24. Restoring an Old Peterson 308 Sandblast System (Revised)
The old 308 System is one of my favorite shapes in the Peterson catalog. It’s an original Charles Peterson patent shape (#14), by which I mean it’s found in the 1896 and 1906 catalogs and was a regular in the shape chart until its last official appearance in the 1947 chart. It continued to be a favorite here in the United States and was featured in several of the Rogers Imports catalogs and brochures in the 1950s. I have two 308s and a 14s, and all three were made after 1949, bearing the MADE IN over THE REPUBIC over OF IRELAND country of manufacture (COM) stamp. I had originally thought the 308 was probably deleted from the catalog sometime in the early 1960s, although as I said, it doesn’t appear in any official K&P ephemera after 1947. (I have more stories of this wonderful shape, but they’ll have to wait for the book.) Jorgen Jensen read the original version of this blog and (as you can see in the comments), remarked that he bought a new 308 Premier (not new/old stock) at the Grafton Street store on 29 July 2001. I contacted Tony Whelan, Jr., the following day, and he replied that, to the best of his recollection, the 308 was still being made in the late 1990s. This corroborates Jorgen's belief that it was in fact a new pipe. This opens up a new can of worms, one which is worth pondering. At this point, I can only say (as I say in the manuscript of the book) that just because a shape doesn't appear in the catalog, doesn't mean it's not still in production at the factory. I suspect the reason for the 308’s demise was simply that it was too much like the 312. It certainly has nothing to do with its smoking qualities. It’s the more upright of the two shapes, with a longer back-to-front at the base of the stummel, but a bit shorter crown. But it’s also got a wider mortise bore, which for my money is the reason it makes a better System smoker. But that’s just my opinion. When I saw this old 308 on Ebay, I fell in love with it because (a) it is a 308, my favorite System shape after the 309; (b) it’s a sandblast, which I’d never seen before, and (c) the unusual blast pattern made me wonder if it was strawberry wood. The asking price was a bit steep for its condition, but the pipe looked solid under the oxidation and grime. I’ve been told that strawberry burls are sometimes harvested unknowingly alongside the briar, and my very sweet experience with a Peterson 02 Shamrock Oom-Paul made of strawberry wood has kept me on the lookout for another Peterson strawberry. I’m told that one way to recognize strawberry wood is in its blasting pattern, which tends to go into lunar circles and pits rather than the rings typical of briar. Condition on Arrival When the pipe…