503. Mind the Gap: A History of the DeLuxe Stem Tenon
public service announements 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 HERE. 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…