Wessex XL 125 Black Sandblast Full Bent Oom Paul Pipe, Made in France, Unsmoked

Hand Made, WESSEX and Made in France are stamped in an oval on the shank, with XL 125 above it. This is a black sandblast full bent oom paul from Wessex, with a vulcanite saddle stem that ends in a fishtail mouthpiece, and a bore for a 9mm filter. It is a unique piece, and it is unsmoked.

Wessex has a long and mixed history. According to Jose Manuel Lopes in Pipes, Artisans and Trademarks, Wessex was first a brand of Hall & Fitzgerald Co, a wholesaler of pipes, fancy goods and tobacconists' supplies, whose hallmark was first registered in England in 1899. The brand was later produced in France by Chacom, in Saint-Claude.

The same source links Wessex to the Wessex Tobacco Company, formed in London in the early 1980s by a group of pipe tobacco experts, and says some models were drawn by the German architect and designer Peter Kliem and made in Saint-Claude factories. The name has also been used by Denicotea. The "Made in France" in this oval places the pipe in the French production.

THE MARKS
- Hand Made, in the oval on the shank
- WESSEX, in the center of the oval
- Made in France, in the oval
- XL 125, stamped above the oval

The oom paul is a full bent shape: the shank drops under the bowl and the stem curves back up. It is 150 mm long, with a bowl 51 mm high and 37 mm wide, and a wide chamber of 30 mm.

The sandblast covers the bowl and the shank in a black finish. A sandblast is made by blasting the shaped bowl, so the softer wood wears away and the harder growth rings stand up, and no two blasts come out the same. A narrow silver-colored ring sits at the end of the shank, where the vulcanite saddle stem joins. The stem ends in a fishtail mouthpiece, and the pipe takes a 9mm filter.

XL 125 is not explained in our records, so we do not read a size grade or shape name into it.

THE MEASUREMENTS
- Length: 150 mm (5.91 in)
- Bowl height: 51 mm (2.01 in)
- Bowl width: 37 mm (1.46 in)
- Chamber diameter: 30 mm (1.18 in)
- Chamber depth: 45 mm (1.77 in)
- Weight: 65 g (2.29 oz)

Ships from the Faridunhill archive. Worldwide shipping and professional sanitation on every estate pipe. SKU: 601