Ben Wade Hand Made Denmark Large Dublin Sitter Vulcanite Saddle Mortise Estate Pipe

Ben Wade in flowing script, and under it, in plain capitals, HAND MADE IN DENMARK. Those two lines tell most of the story before the pipe is even turned over: an English name from Yorkshire, carved by hand in Copenhagen. This is a Ben Wade Danish freehand, brand new, cut as a large Dublin sitter in smooth briar with vertical grain, a plateau face at the shank end and a bent vulcanite saddle stem ending in a fishtail bit.

The name goes back to the reign of Queen Victoria. Benjamin Wade founded his firm in Leeds, Yorkshire, in 1860, and it became known for classic English shapes in small dimensions. Before the Second World War it sold its pipes under three tiers: BEN WADE at the top, BW in the middle and BWL for the budget lines. During the Second World War air raids destroyed the Leeds factory; it was rebuilt after the war.

In 1962 the New York importer Herman G. Lane bought Ben Wade together with Charatan, and in 1965 the Leeds works closed. For a few years Ben Wade pipes were made by machine in London, at Charatan's Prescot Street factory. Then, in February 1971, Lane met the Copenhagen carver Preben Holm, and the name took a new turn: from that meeting came the Danish handmade freehands sold as Ben Wade, carved in Holm's workshop. They were a great success. By Holm's own account he let his staff go at the end of 1985 and closed the factory early in 1986; he died in June 1989. Long after, in 1998, Peter Wilson of Duncan Briars bought the rights from Dunhill and made Ben Wades in London again.

THE MARKS

- Ben Wade (script) / HAND MADE / IN / DENMARK stamped on the shank
- A small gold crown logo with interlaced initials on the stem

The HAND MADE IN DENMARK stamp is the one that dates this pipe. It belongs only to the Preben Holm years of the brand, from 1971 to 1989, and since Holm's workshop closed early in 1986, the pipe was most likely made between 1971 and 1986.

A Dublin is a bowl that widens from the heel toward the rim, so it opens out like a cone; a sitter has a base cut so the pipe can stand on its own on the desk. Here that classic line is taken into freehand country. The bowl is tall and wide, and at the end of the shank the briar is left as plateau, the rough outer surface of the block, where it meets the stem. The rim is smooth. A freehand is shaped to follow the block rather than a chart, which is why no two are the same and why this one carries no shape number.

The finish is smooth, and the grain runs in long vertical lines up the bowl.

The stem is vulcanite, a saddle stem that bends down toward the smoker and is turned with beads near the shank before it flattens into the bit. The fishtail at the tip widens the slot so the draw spreads across the tongue instead of arriving as a single jet, and it sits comfortably in the teeth. There is no filter.

Condition: brand new.

THE MEASUREMENTS

- Length: 158 mm (6.22 in)
- Bowl height: 50 mm (1.97 in)
- Bowl width: 45 mm (1.77 in)
- Chamber diameter: 20 mm (0.79 in)
- Chamber depth: 40 mm (1.57 in)
- Weight: 62 g (2.19 oz)

Ships from the Faridunhill archive. Worldwide shipping and professional sanitation on every estate pipe. SKU: 571