Peterson Dublin & London 106 P-Lip

This reference example documents a Peterson pipe from the Dublin & London line, carrying shape number 106 and fitted with the maker's signature P-Lip mouthpiece. The P-Lip is among the most recognisable bit designs in pipe history: rather than exiting through a conventional horizontal slot, the smoke channel is drilled upward through the button, directing smoke toward the roof of the mouth. Peterson patented this graduated-bore mouthpiece at the close of the nineteenth century, and it has remained a hallmark of the house ever since, distinguishing Peterson pipes at a glance from the output of virtually every other factory. The Dublin & London designation belongs to the firm's family of named series, its title recalling the company's historic retail presence in both capitals. The numeral 106 places the pipe within Peterson's long-standing numbered shape chart, the catalogue system by which the factory has organised its classic forms across many decades of production. Dating a Peterson presents a particular challenge, because the firm never employed a factory date code. Students of the marque instead read the country-of-manufacture stamp — wordings such as 'Made in the Irish Free State', 'Made in Eire', and 'Made in the Republic of Ireland' each correspond to distinct political and production periods — and, where a sterling band is present, the Dublin hallmark letters that assign a precise year. In this instance the record rests on the owner's identification of brand, line, shape number, and mouthpiece type, and the honest conclusion is an era bracket left open within Peterson's twentieth- and twenty-first-century production. The pipe is preserved here as a documented estate example of the Dublin & London line and of the enduring P-Lip system.