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SPECIAL BULLETIN:
The 2026 POY “CAD Squat Bulldog #493” Drops Tuesday 8/18 @ SPC

Back this evening from a much-needed Marian retreat, and want to let everyone who’s not a social media user know that the wait for the 2026 POY is almost over—

“We have POYs scheduled to drop on Smokingpipes.com at 6:00pm on Tuesday, August 18^th,” writes VP of Marketing Andy Wike. “Main finishes this year will be Rusticated, Terracotta, Heritage, Sandblasted, and Cobble — though Smokingpipes will have a small number of specialty finishes like Rua, Natural, Barley, and maybe a Supreme or two. All will have vulcanite P-Lip stems.”

Measurements & Other Details

Weight: 1.60 oz / 46 gr
Length: 6 in / 155 mm
Height: 1.59 in / 40.6 mm
Width: 1.75 in / 44.6 mm
Chamber width: .71 in / 18.1 mm
Chamber height: 1.18 in / 30.1 mm
Stem: Glorious Vulcanite P-Lip
Hallmark: “O” for 2025 or “P” for 2026 (in the samples)

While I don’t have SPC pix to share, they did send three pipes for me to photograph (before returning) in the Rusticated, Heritage, and Sandblast finishes.

Sweet, right? Of the three, Gigi’s favorite is the sandblast (see below). Gigi has for decades been the bulldog fan and authority in the household, so unless she lucks on something in a higher grade she likes, I’m sure this is the style she’ll pick.

The mortise is 17.8 mm deep and the tenon is 15.0 mm long for a remarkable short gap of 2.8mm. The chamfer on the tenon is also well done, like some I’ve seen from the 1980s.

The history of the shape and its name are, of course, fascinating to me. It first appeared in the 1906 catalog. As you can read in Post #388, what is commonly known as a “bulldog” today had a 200-group number except in the case of a stack chubby version, called the “Coronation Cad.” There was a period after cad, which signified the word was an abbreviation for “cadet.” (Tom Crean smoked one aboard the Endurance.)

1947 Distribution Page

The name but not the bulldog shape then went underground in Peterson ephemera, to reemergence in the 1947 distributor pages.  Here we see three shapes given the “cad” name, the 494 Med. Squat Cad, the 495 Med. Squat Cad, and the 493 Lge. Squat Cad. I’ve often wondered whether there is really any difference between the 494 and the 495 aside from the tapered vs. shouldered stems, and a perhaps a collector who has both could enlighten us in the comments. Just looking at the illustration, I’m inclined to think they’re identical bowls.

This year’s POY takes its name from the large 493, which is 5.75″ according to the guide. That being the case, it’s kind of fun to see the differences between the 1947 shape and the 2026, bearing in mind that Giacomo Penzo & his team sought to synthesize the best of these for us:

My photo doesn’t replicate the exact angle of the illustration. The shank taper and bowl appear as nearly identical as anyone interested in historical accuracy of reproduction could wish them to be.

The last sighting of the Squat Cad was in a page from Peterson’s Dublin & London catalog for Europe, c. 1955—

—until now.

A 493 Shamrock, Early Republic era.

Intellectual property of Kapp & Peterson
used by their kind permission.

Cuimhnigh, a Mhaighdean Mhuire róghrámhar,
Nár chualathas trácht ar éinne riamh a chuir é féin faoi do choimirce
ná a d’iarr cabhair ort ná a d’impigh d’idirghuí is gur theip tú air.
Lán de mhuinín asat,
dá bhrí sin, rithimse chugat,
a Mhaighdean na maighdean is a Mháthair.
Is chugatsa a thagaim, is os do chomhair a sheasaim,
i mo pheacach bocht atuirseach.
Ó a Mháthair an AonMhic,
ná diúltaigh do m’urnaithe ach éist leo go trócaireach agus freagair iad.
Amen.