Jean Claude 293 Smooth Bent Apple Estate Pipe - Vulcanite Saddle Stem, 9mm Filter, Fishtail Bit

The shank is stamped Jean Claude 293. That is the whole of what the stamp tells us, and it is exactly what we print here - no attributed factory, no claimed era, no invented pedigree behind the name.

What stands in front of you is a bent apple in smooth-finished briar, fitted with a vulcanite saddle stem cut with a fishtail bit and bored for a 9mm filter. The shape is a bent apple, as stated on intake, and the stamp reads Jean Claude followed by the number 293. We take that number as a shape or model code and quote it exactly as stamped, without guessing at a catalogue system it might belong to.

The apple is one of the oldest patterns in the briar repertoire: a rounded bowl, fuller through the middle than a billiard and without the sharp shoulder of a bulldog, curving continuously back into the shank rather than stepping down to it. Bend that same bowl and shank downward and you get a bent apple - the rounded profile stays, but the bit meets the mouth at a more relaxed angle than a straight pipe allows, and the bowl rides lower in the hand. It is a shape smokers return to for long sessions, since the curve takes weight off the front teeth and lets the pipe hang naturally in a relaxed grip.

The saddle stem is built for that same comfort. Where a tapered stem narrows steadily from shank to button, a saddle stem holds close to its full thickness through most of its length before stepping down at the bit, leaving a shoulder a smoker's teeth can find without looking. It is a common choice on bent pipes because the extra material at the base of the stem gives the vulcanite enough substance to hold a bend without thinning out at the point where a taper would already be at its narrowest.

The bit is cut fishtail: the airway widens and flattens toward the button instead of remaining a single round bore, spreading the draw across a slot rather than delivering smoke through one narrow point. That pairs naturally with the 9mm filter chamber bored into the shank, sized to accept a paper or charcoal filter of that diameter, which cools and dries the smoke before it reaches the bit. A smoker can run the pipe with a filter fitted or leave the chamber open; the bore accommodates either.

On this example the bowl stands 49.0mm tall and 43.0mm across, with a chamber 20.0mm in diameter and 42.0mm deep - a generously sized chamber that holds a full bowl of tobacco and rewards a slow, steady cadence over a quick smoke. The finish is smooth: the briar sanded and polished rather than sandblasted or rusticated, so the surface shows the wood itself rather than a textured or carved treatment. Finish and grain: see the photographs.

THE MARKS
- Jean Claude 293 - stamped on the shank, quoted exactly as it reads. No additional makers mark, country stamp, or grade indicator is stated.

Condition: very good, as assessed at intake. The pipe has been smoked; it is offered as an estate piece rather than pre-smoked.

THE MEASUREMENTS
- Length: 33.0mm
- Bowl height: 49.0mm
- Bowl width: 43.0mm
- Chamber diameter: 20.0mm
- Chamber depth: 42.0mm
- Weight: 52.0g

Ships from the Faridunhill / Pipe Collectors Encyclopedia archive. Worldwide shipping and professional sanitation on every estate pipe.
SKU: 052