Denicotea Adsorba 218 Rhodesian Smooth Briar Estate Pipe - Vulcanite Saddle 9mm Filter Fishtail Stem, Unsmoked

This one has never been smoked. The chamber is bare, the rim shows no char, and the seller read the stamp on the shank himself: adsorba, with the number 218 beneath it.

This is a Denicotea Adsorba, shape 218, a slightly bent Rhodesian in smooth briar, fitted with a vulcanite saddle stem, a 9mm filter chamber, and a fishtail bit.

Denicotea was founded in 1932 by Willy Heineberg in Cologne, making filters, filter inserts, cigarette holders, and pipes. After the Second World War the firm's headquarters moved to Bergisch Gladbach. The name Denicotea belongs, properly, to the company's silica-gel filter insert - the same word covers the filter itself, the holders built around it, and the pipe lines sold alongside it, a duality the business still carries today under Composing-Studio GmbH.

THE MARKS
- ADSORBA stamp, the line name read from the shank
- (218) shape number, stamped as read
- REAL BRIAR stamp, marking the bowl as briar rather than a composition or meerschaum substitute

The Rhodesian belongs to the bulldog family of shapes: a bowl with a slight forward flare above a shank that steps down rather than tapers smoothly into the stem. This one carries a slight bend, so the stem angles the bit downward before opening into the fishtail slot. The saddle stem is cut with a distinct shoulder where it meets the shank, in contrast to a taper stem that runs in one continuous line - a shoulder that also gives the fingers a clear stopping point when the pipe is gripped. At 47mm across the bowl and 35mm deep, this example sits wide rather than tall, a chamber shape suited to a shorter smoke than a comparably-sized tall billiard would give. The 9mm filter bore runs the length of the shank to the fishtail slot, a wider channel that spreads the draw across two points rather than one round hole.

The finish is smooth, as stated and as stamped; no additional grain or color detail is given beyond what the photographs show. A smooth finish leaves the sanded briar surface open to view under a coat of stain and wax, unlike a sandblast or rustication, which cuts away the softer summer growth to raise the harder rings beneath. On a Rhodesian's broad bowl, a smooth surface gives whatever grain the block carries - straight, flame, or birdseye - a wide, unbroken field across the widest part of the pipe.

Condition: unsmoked. No cake or char is present in the chamber, consistent with a pipe that has not been used.

THE MEASUREMENTS
Length 140mm (5.6") - bowl height 42mm (1.7") - bowl width 47mm (1.9") - chamber depth 35mm (1.4") - chamber diameter 20mm (0.8") - weight 1.8 oz - 9mm filter

Ships from the Faridunhill / Pipe Collectors Encyclopedia archive. Worldwide shipping and professional sanitation on every estate pipe.

SKU: 139