System Pipes

For System Day 2019—which is today, September 3rd—it being the 121st anniversary of the final patent of Charles Peterson’s celebrated pipe, I wanted to do something special, and this is the first installment: a complete guide to Peterson's production System shapes from 1896 to 2019. I’ve been mad about movies since I bought my first film projector, a Kodak M64 8/Super 8 back in the early 1970s, and to this day I sometimes drive my wife crazy when, after watching a Blu-ray on Friday night, I immediately want to watch all the deleted scenes and bonus features. Well, one of the "deleted scenes" from the Peterson book was an annotated guide to the System shapes. At the time, some folks thought the book was already getting a bit out of hand and that this kind of information would take up too many pages and be so detail-oriented that only the geekiest of Pete Freeks would be interested. I’m hoping that you might be one of those odd birds. Before getting started, let me say that our book is over half-way through its print run, and as it’s unlikely to be reprinted please give some thought to whether you’d like to add it to your reference library. Every week I get a handful of questions about Peterson, and while I enjoy answering them, nearly all have already been answered in the book. Insofar as the P-Lip System is concerned, the book contains detailed analyses on what makes a Peterson a System pipe (it must have a P-Lip graduated bore mouthpiece and a reservoir in the stummel); on the benefits of self-awareness in choosing a shape by chamber size and finish; on the care and performance of the System; on “Sub-Systems” and how they worked (Peterson no longer makes them); and on the “aspirational tiers” from Standard, nickel-mount pipes (which were originally 3rd grade) to Supreme gold mounts (which you’ll probably never see). But you won’t find a visual guide to all the production System shapes from 1896 to 2019, but never fear, here it is! System Shapes & Shape Names from the 1955 Tri-Fold Brochure In what follows, I’ve given what we’ll call “average” measurements, because by its very nature briar, when combined with the variables of craftsmanship, can cause subtle variations. Measurements, especially of chambers, can vary a few millimeters, especially over the decades some of these shapes have been made. The fact that bowls were sometimes turned in the Peterson factory in Dublin, sometimes in the small Peterson factory in London and sometimes outsourced has also caused variations. But with the exceptions noted below, Charles Peterson’s original 1896 shapes are close and sometimes identical to 2019 shapes. Many of the photos are courtesy Smokingpipes.com, but they’re from 2012, when Systems were still made with vulcanite and still adhered to traditional bending techniques, instead of acrylic mouthpieces, which have become, since their introduction, steadily less bent. Charles Mundungus has provided photos of rare shapes, or shapes that need special explanation.…