247. The 2021 Halloween System Pipe
This year Halloween comes after Christmas, at least for Pete Geeks! We've seen lots of good stuff from the Dubliners this year and the POY's yet to come. Anyway, the 2021 Halloween System pipe debuts Tuesday, September 28th at Smokingpipes.com in the US and at about the same time at other online retailers. Andy Wike, Marketing Manager at Laudisi for Kapp &Peterson, told me only 850 pipes have been made for the entire world, so best give this a serious thought. The E-Strutcard The Halloween System will be available in in nine of the thirteen System shapes and represent a good cross-section of the catalog, omitting only the 301, 304, 305 and 306. The line up includes the 302, 303, 307, 312, 313, 314, 317, B42 and XL315: 302, 303, 307 312, 313, 314 317, B42, XL315 “On the Halloween pipes,” writes Josh Burgess, Managing Director at K&P, “it’s something that we've kicked around for a while. Seasonal releases are a lot of fun for pipe collectors, and they’re pretty exciting for us at the factory too. It gives us the chance to stretch our legs a bit and do a smaller run of pipes outside our regular offerings. Halloween is a natural choice for an Irish pipe manufacturer, since the holiday has at least some of its roots in the Gaelic celebrations of Samhain. There were several directions we could have gone, but in the end, we decided to let the System dress up as Dracula for Halloween.” The 307 As with most things Kapp & Peterson, there's a back story that yields a bit of historical context. The 2021 Halloween pipe is the Systemic progression of three earlier Dublin-era release, the Samháin (2009), the Dracula 2012 and the Dracula army mount (2018). Each has important historical connections to Ireland and is worth knowing about. The Samháin strut card gives a good overview of the ancient Celtic festival, so I suggest you give it a read. The line seems to have been sold only in 2009 and 2010 and featured a lacquered orange and black contrast stain, vulcanite P-Lip or fishtail with silver hot-foil P and nickel band stamped Peterson in script over a witch on a broom stick over HALLOWEEN in small caps. In it you can see K&P's first steps toward the later Dracula and Halloween pipes, using the orange and black (subtle) palette and the "Yes, I can drive a stick" witch logo (not so subtle). It’s worth noting that Kapp & Peterson became interested in Ireland’s Celtic heritage around 2005 with the extraordinary 2005 POY spigot prince, which was followed by the equally impressive 2008 POY, both featuring Celtic knots stamped (not laser engraved) into the silverwork. But Peterson backed away from the Celtic motif here at the last moment (or so it seems), perhaps deciding to broaden market appeal by using the witch and “Halloween” logo rather than symbols drawn from the ancient festival. The Dracula line, originally called “Dracula 2012,” was designed as…