straight volcano pot curvy bottom, oval shank

The shank carries a single word: STANDARD. No model number, no country stamp, no shape code beneath it - just that one word, and the pipe has to do the rest of the talking.

This is a straight volcano pot: a wide, flared bowl set on a curved, rounded base, worked to an oval shank, fitted with a vulcanite saddle stem cut with a fishtail slot. There is no filter; the airway runs straight from the tobacco chamber to the button. The stamp reads STANDARD, and that is the whole of what is written on the briar.

The volcano treatment is one of the older ways of opening up a pot bowl. Where a plain pot keeps its walls close to vertical from base to rim, a volcano flares the upper portion outward, widening the crown noticeably beyond the diameter at the shank. The result reads as squat and broad-shouldered in the hand, with more tobacco capacity for its height than a straight-walled pot of comparable size, and a rim that draws the eye - the flare is the shape's whole personality.

An oval shank is turned, not simply left round off the lathe - the briar is worked down on two axes to give a shank that reads as a flattened ellipse in cross-section. It is a slower cut than a round shank, and it changes how the pipe sits in the hand: an oval profile registers its own orientation by feel. The saddle stem that follows is the other half of that decision. A saddle stem steps down from the shank diameter to a narrower bit, in contrast to a tapered stem that keeps a single continuous line from shank to button; the step gives a firmer platform for the teeth and a clearer visual break between shank and stem. The fishtail slot at the button - a flat opening that widens slightly at the tip rather than a single round hole - spreads the draw across a broader slit, a simple mechanical choice that tends to reduce whistle and gurgle compared with a narrow round bore, without filtering the smoke itself.

That last point matters here because this pipe takes no filter. The airway is a plain, open channel from chamber to bit. An open draw of this kind carries more of the tobacco's flavor and moisture straight through, with nothing intercepting it along the way.

The bowl is the real story: 45mm (1.8in) tall, 38mm (1.5in) wide, with a chamber 40mm (1.6in) deep and 20mm (0.8in) across. That is a fairly tall, narrow chamber for a pot-family shape, giving depth for a long smoke without the wide bore that burns hot and fast. At 1.1 oz it clenches without fatigue.

Condition: the pipe has been smoked previously.

THE MARKS
- STANDARD - the only stamp on the shank; no model number, shape code, or country mark accompanies it

THE MEASUREMENTS
Length 135mm (5.4in) - bowl height 45mm (1.8in) - bowl width 38mm (1.5in) - chamber depth 40mm (1.6in) - chamber diameter 20mm (0.8in) - weight 1.1 oz - bore 9mm

Finish and grain: see the photographs.

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

SKU: 055