Stanwell 1991 Pipe of the Year Jess Chonowitsch Smooth Straight Brandy Pipe

Stanwell Pipe of the Year 1991, by Jess Chonowitsch: that is how this smooth straight brandy is identified, although the part that would carry the year, the silver plaque of a Pipe of the Year, is missing from it.

It is a straight Stanwell with a rounded brandy bowl, a band stamped 925 at the end of the shank and an S logo on the stem. Condition: pre-smoked, in very good condition; the silver plaque is missing.

Stanwell began in wartime Denmark. "In the year 1942 a pipe production was set up," the maker wrote in a catalogue of about 1982; Poul Nielsen started it, and the first pipes were made of beech. The name Stanwell was registered as a trademark in 1948, under Reg. No. 969-48. From 1952 the firm had new equipment and sold to Europe and the USA, and in 1965 production moved to a new factory in Borup (the maker's own date; other sources give 1969). In that catalogue Stanwell put its share at about 35% of Danish pipe export, sold in about 40 countries.

The shape list compiled by Bas Stevens and McNally credits several Stanwell shapes to Jess Chonowitsch, among them a Canadian (148), a freehand (146) and billiards with conical bowls (139, 141). Danish production ended at the end of 2009; from 2010 the pipes have been made by Barontini in Italy, limited editions excepted.

THE MARKS

- 361, stamped on the shank (faint in the photographs)
- MADE IN DENMARK (not visible in the photographs)
- 925, stamped on the band
- An S logo on the stem

A Stanwell Pipe of the Year carries its year in the silverwork. With the plaque gone, the year 1991 and the name Jess Chonowitsch rest on the pipe's identification as that year's pipe, not on a mark that can be read today. The number 361 is not in the shape list, and its meaning is not given here.

A brandy bowl is rounded and turns in toward the rim, like the glass it is named after. On a straight pipe the bowl, the shank and the stem run in one line, and this stem comes out of the shank at the band. The finish is smooth, and grain lines show on the bowl and the shank. The band is stamped 925, the sterling silver standard mark.

THE MEASUREMENTS

- Length: 150 mm (5.91 in)
- Bowl height: 43 mm (1.69 in)
- Bowl width: 38 mm (1.50 in)
- Chamber diameter: 20 mm (0.79 in)
- Chamber depth: 36 mm (1.42 in)
- Weight: 41 g (1.45 oz)

Ships from the Faridunhill archive. Worldwide shipping and professional sanitation on every estate pipe. SKU: 012