Peterson Kapruf 120 Sandblast Straight Dublin

This reference example is a straight Dublin from Peterson of Dublin, Ireland, carried in the firm's Kapruf line and bearing the shape number 120. The Dublin is among the oldest recognised bowl forms in pipe making: a chamber whose walls flare outward from a narrower base to a wider rim, giving the profile a distinctive conical taper. In a straight configuration the shank and stem run in a single unbroken line from the bowl to the bit, presenting the shape at its most classical. The bowl here is finished in sandblast, a treatment in which the softer grain of the wood is blasted away to leave the harder growth rings standing in relief, producing a tactile, craggy surface that also lightens the pipe in the hand. The Kapruf name — traditionally read as a compound of the Kapp of Kapp & Peterson and 'rough' — designated the firm's sandblasted finish line, offering the house shapes in a rusticated texture at a time when most Peterson production wore smooth stains. Dating a Peterson is a matter of reading stamps rather than codes, since the firm never employed a systematic factory date-coding scheme. The record therefore rests on the stated identification of brand, line, and shape number, and the honest conclusion is a broad bracket: a Peterson Kapruf 120 of the twentieth century, its precise decade undetermined.