Vuillard Dr Max 620S Saint Claude Smooth Billiard Vulcanite Saddle Stem Estate Pipe

The shank carries a full run of marks in one line: Vuillard, Dr Max, 620S, Saint Claude - a maker's name, a line name, a shape code, and a town, stamped together on a single shank.

This is a smooth straight billiard from the Dr Max line, stamped with the shape code 620S and the town Saint Claude. The bowl is briar. The stem is vulcanite, cut in a saddle profile, with a fishtail slot at the bit. The pipe carries no filter. The seller reports it pre-owned and in very good condition.

Bowl: briar
Stem: vulcanite
Mouthpiece: fishtail
Filter: none
Stamped: "Vuillard Dr Max 620S Saint claude"

THE MARKS
- "Vuillard Dr Max 620S Saint claude" stamped on the shank - the only marking present on the pipe.

The billiard is the reference shape of the pipe world: a cylindrical bowl set vertically on a round shank, its walls running parallel from rim to heel with no flare and no taper into the chamber. Every other bowl shape is described, sooner or later, by how it departs from this one. On this example the chamber runs 20mm across and 44mm deep against a 50mm bowl height - a tall, narrow column of tobacco rather than a short, wide one, which tends to burn slower and cooler through the lower half of a bowl than a shallow chamber of the same diameter. The stem meets the shank at a saddle - a squared step down in profile rather than a smooth taper - a junction that is simpler to true if the vulcanite ever needs to be reworked, and reads as a clean, deliberate line against the round shank rather than a continuous curve. The fishtail slot at the button end opens the airway into two flat wings around a wide gap, spreading the draw across the tongue instead of pulling it through a single round bore the way a drilled airway does. With no filter fitted, the airway runs straight from tobacco to bit with nothing narrowing the draw in between.

Finish and grain: see the photographs. What the note establishes is that the surface is smooth - sanded to bare briar rather than left rusticated or sandblasted. A smooth finish puts the block's own figure on open display: straight grain, flame, or birdseye, whatever the wood carries, is visible under the stain with nothing to hide behind. Whether this example runs tight straight grain or a mixed figure is a matter for the photographs, not the stamp.

Condition: the seller reports this pipe as pre-owned, in very good condition. No cracks, chips, or repairs are noted. Refer to the photographs for oxidation tone on the vulcanite and any rim wear.

THE MEASUREMENTS
- Length: 142.0mm (5.6")
- Bowl height: 50.0mm (2.0")
- Bowl width: 40.0mm (1.6")
- Chamber diameter: 20.0mm (0.8")
- Chamber depth: 44.0mm (1.7")
- Weight: 46.0g (1.6 oz)

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

SKU: 128