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SAVE THE DATE!

CHICAGO PIPE SHOW:
Fri 05/01 10:00 AM – Noon, “The Evolution of Bowl Turning at Peterson,”
a Frontline-style presentation with Glen Whelan, Giacomo Penzo, and Mark Irwin on the bowl-turning process.
Fri 05/01 2:00 – 3:00 PM Pete Geek Meet.

CUSTOM PETERSON PPN PIPE LOUNGE SIGN

Abba Mark Hunt CPG has been working with Molly, who operates ThatGiftGuru on Etsy. She makes custom metal signs and Abba requested one with the PPN logo, as seen above. Now here’s the cool thing: Molly can customize the sign so it will read “CPG,” “PETE GEEK,” or whatever you want across the circumference. Perfect for the house, smokehouse, firehouse, manhouse, outhouse, boathouse, and any other house you can think of.

This is not a PPN event and so doesn’t financially benefit the blog, but these are terrific signs, and Mark has worked with Molly before and I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

K&P has authorized our use of the 4s silhouette, so all that’s left for you is to get an Etsy account (if you don’t already have one), choose what color of metal you want and what size you want, then message Molly and place the order.  You order directly from her. Her prices start at $45 and go up depending on the size.

I’ve added some prototypes at the end of the post (the PPN spacing wasn’t right on them). If you get one, send me a photo of where you hung it and I’ll send you a merit badge.

MIND THE GAP:
A HISTORY OF THE DELUXE STEM TENON

Some thoughts this morning on the Wear Gap of the DeLuxe System.  According to the older craftsmen I interviewed in the factory at Sallynoggin, it was known as the “Space-Fitting” or “gap push.” The latter refers to the pipemen pushing the stem into the mount, and the former—where did it come from?  I don’t seem to find it in the 1896 or 1906 catalogs this morning, although that’s what my generation in the 1980s was taught by our tobacconists.

What’s in the name: “purposely fitted with a space . . . to allow for wear.”

When Peterson moved into the Laudisi era, the gap push was renamed the “Wear Gap,” makes more sense actually, not just because the name is derived from the 1906 catalog, but because that’s what this feature was designed to do.

Never patented by Charles Peterson, the Wear Gap contributes to the massive visual and real tensile strength of the pinnacle of the regular System line, the DeLuxe. Much more prevalent these days than in former times, there’s still a spark that ignites in me whenever I see one.

If someone had only thought to ask Mr. Peterson about its design, right? In his own day, military or army mounts were common enough, but they all had the domed ferrule—a thin layer of silver or nickel turned down to fit over the ball-end shape of the stummel’s shank end.

I suppose it could’ve originated with Captain Peterson’s (imaginary) statement—“Now here’s a military mount to surpass all military mounts!” Or perhaps he thought a thick tenon extension would be stronger than the traditional tenon end of army mount pipes. Both types of mount, by the by, are there to reinforce the thin-walled mortise end of the shank, where frequent mounting and remounting can (and has) cracked the briar—especially on early “wide mouth” mortises with their gaping reservoirs.

Whatever the rationale, given the good Captain’s truthfulness in all other matters, he doubtless genuinely thought the Wear Gap would provide better wear. It certainly does that, although it would take a few hundred years of daily use to actually narrow the gap caused by assembling and disassembling the mount more than a millimeter or so. As I’m thinking about it, I wonder if Captain Peterson never even intended us to think of the gap as narrowing, only that such a monster tenon would provide a surer purpose or grip and wear longer (think Levi’s 501 shrink-to-fit blue jeans) than than either the A or the AB stems.

Notice the considerable variety in the width of the gaps.

From the beginning, the Wear Gap varied, as you can see in this assembly of DeLuxe shapes taken from the 1906 catalog.  In the paper ephemera from 1896 to 2010, the gap ranged from 2 or 3mm to around 6.5mm.  From what I’ve seen in real life, shorter gaps seem more typical of the Patent, IFS, and Éire eras. If it were possible to get either James Walsh or Lance Dahl to comment, they both have either seen or have in their collections enough pipes from across these decades and could give more informed opinions.

