Stanwell DM 1997 Sandblast Chubby Apple Danish Championship Estate Pipe

STANWELL, MADE IN DENMARK and DM 1997, stamped on a small smooth panel left in the sandblast at the end of the shank. This is a Stanwell stamped for a Danish slow-smoking championship, dated 1997: a sandblasted straight chubby apple on a black stem with the crowned S.

The letters are the story of this pipe. Stanwell has long supplied pipes for the slow-smoking competitions held across Denmark, and some of those pipes carry initials such as SM, RM or, as here, DM. The M stands for mesterskab, Danish for championship, and the D most likely for Danmarks: a pipe for the Danish national competition. The year is stamped beside the letters.

Stanwell itself was born in wartime. Poul Nielsen began pipe production in 1942, at first in beech, at a time when six Danish factories made beech pipes; five of them closed after the war. The name Stanwell was registered as a trademark in 1948, number 969-48. From 1952 new machines and exports to Europe and the USA followed. The maker's own catalogue puts the move to a new factory in Borup in 1965 (other sources give 1969), and around 1982 Stanwell described itself as about 35 percent of Denmark's pipe exports, in some 40 countries. The Danish factory closed at the end of 2009; from 2010 Barontini in Italy has made the pipes, limited editions aside.

THE MARKS

- STANWELL / MADE IN DENMARK / DM 1997 stamped on a smooth panel at the end of the shank
- The crowned S on the stem

The stamped year dates this pipe exactly: 1997, made in Denmark. It also places it at the change of stem material. It is noted as one of the last models with an ebonite stem, with acrylic adopted as standard in 1998. The dating sources agree on the change but not on its start: one dating guide has acrylic coming in from about 1994 and standard by about 1998, while Bas Stevens' notes put the first acrylic mouthpieces in 1995.

The chubby apple is a round, full bowl on a straight shank, so the pipe sits compact and solid in the palm. The black stem tapers from the shank toward the bit. Please see the photographs for the bit.

The finish is a sandblast over the bowl, the shank and the rim, matte with a slight sheen. Blasting removes the softer wood between the growth rings and leaves the harder rings standing, so the surface has a ridged, rugged feel in the hand. Only the stamp panel was left smooth.

Condition: previously smoked, in very good condition. Please see the photographs.

THE MEASUREMENTS

- Length: 127 mm (5.00 in)
- Bowl height: 44 mm (1.73 in)
- Bowl width: 42 mm (1.65 in)
- Chamber diameter: 20 mm (0.79 in)
- Chamber depth: 37 mm (1.46 in)
- Weight: 44 g (1.55 oz)

Ships from the Faridunhill archive. Worldwide shipping and professional sanitation on every estate pipe. SKU: 539