Blog

by Mark Irwin
with James Walsh and Dan Butler

Cassette:
Top left: Killarney 02BB, 9mm filter, MITROI;
Top Right: Killarney 02BB, pointed stinger, MITROI
Middle Left: System 3 2A, no COM
Middle Right: Kapruf 02BB, MITROI
Bottom Left: 1923 System 2S w/ Maltese cross, no COM, bone chimney (missing).
Bottom Right: Sterling, For Shannon Airport, 02, MII (circle), ball stinger.
(Courtesy James Walsh CPG)

It’s been over a month since the POY 2025 “02BB” was released to the delight and smoking edification of Pete Geeks all over the world, and in the intervening weeks I’ve smoked mine—all three of them—in rotation on most nights.  While I haven’t done any door-to-door polling on owner satisfaction, I feel certain sighs of contentment are rising like the incense of the evening sacrifice.  As this is my very favorite shape after the 309, I thought it fitting we take a second look at the new POY this morning with the help of Peterson collector James Walsh and artisan pipe maker Dan Butler. If you haven’t looked at my earlier post on the 02 / 02BB in a while (PPN #206), you might want to  refresh your memory, although I’ll try to hit the high points here.

SO HOW DID WE GET TO THE POY 2025?

The 1973 Associated Imports catalog XL Premium Range

The 1976 Associated Imports brochure XL range
(This is from the very first Peterson brochure I ever owned.)

To begin, the first and astonishing thing to me is that our slimline 02 / 02BB—the “stack dutch”–isn’t actually found in any  known catalog ephemera until 1973.  And after that, it appears only once more, in 1976. Crazy, right? It’s almost beyond weird, since the shape–if not ubiquitous in the pipe-smoking Hollywood movies of the 1940s–is certainly a featured player.

The second thing to note is that, like several other shapes in the catalog, the stack dutch (or oom paul if you must) has had more than one catalog number. In order, they move from the 02 to the 02BB to the XL02.  Until now.

In the shape charts of 1937, 1947, 1955, 1975, and 1980, the 02 and 02BB  are nowhere to be seen, even though vintage examples with the MITROI (Made in the Republic of Ireland) and MADE IN IRELAND shank stamps appear almost as often as the 9BC on the estate market.

What’s interesting today is how a shape almost never advertised has become so popular among Pete Geeks over the decades.

• There’s the Maserati Theory, according to which it never needed to be advertised because it was always intended for an exclusive clientele.
• There’s the Whitman – Dickinson Theory, according to which it was never popular until after it was gone, when pipemen woke up and smelled the burning tobacco.
• There’s also the Boot Sale Theory (aka Garage Sale Theory), which states that if enough artifacts survive, at some point they will be proclaimed Vintage Chic.

 It’s all theorizing, but the fact remains that for myself and countless other Pete Geeks the 2025 POY is something we’ve wanted to see back in the catalog for a long time as we patiently hunted out vintage 02 and 02BBs. Wouldn’t it be incredible if the 02BB was here to stay? (Don’t hold your breath.) So how did we get to 2025 with this shape?

The Patent 02 (1906 Catalog)

It may be, as I’ve said earlier, that the stack dutch goes back to the beginning of the Patent era and is in fact the pipe Charles Peterson is smoking in the 1910 magazine caricature of him:

C.P. Smoking An 02BB (?)

The “straight-sided billiard,” as the shape group was called in the 1896 catalog, was being made by other factories than K&P, although of course with K&P it was very much a signature shape. We know Shape 4 was known as “the dutch” in the K&P lexicon after the Second Boer War (1899-1902) and the Great War, and we also know that Paul Kruger, President of the Transvaal (later South Africa) received a K&P X.O.2 as a birthday present from his friends–the largest of the shape group, seen at the front of both the 1896 and 1906 catalogs.* We don’t know if it actually existed in the Patent era.  Yet.

The 306 and 356 (Premier & Standard) alongside the 2B De Luxe from the 1937 catalog.

In this composite from the 1937 catalog, we see the Patent 02 shape in transition.  The  2B De Luxe System, with its high, thin, tapered stem, is very, very close to what I believe is the earliest slimline 02, seen in the Shamrock iteration, which could have appeared as early as the late 1930s when the Rogers Ltd. catalog appeared.

The 02 Shamrock (Irwin)

Remove the wear-gap to create a traditional tenon-mortise, then sand off some of the back of the shank and you’ve got the new 02.  Notice the similarity of the bend to the 2B De Luxe—so high and short that it’s almost on the smoker’s moustache and face. As the Shamrock line appears in the Rogers Ltd. catalog from 1939, it’s probable the 02 was being made then as well.

An 02BB Killarney (Irwin)

The next move was to the 02BB. I’m comfortable with asserting the 02BB came after the 02 because the 02BBs all have MITROI or MADE IN IRELAND stamps and the 02 has only the MII.  I’m also happy to be shown wrong, of course, if anyone wants to come forward and share photos from their collection!

One of the interesting changes I seem to see from the 02 to the 02BB is the increased length of the 02BB’s stem with its pronounced almost 90° bend.

