Jacques Swan Riens&Co (201) Smooth straight billiard

Open the bowl on this one and the wall is not briar all the way down. A meerschaum liner sits inside the briar shell - two materials, two different smoking qualities, in a single bowl.

The shank is stamped JACQUES SWAN RIENS&CO. and carries the model number (201). The shape is a straight billiard, smooth finish, with an oval shank running into an oval saddle stem in vulcanite, cut with a fishtail slot at the bit.

Set as a liner inside a briar bowl rather than carved as the whole pipe, it gives the smoker that same dry, cool draw while the exterior keeps briar's strength, its capacity to take a stain and a buff, and its resistance to the knocks that a solid meerschaum bowl cannot take. It is a hybrid construction, and it asks more of the maker: the liner has to be fitted to the wood closely enough that the two materials can expand and contract together without cracking the meerschaum or loosening the fit over years of heating and cooling.

The billiard is the reference shape in the pipe world - a cylindrical-to-slightly-conical bowl, a flat base it can stand on, and a shank set in line with the bowl's axis. Every bent, apple, dublin and pot in a catalogue is describing its departure from this one. Here the shank and the stem are both cut oval rather than round, a shaping choice that changes how the shank sits between the fingers and how the bit sits in the mouth. It also asks more of the fitting: the two oval faces, shank and stem, have to be aligned and polished flush at the join, which takes more hand work than a round mortise and tenon ever does.

The mouthpiece is cut with a fishtail slot - the airway widens and splits into a shallow V at the bit rather than staying a single round bore - and the pipe carries no filter. Air travels the shank in a straight, unbroken path from tobacco to lip, which is the most direct draw a pipe can offer, and it is the reason many smokers look specifically for a fishtail, filter-free stem.

This example has been smoked and shows it. No cracks, chips or repairs are noted.

THE MARKS
- Stamped JACQUES SWAN RIENS&CO.
- Model number (201)

THE MEASUREMENTS
Length 145mm (5.8") - bowl height 45mm (1.8") - bowl width 37mm (1.5") - bowl depth 40mm (1.6") - chamber diameter 20mm (0.8") - bore 9mm, no filter fitted - weight 1.5 oz

Finish and grain: see the photographs.

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

SKU: 050