Vintage Shapes

 THE DROPS Smokingpipes.com:  Monday, December 15 (6:00pm ET) Smokingpipes Europe: Monday, December 15 (Dublin, 10am / GMT+0) (Per Federica Bruno: “There will be a small selection of 9mm available on SPE.”)  At long last, they’re here: the 160th Anniversary Pat B (Bent) and Pat OB (Straight). This is a project that in a sense has been in the making since the Laudisi era of Kapp & Peterson’s history began in 2018.  I don’t know how long the start-to-finish of the actual work, but I suspect more than a year, as I received this R&D photo back in February, which had to be several months after planning: R&D of the Cased Set My purpose this morning is more celebratory than anything else, but I do want to document the finishes, talk about the name, and look at aspects of their smoking properties. But let’s begin with a look at finishes that are scheduled for release: FINISHES The 160th  Peterson Anniversary pipes will be sold separately in a series of 2400 numbered pipes for each shapes and include the following finishes: For the 160th Anniversary pipes, per Andy Wike, Smokingpipes will have the following: Rusticated Heritage Dark Smooth Sandblast Terracotta Rua Natural Barley Rusticated   Heritage   Dark Smooth   Sandblast   Terracotta   Rua - Natural - Barley. I've been told there will be separates of these three finishes as well, but don't have any photos to show you.   The 25th Smokingpipes Anniversary will be sold as a cased set with matching numbers in a series of 75. Per Glen Whelan & Andy Wike, the 75 numbered sets will feature the following configurations, available only at SPC: Natural Natural Cap Supreme Smooth Supreme Sandblast Rua Rua Cap PSB PSB Cap Terracotta Cap I'm really pleased to be able to show you this rarity--actually 1/75, a Supreme set. I don't normally see these, but thought it would be great to show them. This set is also pictured in the banner.    WHAT’S IN A NAME? Reviewing the shape index in The Historic 1906 Catalog, I see there are only eight named shapes in the entire catalog, all of them found in the “Peterson’s Patent Lip Pipes” or section, which begins on page 58.  It doesn’t entirely satisfy me that the name of the bent and straight Pat is simply a clipping for “Patent.” Why this shape and not one of the other named or numbered shapes?  But if not patent, then what does it mean? The word pat has enough meanings to make me slightly dizzy: There’s that lump of something that might be butter that’s ice cold and never melts on the room temperature roll you get at the restaurant. There’s the light taps on the forearm or shoulder you give a friend who’s just missed out on the 160th Anniversary pipe while you say, “Tut, tut, old man! There’s always another pipe.” There’s the old informal and sometimes derogatory term for an Irishman, always used in Pat and Mike jokes, like this…