Elwood by Les Wood Silver Spigot Bulldog Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates, 9mm

Description

Les Wood and Dolly Wood began their careers in pipes working for Dunhill, with Les working in the silver mounting department, and Dolly working in the finishing department. While at Dunhill, both learned the fundamentals of making pipes, and after marrying and leaving the company, the two began to create pipes of their own. This ultimately led to the creation of L&JS Briars and the Ferndown make, widely considered to be the pinnacle of English handmade pipes. Ferndown pipes are highly coveted by pipe-smokers due to their superlative craftsman(and woman!)ship, whose bowls are oil-cured and which typically feature beautiful silverwork. Sadly, Les and Dolly retired from pipe-making in 2016, making Ferndown pipes rather scarce – especially given how difficult it is to get their owners to part with them. Elwood and L. Wood were the brand names used by Les and Dolly when exporting their pipes to the German market.

Elwood pipes have a funny story to them. Well, I think it’s funny, at least. When Ferndown was on the rise, and Les and Dolly Wood attracted interest from German pipe importers, they were asked to make German-market pipes, typically with 9mm filter bores, as Germans do like their filters. There was just one problem, though: Dan Pipe, Ferndown’s German importer, assumed that their customers would not be able to pronounce “Ferndown.” So, it was suggested that Ferndown pipes would instead be marketed under the name “Ellwood,” a direct phonetic rendition of “L. Wood,” i.e., Leslie Wood. Les had the stamps made (including one for a new stem logo), but then it also turned out that “Ellwood” was already the name of a humidor maker in Germany. Luckily for all involved, when the pipes were stamped, the two “l” letters in “Ellwood” were so close that they were so close together that the impression they left on the bowl looked like just one “l,” so Dan Pipe went with “Elwood” to avoid any intellectual property infringement. The funniest thing, though? German speakers don’t pronounce the letter “W” like English speakers do. They pronounce it like the English “V.” I guess no one cared, the pipes were too good to care about something like that. This one would essentially just be a silver spigot Ferndown Root bulldog by another name—just like Ferndown’s Astleys pipes.

-J.M.

The condition is very good. Minor handling marks and inner rim darkening. The pipe is chambered for 9mm filters as standard, but should accommodate an adapter of some variety if filterless smoking is preferred.

For more information on Les & Dolly’s life in pipes, check out our recent interview with Mr Wood himself: https://www.mbsdpipes.com/from-dunhill-to-ferndown-an-interview-with-les-wood/

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.73 / 18.54mm

Bowl Depth: 1.34″ / 34.03mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 40g