April Fool’s Day

REVISED 3/31/04 9:15 AM Public Service Announcement The Pete Geek Meet at the Chicago Pipe Show, 4:15-6:15 pm  in the Sky Harbor AB room after the Saturday show. PETE GEEK MEET @ THE CHICAGO PIPE SHOW.  We’ll be doing a swap & sell of pipes, tobaccos & ephemera, a show & tell of rare Petes and a discussion of how to expand interest in Peterson pipes across the global pipe community. For more information, email petegeek1896@gmail.com.  Please join us!   THE DROP Per Alex Willard: “The Shannon Air System will be available around 12:00am EST tomorrow. We’re trying to avert the massive system crash special Peterson drops sometimes cause by shifting the release to a time with less traffic.”The 110 Shannon Air System features a triangular shank hearkening back to those seen on Lorenzo's Elba pipes in the 1970s and 80s. Right after Christmas Peterson kindly sent me samples of “The Shannon Air System,” the first new System since Charles Petersen’s original Patent in 1865. As these drop tomorrow way early here in the US and Tuesday in Europe, I wanted everyone to be on the look out, as the first batch will be fairly small—about 300 pieces, I’m told. The first wave will feature shapes based on the 110, the XS120, the XSB42, the XSB10, the XS21 (Hudson) and the XS605, mostly in Terracotta and sandblast. A few PSBs and two Supreme blasts will also be available. One hundred only will be serialized with the stamp "LARRIGAN 100 - x /100" to commemorate Paddy Larrigan's 100th birthday (as explained below).   THE BACKSTORY  The Shannon Air derives its name in part from the pipes specially stamped “FOR SHANNON AIRPORT” sold between 1947 and 1983 at the Shannon Airport.  The airport opened in 1945, which inaugurated the world’s first Customs Free Zone and Duty Free shops in 1947. Peterson began selling their pipes at the airport, which had to include the shank stamp to be eligible for duty free purchase. The pipes so stamped seem to have been from every line and grade (mine's a 308 Premier), and at least for me are a great piece of Peterson history.  (If you’ve ever seen a Peterson B.P.L., this line consisted of Pete bowls finished by a K&P partner in a small workshop almost next door to the James Fox shop in Dublin and only sold at the Shannon Airport.) A 312 System with the “FOR SHANNON AIRPORT” stamp   An Early Republic era 31 straight System: dry, dry, dry!  The new System is based on on two ideas, the first being the straight System that goes back to the Patent era and featured an extended tenons and wide-bore shanks. The last vestige of the Straight System was the small shape 31, which finally  disappeared from the catalog about 5 years ago after a long and lingering death.  Many of us have seen and perhaps even companioned versions of the straight System, often without the extended condenser. Tom Lomprey’s 1911 Patent Era…