Psychiatrist Dr. Zarak (Leon Belasco) with an impressive oom paul in Nothing but the Truth (1941).

This was the classic 1940s look, smoked by psychiatrists like Dr. Zarak in the Bob Hope – Paulette Goddard comedy Nothing But the Truth (1941). This and other Hollywood movies from the period s gives us documentary proof of the popularity of the shape.

An XL02 Kapet (Irwin)

The last appearance of the stack dutch was in the early 1970s with the XL02. There’s no difference in the stem bend or  chamber between the XL02 and the 02BB or 02.  If the XL02 seems chunkier in the photo above, it’s 3mm shorter (from the sandblast, probably) and it may just be the illusion of my photograph.

I think the “XL” prefix may have been a cataloging strategy in order to place the 02 along with other “XL” shapes (the System had its “XL307” at this point as well:

In any event, the XL02 fits in quite nicely with the small herd of “Pachyderms” with their elongated stems.

SO HOW DOES THE POY 2025 STACK UP?

About a month before the release someone asked me what I thought of the new POY based on a sample I’d received.  As I took this as a serious question and not a simple endorsement, I thought thought one way to consider it would be to examine the POY 2025 against an 02BB and the most recent stack dutch, the 1998 Millennium. Another way way would be to compare the engineering of the new pipe with what was available in the past. A third way would be to smoke it, but as it wasn’t mine to smoke, that avenue was postponed until the drop.

Measurements.

As for the measurements, the new POY is quite close to the classic 02BB and the very slightly smaller Millennium.

02BB   /   POY   /   1998 MILLENNIUM

Length from rim to shank:      22.4mm           21.4mm           17.8mm
Chamber Diameter:                  18.5mm           18.5mm           17.0mm
Chamber Depth:                        51.0mm           47.3mm           46.3mm
Outside Diameter:                     33.7mm           33.7mm           35.0mm
Bowl Height:                              59.9mm           59.9mm           56.2mm
Length:                                       149.0mm         149.0mm         145.0mm

The Dublin Millennium (1988) is a bit smaller than the 02 / 02BB and POY 2025,
although it shares the same shank bend as the POY 2025.

There are other oom pauls in the K&P catalog, including the SH Lestrade, the 1990 Patent Centennial, and the Dublin Millennium (1988)–not to mention the larger D15 / PUB pipe. But among these, only the Millennium is close enough in size and shape to really count as a stack dutch shape. (It’s worth saying yet again that the stack dutch and the straight dublin two of the most iconic shapes in the entire catalog, chosen not only for the 1988 Millennium duo but also for the more adventurous 1990 Patent Centennial duo.)

Engineering.

Now here’s where Daniel Butler’s analysis comes in as corroboration for something I can see but couldn’t measure as accurately as he has done as an artisan, viz., the shape and the bend of the new POY vs. the vintage 02BB.

The first thing to notice is that the 2025 POY, like the 1998 Millennium, has a “checkmark” shape when compared to the “U” of the original design. As Dan notes, this creates more forward momentum in the new shape as compared with the “up and down” or more static shape of the original.  To me this has the air of historical design irony, since despite the upheaval of the 1940s, that era was still rooted in values of stillness that have long been swept away by the “crazybusy” future-obsession of our own.

The “declination”—an appropriate word for the stem bend—increases from 6° of the earlier shape to 12.5° of the new one when measured with Dan’s compass. I’ve heard more than one theory for this at the factory on my 2009, 2013, and 2019 visits when I asked about the bend on the Millennium vs. that of the older oom pauls.

• One theory was that the “U” shaped vintage 02BB necessitated a steep drilling angle for the airway on the bowl, one that was a nightmare to drill. I can only imagine.
• Another theory was that this steep angle caused too many burnouts. Now this we can perhaps verify with analogy to so many of our bent Systems—that little teardrop shaped airhole, where the inner chamber is so thin that the hot ember burns it just a little, creating a teardrop shape. That little teardrop that can sometimes escalate into a crater.  That crater that can once in a while escalate into a burnout.  That’s why one DIY old-time System smoker routinely takes a small flat file and slightly flattens the upper edge of the smoke hole, creating just a tiny bit more thickness to resist the hot ember. This takes less than five minutes and may save the life of your pipe.
• A third theory, also quite plausible, is that the craftsmen simply no longer have the tools or know how to fraze and sand a bowl with so little space between the shank and back chamber wall. Quite probable.  You’ve probably noticed this yourself if you’ve ever tried to restore a vintage 02: it’s nearly impossible to get a buffer or sanding pad in that narrow slot. I can hardly get the dust out in that crack with a microfiber towel.  Sometimes technology is simply lost to us, whether it’s building the pyramids or creating the Pebble Rusticated finish of the 1990s.

This difference in declination isn’t something you’d probably even notice if it hasn’t been pointed out to you, but that’s why there are Pete Geeks in the world, to help everyone appreciate the changes in the history of the shape catalog.  And I mean that sincerely: just because a shape is newer or older doesn’t make it better in any appreciable way apart from its beauty in the eye of the beholder, just historically different.

