Prince of Was London Made Real Sandblast PR-815 - Straight Prince Apple Pot Estate Pipe

The shank carries an unusual stamp: PRINCE OF WAS, LONDON MADE, REAL SANDBLAST, PR-815 - four lines, read exactly as they were struck into the briar. We print it as it reads, without correction and without guessing at what it was meant to say.

This is a straight-shanked prince - the seller's own word for it is apple-pot, a bowl that carries the rounded shoulders of an apple with the lower, broader stance of a pot. The finish is a full sandblast. The mouthpiece is a tapered acrylic stem, cut with a fishtail slot, with no filter fitted - the bore runs open from bit to bowl.

No verified history for this maker is held in our reference material, so none is offered here. What can be said with certainty is what is stamped on the pipe, and what can be taught with certainty is the shape and the process behind it.

The prince shape sits between the apple and the pot in the catalogue lineage of round bowls: fuller in the shoulder than a true apple, more rounded through the bowl wall than a true pot, with a shank set straight off the heel rather than curved. It is a shape meant to be held rather than clenched for long stretches - the broad bowl base gives it a stable seat on a table or a shelf, and the straight shank keeps the stem's weight in line with the bowl rather than pulling to one side. A fishtail slot at the bit spreads the airway into a flattened opening rather than a single round hole, which is the traditional answer to keeping draw open and consistent without a filter element doing the work.

Sandblasting is a finishing process that removes the softer summer growth from the surface of the briar and leaves the harder winter growth standing proud, so the ring pattern of the wood becomes a raised, tactile relief rather than a flat, polished surface. On a well-blasted bowl the grain reads under the thumb as well as under the eye - ridges and valleys following the same lines that a smooth finish would only show as color. It is a finish chosen as much for what it hides as what it reveals: small surface fills and minor flaws in the outer briar are far less visible once the surface is textured this way.

THE MARKS
- PRINCE OF WAS - stamped on the shank, read exactly as struck
- LONDON MADE - stamped on the shank
- REAL SANDBLAST - stamped on the shank
- PR-815 - stamped shape/model code, quoted as stamped

This pipe has been smoked. The seller grades its condition as very good. No cracks, chips, or repairs are noted.

THE MEASUREMENTS
Length 158mm (6.2 in) - Bowl height 34mm (1.3 in) - Bowl width 37mm (1.5 in) - Chamber diameter 20mm (0.8 in) - Chamber depth 29mm (1.1 in) - Weight 32g (1.1 oz)

Finish and grain: see the photographs.

A broad-bowled straight prince in full sandblast, an open bore with no filter to restrict the draw, and a shank stamping that names its own reading plainly.

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

SKU: 28