Inextricable from any discussion of the Wear Gap, however, is the presence of the threaded condenser. It is the reach of the tenon + the threaded condenser down to at least the mid-point of the draft hole in the chamber that delivers the superlative smoking experience of the DeLuxe. No condenser doesn’t mean a bad smoke, but the condenser elevates any particular DeLuxe System to its highest potential. My oldest continuously smoked DeLuxe System, a 12s HM 1978, has a 4.5mm gap, and I don’t think it’s budged a single millimeter from the day I bought it until now, despite my most muscular and heroic efforts. With the 1981 Mark Twain, the gap jumped (at least on mine) to an astonishing 6.5mm, but I never remember anyone calling attention to it, even though we all longed for that gap to narrow.  I’m going to move to the deep end of the pool now, so either hold your breath, reach for the Redbreast, or grab your swim fins (your choice).

My HM 1984 Mark Twain

The reason the wide gap in DeLuxe Systems of the Late Republic and early Dublin eras didn’t raise an eyebrow is because nobody noticed them.  The reason nobody noticed them, as Gary Hamilton and I have discussed in several conversations, is because the visual line wasn’t broken. Sure, there’s a slight interruption, but it’s one that was (and is) expected by any pipeman who’s ever seen a DeLuxe Peterson System.

If the line is broken by unexpected visual space, it creates what Gary and I call the “Ugly Gap Phenomenon,” in evidence on this first year Pub Pipe:

A first year Pub Pipe

As good philosophers, let’s stop and define our term:

Ugly Gap.  Unexpected or disruptive empty space between tenon and mortise found on many System pipes beginning around 2000-2005 and continuing to the present on most DeLuxe Systems.

HM 2020 3s DeLuxe

Now, many Pete Geeks—including myself at one time—probably don’t think much about this. It just is what it is, and I’m grateful for that new DeLuxe System all the same, especially if the condenser reaches to the draft hole.

The next important important takeaway from the argument I’m making (my thesis, all you “brown water philosophers”) is this: it doesn’t really matter how wide the gap is if the tenon extension is thick enough. The eye doesn’t perceive the disruption of empty space.  Let your eye travel up to the 3s and down to the 4s and back a few times.

HM 1979 Gold Supreme with a 6mm gap

So now let’s trace this back to its engineering base:

1. From the Patent through the early Dublin era, the Wear Gap could vary in length because the tenon extension was thick enough to avoid visual interruption.
2. DeLuxe tenon extensions were thicker in earlier eras because the mortises made to receive them were wider.
3. DeLuxe mortises were wider because Charles Peterson’s Patentl design was over-engineered to create a reservoir for the System to work not only correctly but without fail.
4. Finally, DeLuxe mortises could be wide because there was a band, most often with the shank-end covering we’re accustomed to seeing, which is stronger than the circlete band sometimes seen in the Patent era.  The band isn’t simply decoration, but is there to reinforce the thin walls of the mortise.  If you’ve done much System restoration, you’ve doubtless encountered at least one or two Systems with cracks in the briar underneath the band.

What’s fascinating from a shop perspective is that these mortises with their thinner briar walls were precision-made from the 1890s until the 1980s without the aid of high-tech equipment, and in the beginning with gasoline engine belt-driven (i.e., slow) drill presses!

Left: 2010 4s mortise. Right: 2025 4s mortise.

Now at some point—we’ll say between 1995 and 2005—K&P narrowed the width of the mortise and of course that meant they narrowed the tenon. Whether this was simply design fatigue (“oops, we forgot what we used to do”) or purposefully ( “let’s standardize tenon widths” or “let’s make it easier to drill the mortise,” or “it’s cheaper to let that old way of doing it go”)  I don’t think we’ll ever know.

DeLuxe Systems from the 2010 catalog: as late as the 2010 catalog,
K&P was still calling the gap push a “space fitting” mouthpiece.

So beginning at some point in the late Dublin era the gap became consistently wider. The catalog photo shown above from 2010 disguises this somewhat, but if you look closely, you can see it’s there.  As I said, maybe managers simply forgot, craftsmen did what they were told, stem stock changed, no one was a pipe smoker out on the floor, it saved a few pennies—any, all or a combination of these is possible.