What about the reservoir of the original 02 / 02BBs? Here the advertising copy in the “Chat” brochure is quite tricksy: “Though it could be mistaken for a System Pipe, this Oom Paul provides standard engineering for a more conventional smoking experience.” Well, yes, no, and maybe all at once. Let’s take a look.

Traditional bone condenser on a Premier 02 (Irwin)

Ball condenser on a Sterling 02 (Walsh)

Pointed condenser on Killarney 02BB (right)

The vintage 02 / 02BBs were in fact all System or Sub-System pipes.  That is, the P-Lip versions all had reservoirs and graduated bore stems and often some type of condenser (full Systems).  I don’t know how satisfactorily the ball and point condensers, but perhaps James Walsh or another PG who smokes one of these can tell us in the comments.

Three Captain Petes in various states of restoration:
All identical markings, 02, MII (circle), with the exception of the stem marking. The one on the left has a very faded CP in an oval, the center and right have a C surrounding a smaller P (the typical Captain Pete stem stamp).
(Walsh Collection)

A “Donegal” Rocky Sterling 02 with MII stamp, c. 1945-50 (Irwin)

An Auld Erin with its distinctive smooth rim and MII stamp, c. 1953 (Irwin)

There were 02s without the P-Lip like the Captain Pete (London made), the beautiful early “Donegal” Rocky Sterling and the Auld Erin with its gorgeous smooth rim. I love the fat, graceful stems and how they curve. And these pipes do have the reservoir, so they are Sub-Sytems. For smoking non-virginias, they work fine, although they smoke too hot for me with virginias and va/pers.

Smoking.

Since the POY 2025 has a P-Lip / graduated bore (although mine all seem to have a 4.4mm tenon aperture, not a 5.0), I’m not surprised it smokes really well.  I haven’t experienced any moisture draining onto the chamber floor, although for the first few smokes in 2 of my 3 pipes there was some puddling in the mortise divot, which has now stopped.

One CPG has written to me saying he’s drilled reservoirs for his two POYs, noticing the same puddling in the mortise divot and wanting his POYs to replicate as nearly as possible the authentic 02BB engineering. This isn’t a difficult DIY, as we’ve talked above several times in earlier posts. If you elect to do so, remember you voided your “warranty”!  In the meantime, since you need to take the pipe apart to clean it anyway after it cools, take a look and see what’s going on.

The Supreme, 1/1000 (Courtesy Mark Berman CPG)

Aesthetics.

Very few vintage 02 / 02BBs had a sterling or nickel band, as these had almost entirely gone out of fashion. In fact, that’s one of the reasons the Shamrock and later on the Sterling lines stood out.  For us today, it’s nearly inconceivable to think of a Peterson pipe without a metal band, and certainly they do evoke that Shamrock – Sterling look.

While contemporary pipes, aside from a few in the $1000 and above artisan class, now boast the kind of routine birdseye seen until the beginning of the 21st century, pipe makers have compensated by giving smokers some amazing blasts and rustications. While I love my birdseye and paisley grains–even more than straight or flame–I confess I also love what K&P has been able to do with non-smooth finishes like the Natural Rustic, the Iora, the PSB, the Supreme Sandblast and others.  And the Natural–almost any Natural, but especially with a Silver Cap–is also a favorite.  And I imagine you have your own!I didn’t get hold of every iteration of the POY 2025 (I know there was a Silvercap Natural, for instance), but here’s what I found, with the help of several members of the PG community:

Sandblast Supreme

Silver Cap Sandblast

Barley

Rua PSB

Rustic Natural

Natural

Rusticated Silvercap

Terracotta

Sandblast

Final Thoughts.  In the Laudisi era of POYs, I’d have to rate the POY 2025 as far more than an homage (like the 2019 “John Bull,” which was actually the XL661), and more satisfactory than the 2020 “9BC,” which was much closer to the Patent 9 than the chubby 1930s 9BC adored by Pete Geek. It may not be a 10/10 like the POY 2021 4AB, the POY 2022 14B Mark Twain or the POY 2023 X160, but wow, it’s a 9/10. If even an artisan can’t make the “U” oom paul shape, I’m not going to hold it against K&P.  Sure, they could’ve added the condenser, but since it’s a fabulous smoker and gorgeous looker, I’m not gonna kick it out of bed for eating crackers, as Groucho Marx said in Duck Soup (1933)–referring, I’m pretty sure, to Thelma Todd.**

Many thanks to
James Walsh CPG, who provided photos for most of the vintage 02 / 02BBs in this post;
to Dan Butler, who gave the POY2025 and vintage 02BB his serious thought;
thanks also to CPGs Mark Berman, Chris Lauer, DanChasin, Mark Hunt, and Lance Dahl
who helped out by providing stock photos of their purchases.

* If the 04 / 309 was known among Irish pipemen for decades  as a “dutch,” then wouldn’t it be more correct to call the 02 and 02BB a “stack dutch”? And from there, the little 08 / 313 a “small dutch” and the 01 / 301 a “short dutch”? Am I right? Am I right?

**What Groucho actually said was “I’m going back and clean the crackers out of my bed; I’m expecting company.” Obviously, he was waiting for Thelma Todd to return—she’d been in Monkey Business (1931) and Horse Feathers (1932).

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