Charles Peterson

Gifting or being gifted a pipe is an interesting subject, one that comes to mind with the fairly recent release of the Peterson Father’s Day 2014 pipes. My nephew, still an undergraduate, sent me an almost-new Peterson 05 Ebony Calabash a few months back, saying that he’d never smoke it again. A former girlfriend had given it to him and it didn’t seem right, somehow, to smoke it in the presence of his current flame. So he wanted to donate it to me to be used in the cause of the Peterson book, as we’re always buying new and estate pipes and Peterson ephemera.

My wife, like the spouses and significant others of so many long-time pipemen, is very reluctant these days to give me a pipe unless I pick it out myself. I suppose most of us have similar stories to tell, but in a way it’s a shame, because if it can be properly managed, there’s nothing quite so nice either for the giver or the receiver.

606 Saddle, Obverse

On Father’s Day last month I sent my Dad (now in his 80s) an Amazon gift card, that all-pupose palliative for gift-givers who are a little uncertain what might be received with genuine enthusiasm. He’s become a great reader over the past twenty years, so I knew it would come in useful. When he and my Mom came for a visit a few weeks later, he asked if he could borrow a pipe, as he’d not brought his.

606 Saddle, Reverse

As we were looking at my pipes, I told him I was surprised he’d started smoking again. He’d stopped because of some sinus problems a few years ago, but mostly because his doctor—like mine—made such a huge deal about it. (I won’t get on my soapbox here about how there’s next to no negative medical evidence concerning moderate pipe-smoking [1-2 bowls a day] without inhaling.) So my Dad’s got this new thing—“The Six Match Rule,” he calls it. He can smoke his pipe until he’s used up six matches, then he stops for the day.

Anyway, as he was picking out a pipe, I thought of the recent Father’s Day pipes Conor Palmer at Peterson had sent to review here on the blog, and decided I’d make a late Father’s Day gift of one of them. It took him awhile to decide, which made it even more fun for me.

You may have noticed this year’s Father’s Day pipes were slow getting to the U.S., not even appearing until just at Father’s Day on June 15^th. There was a bit of a mix-up with the distributor, apparently, which slowed things down, but you can find them now at most of the U.S. e-tailers.

The bowls are graded “Plain,” which is Peterson’s bread-and-butter, middle-of-the-road grade from which Standard Systems and Arans, among other lines, are culled. You can expect some tiny fills—I couldn’t actually find any on the 606 pictured here, although I’m sure there are some. There will probably also be a root mark or two, which Peterson these days likes to leave in rather than try to sand out or fill. Again, these are tiny, and you’ll need a jeweler’s loop to see them. Hand-stamping this year—probably the last before the laser imprinting goes system-wide. And, a step up from the Aran line, notice the great retro-forked-tail P stamp they used. A nice touch.

The Father’s Day 2014 stain is close, but not identical, to the Aran. The current Aran line is a semi-matt finish, while the FD has been polished (not lacquered). The FD is also just a tiny shade brighter and more orange, at least comparing these three FDs with my Arans, which are a little more on the brown spectrum. As usual with Peterson, there is no real pre-carbon coating, only the thin decorative black finish inside the bowl.

The stems are F/T ebonite, with a hot-foil silver “P” stamped into them (although, curiously, the XL02 photographed here has no stamp). They’ve got that same great chamfering at the tenon and deep V-slot at the button that you know from the Aran line so you can expect an easy, open draw.

The real trick in getting a great Father’s Day 2014 pipe is to be able to look at both sides of the bowl’s grain. Sometimes you can find a real wowzer.

So far I’ve only seen them available in three shapes: 606 straight pot, the XL02 apple and the X220 billiard, all great choices. The 606 and XL02 can be found with both saddle and tapered bits if you dig around a bit.

XL02 Saddle in Father’s Day 2014 Dress

I thought my dad would go for the XL02, which is one of Peterson’s top-sellers, but he ended up choosing what he thought was the smallest of the three—the X220 (pictured at the top)—he said he liked smaller bowls now to go with the Six Match Rule.

So I didn’t tell him that while the X220 may look small, it’s an optical illusion created by the thick shank and this year’s extra-wide nickel band. If it had a tapered instead of saddle bit, it would’ve looked right at home in the 1905 catalog. And in fact, the X220 shape does come out of the earliest catalogs. Its cross-reference shapes are the Standard System 312 / DeLuxe 11S, meaning that it dates back to the original Charles Peterson shapes. And it’s got an average chamber capacity of 18.8mm x 21.4mm (0.74 in x 1.63 in), which has become my favorite (the 309’s got approximately the same average measurement), and is (at least for me) the perfect Virginia chamber as well as doing good service with English, Balkans and cross-overs.

He and my Mom stayed for a few days, and the following day I overhead him from the other room talking to my Mom about the pipe. One of the things he thought was really great about it was that it said Father’s Day 2014.

Like I said at the beginning, it’s difficult to gift a pipe and sometimes even more difficult to be gifted one. But when the magic works, there’s nothing quite like it.

Price: Between $102 – 119.

606 Saddle–I love the 606’s thick walls