Take a breath here, and remember that this is not only not a major irritant to most Pete Geeks, but it’s quite possible they’ve never given it a thought.  So what pushed me down this rabbit hole? Well, for those who’ve been smoking their DeLuxe Systems since the 1980s, there was always a question that haunted us: what can be done to narrow the gap?

I haven’t even mentioned the wide mortise on the original 308, XL307 and other early Systems.
The need for a metal ferrule is especially obvious on these, where the briar becomes very thin at the top.

I blame this on Richard Carlton Hacker and his Ultimate Pipe Book, which appeared in 1984 and helped propel the New Renaissance of pipe smoking that grew from the ashes of the Pipeocalypse.  Somewhere in his book—and I’ll find it yet—he talks about this very thing.  In the meantime, you simply couldn’t talk to a Pete Geek for more than half an hour without reference to “Reducing the Gap.”

If you had a DeLuxe System, you smoked it in public. Always. Everywhere. All the time. It was your Badge of Honor.  It was rare. It was the pinnacle of Peterson production. As crazy as it seems to you who are reading this, there just weren’t that many DeLuxe Systems to be had!  They weren’t even in the catalogs much.  They were … how shall I put it?  Deluxe! Many of us went into therapy because no matter how many bowls we smoked, the dang gap would just never narrow.

The 1965 catalog cover was the first in K&P’s history to feature the DeLuxe System—
but it was still Unobtainium for for most mere mortals. The 11S on the cover features a hand-cut stem
and that radical “Patent” style bend that hasn’t been seen since–what, the early 1980s?

But that was then. This is now. What bridges the gap between past and present: back then I wanted to narrow the gap. I still want to narrow the gap, albeit for different reasons.  Back then I wanted to be recognized as A Serious System Smoaker. Now, I have a few recent DeLuxe Systems with Ugly Gaps that might look better with more of a Vintage Gap.

Next:
Mind the Gap, Part 2: A Successful DIY to Recover that Vintage Look

from
The Pipe Smoaker’s Book of Apothegms:

Awareness, awareness, awareness!
In awareness is healing;
in awareness is truth;
in awareness is salvation;
in awareness is spirituality;
in awareness is growth;
in awareness is love;
in awareness is awakening.
Awareness.

—Anthony de Mello, S.J., Awareness 103.

NEW GEAR

Some new Pete gear! At the moment, it’s only available through Smokingpipes.eu. I don’t know if that will change or not, but if you haven’t seen it, here it is:

THE ESPRESSO CUP & SAUCER.  Something tells me Sykes Wilford may have had a hand in this! What is certain is that it was his hospitality at the SPC table at the Chicago show over the past few years that have led me to the purchase of a Gaggia machine, which has become indispensable for the first cuppa and the after lunch cuppa. Of course, SPC / SPEu never gives you any details about whether these items are dishwasher or microwave safe, nor how large they are, but I’m not complaining. Great color scheme.

THE PLAYING CARDS. Like every other kid, I was a poker fiend. While I don’t sit down with a deck very often these days (having been barred from all the better casinos around the world), I don’t think I will be able to resist the Thinking Man as JOKER.  In case you’re wondering, “Why playing cards?” I’ll tell you.  Back during the Patent or IFS eras, K&P either gave away or sold playing cards with their icons on them–you can see the card backs and some of the fronts if you look back through the blog for famous Peterson smokers.

THE STANDARD COFFEE MUG.  I’ve seen enough of these in my life that I can tell you, this mug holds 12 oz. A white mug with green logo was issued during the Dublin era several years ago when K&P was going to sell tobacco beans. That ran into a few snags, but they did issue a white mug with green lettering. I like this one better, especially since it matches my Peterson Old Boy-style lighter!

You will find these under ACCESSORIES / GIFTS.

WHEN IN PARIS…

Nate Lynn CPG, our world-traveling correspondent, sends these photos in from his recent visit to Paris:

Nate said there weren’t any copies of the Peterson book for sale, but we both appreciated its prominence in the shop.

PROTOTYPES OF THE PPN PIPE LOUNGE SIGN

Intellectual property of Kapp & Peterson
reproduced with their gracious permission.