracula laser engraving with its three bats

Sandblasted shapes include the apple, barrel, bent billiard, billiard, prince, tankard, and tomato. Smooth shapes include the apple, barrel, bent billiard, billiard, paneled acorn, prince, rhodesian, tankard, and tomato.

These pipes will be available online October 1st at 6:00 PM EST, and can also be found at your local brick and mortar as well.

☘️🎃☘️

On a slightly different, but connected note, I was fortunate enough to be able to interview Glen Whelan via email about this year’s Halloween line. Initially my plan was to incorporate his responses into the narrative of this post, but after seeing his responses, I thought it better to simply include the entire thing as it allows a fascinating look into both this yearly series and into how things work behind the scenes at Peterson as well:

DHB: Peterson had previously produced the Samhain line which, at the time, did not do well enough to stay in the catalog. That being said, something clearly occurred that made you all want to want to bring it back as the Halloween line. Would you mind talking about what it was that made you all want to bring it back, and about the history/development of the line in general?

GW: The line originally began and ended during the Palmer era. Since the Laudisi acquisition, we have taken inspiration for new releases from Peterson’s storied history. It’s been evident on past pipe of the years mostly but we also felt that Halloween was one of those globally celebrated holidays that we should have a pipe series to mark it.

DHB: I’ve seen interviews and videos exploring the process of coming up with the designs for the Pipe of the Year and St. Patrick’s Day lines. I think it is amazing how collaborative that process is considering how hard it can be to get people to agree on anything. When designing the Halloween line, is it the same collaborative process or is it more the brainchild of an individual Halloween enthusiast who has been set loose?

GW: Anytime we begin a planning process for a new pipe/series, it is always a collaborative effort. This effort usually starts with Sykes, Josh and I sitting together and formulating a plan for what we would like. We will start bringing in guys from production so that we can get their valuable insight on how it will pass through the production process and if they anticipate any issues. There can be cases where someone will present an idea that people all like immediately but we will still follow our standard procedures of putting test runs through the production process to ensure that it will go through the factory without any issues.

DHB: In the past, Peterson’s experimentation focused more on the coloring of the bowl. The Samhain line came in an orange finish, the St. Patrick’s Day lines frequently came in a green finish, the Christmas lines were often red, the Atlantic, 4U, and original Summertime lines all featured blue bowls, etc. On top of that, the 2015 St. Patrick’s Day line also had Celtic knots carved into the bowl and the 2014 Christmas line featured rustication that made it look more like a pine cone. Especially since around 2020, the color experimentation seems to have shifted towards the bands and stems while the bowls are finished in a more traditional manner. This feels . . . intentional. Would you mind speaking to that?

GW: Peterson has a very traditional aesthetic; both in shape design and finishes. I think it is important for us to remain true to that tradition but of course there are exceptions to the rules and we can be more playful in design. Halloween and SPD are prime examples of this type of freedom we enjoy on design. Even when we do get playful for these series, I still feel it is very important for the pipe to be recognized as a Peterson, and I believe we have achieved that very successfully across the last few seasonal releases.

DHB: The acrylic end cap on this year’s St Patrick’s Day line proved to be divisive (which actually made me like it even more than I did already) but was also exceptionally innovative. Do you think we will see acrylic end caps return in the future, like with the Halloween lines—which by nature create breathing room for experimentation and coloring outside of the lines?

GW: Of course, acrylic is such a diverse material to use in pipe design as you can pretty much get any colour/design that you desire so we would always put any ideas through the collaborative process, so I wouldn’t rule out ever using it again.

DHB: The 2021 and 2023 Halloween pipes were obviously inspired by your previously existing spooky lines of pipes (Dracula and Jekyll & Hyde, respectively), and the 2022 Halloween line took inspiration from the traditional holiday motif of black with orange. Can you speak to the inspiration behind this year’s line?

GW: One of our most popular series is Dracula (even as an all year-round thing), so we felt like we still had some much that we could do with that series. I really love the aesthetic of our Tavern series, that demi-churchwarden style, and felt that sort of pipe profile would lend itself really well to the Dracula theme. The Dracula stem contrasts so well against the black of the bowl.

