MAXIM Hand Made (908) Sandblast Bent Billiard Vulcanite Saddle Stem Fishtail Estate Pipe

The shank is stamped MAXIM HAND MADE, with the number 908 beneath it. No other name appears on this pipe, and none is invented here.

This is a bent billiard in sandblasted briar, fitted with a vulcanite saddle stem cut to a fishtail slot at the bit. No filter is fitted. The 908 is the only shape reference stamped on the piece; it is quoted exactly as stamped, without reading further into what the number means beyond marking this example within whatever series it belonged to.

Sandblasting is one of the two classic ways to finish a briar pipe, the other being a smooth polish that leaves the surface of the wood untouched. A sandblast is cut, not painted on. Compressed air drives an abrasive against the bowl, and because the soft early-growth wood erodes faster than the dense growth rings laid down later in the tree's life, the hard rings stand proud once the blasting is done. What is left is a ridged, almost topographic surface that a smooth finish could never show - a sandblast makes visible the very structure a polished pipe only hints at through its grain lines. Collectors use the term old school for a blast that reads deep and irregular, worked by hand rather than run through a uniform tumbling process. A blast of that character rewards handling as much as looking, since the ridges are meant to be felt as well as seen.

THE MARKS
- MAXIM HAND MADE, stamped on the shank
- Model number 908, stamped beneath the name

The billiard is the oldest and most standardized shape in the pipe world: a round bowl of even wall thickness set on a shank built for balance in the hand and an even burn across the chamber. This example takes the bent variant, where shank and stem curve downward from the bowl rather than running straight out from it. A bent billiard sits differently in the mouth than its straight sibling and is often chosen for exactly that reason - it shifts the pipe's center of gravity and changes how comfortably it clenches between the teeth. The bowl stands 48mm tall with a 35mm outside diameter and a 40mm deep chamber, proportions that put it toward the fuller end of a standard billiard rather than a small pipe or a slim churchwarden-scaled bowl. The saddle stem - stepping down from the shank in a distinct ridge rather than tapering smoothly into it - carries a fishtail bit, the flared, two-pronged slot at the tip that spreads the draw across a wider opening than a simple round hole would allow. With no filter fitted, the smoke travels the full bore from tobacco to lip with nothing placed in between, which generally means a more direct, unrestricted draw than a filtered pipe of the same bore gives.

Finish and grain: see the photographs.

Condition: sold as a pre-smoked estate pipe in vintage good condition. The rim shows darkening consistent with use. The stem carries bite marks. No cracks, fills, or repairs are noted.

THE MEASUREMENTS
Length 127mm (5.1") - bowl height 48mm (1.9") - outside bowl diameter 35mm (1.4") - chamber depth 40mm (1.6") - chamber diameter 20mm (0.8") - weight 1.43 oz

Ships from the Faridunhill / Pipe Collectors Encyclopedia archive. Worldwide shipping and professional sanitation on every estate pipe.
SKU: 032