DHB: What shapes will there be for this Halloween line? Also, are there any particular surprise/rare shapes that collectors might want to be on the lookout for?

The Tomato Halloween 2024

GW: We will offer two finishes; Ebony smooth and sandblasted. There is a surprise in there in the Tomato shape which is a shape that we have never offered in any series previously. It is a new shape but fits into the Peterson aesthetic as if it has been around for a century or more! Then we have some of our recognizable shapes often seen in our Churchwarden and Specialty lines. There really is a pipe for all tastes. The shape list for Halloween is as follows:

Ebony Smooth – Apple, Paneled Acorn, Rhodesian, Tomato
Ebony Sandblasted – Apple, Barrel, Bent Billiard, Billiard, Prince, Tankard, Tomato

DHB: Looking forward beyond this year’s line, what do you envision for the future of the Halloween line in general?

GW: When dealing with raw materials, particularly one such as briar, we try not to look too far ahead into the future when formulating our plans for releases. Usually, we are about a year out on the planning. So basically that means once this year’s Halloween pipe is released, we will get started on the process for coming up with a design for the 2025 edition. Of course, Halloween is such a storied holiday, so we have many directions that we can go in.

References

History. (2023, October 18). Samhain. https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/samhain

Moody, S. (2023, October 13). Meanwhile, in Ireland – Samhain special: the ancient origins of Halloween. The Comenian. https://comenian.org/9580/news/meanwhile-in-ireland-samhain-special-the-ancient-origins-of-halloween

Smith, H. (2020, September 28). Samhain. World History. https://www.worldhistory.org/Samhain

Many thanks to Glen Whelan and Andrew Wike for their help with this post
Stock photos courtesy Laudisi Enterprises
Sample detail photos by Chas. Mundungus

Ryan Galdamez CPG.  Here are my submissions for some pipes ideas for a few of the characters in The Hobbit:

Bilbo – Peterson Churchwarden Smooth Barrel.  Churchwardens are perfect for relaxing in the shire and this barrel shaped one reminds Bilbo of his barrel riding days as he escaped with the dwarves from the Elven king.

Gandalf – Peterson Churchwarden Sandblasted Calabash. Gandalf enjoys the length of the Churchwarden as he pores over dusty scrolls.

Thorin – Peterson Newgrange Spigot 701. Thorin appreciates the silversmith work on this pipe. The tankard shape is reminiscent of his shield of oak that became a part of his name – Thorin Oakenshield.

Gollum – Peterson Jekyll & Hyde 05 Fishtail. The 05 bent calabash is a good clencher leaving Gollum’s hands free to wring the life out of fish, bats, or goblins. Of course the Jekyll and Hyde finish goes without saying.

Beorn – Peterson Aran Rusticated 150. Beorn is drawn to the muscular shape of this straight bulldog. The craggy rustication matches well with the difficult and rugged life that he has lived.

Elrond – Peterson Walnut Spigot 124. This elegant 124 fits well the refined nature of the elf lord. After a long day of hunting orcs, Elrond like to sit on a high terrace in Rivendell and enjoy some shire leaf.

Dwalin – Peterson Irish Harp 127. Though a rough and tumble old warrior, Dwalin enjoys the finer things in life and he appreciates the soft sleek lines on this bent Dublin.

Bard – Peterson Tavern Pipe Rusticated Pear. This lightweight and simple pipe serves Bard well whether he is piloting his boat or kicking back a pint at the tavern.

Trent Clifton CPG advises that, if you haven’t seen them yet, Peterson has put not one but two creepy little videos up on Instagram.  I can’t insert them into the post like I can with YouTube, but you can find them through your Instagram account.

Stock photos courtesy Smokingpipes.com

Štěpán Zápotocký CPG sent several excellent photos of the very first of the B shape catalog, the B1, which appeared in the late 1990s. It’s a fascinating shape, blocky and reminiscent of the Italian shapes I loved in the 1980s. As it never appeared as a Pipe of the Year or any other commemorative, but only in various lines, it’s great to see it here adorned with some very nice briar, banded in nickel as part of the special Aran line released in Europe through Mario Lubinski.