Steve Waddell for 1985 PCI St Louis Freehand Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Steve Waddell was an American artisan pipe-maker from Iowa. A highly decorated freehand carver, Waddell won various awards for his work, including from France’s prestigious Confrérîe des Maîtres-Pipers de Saint-Claude. Waddell passed away in 2016.

If you’ve followed some of our other listings, you may already be familiar with the story of Pipe Collectors International (PCI for short), or you may simply have already been familiar. For those who aren’t, I’ll provide a brief summary, liberally reproduced from another listing. In 1983, an American pipe collector named Bruce Spencer created a magazine for fellow pipe collectors, called Pipe Smoker. In tandem with Pipe Smoker, he founded Pipe Collectors International, a kind of pipe club that the magazine would be the publishing arm of. PCI members also had special, annual pipes made for them, by individuals and companies such as Preben Holm, Becker, and Stanwell. Ultimately, in 1989, PCI and Pipe Smoker were dissolved. What I neglected to mention is that PCI held pipe shows and competitions, just like, for example, the Greater Kansas City Pipe Club (GKCPC). Though I can’t be completely sure, I think that this is a pipe entered by Steve Waddell into a 1985 PCI competition (and if I’m wrong, please do let me know), as I know for a fact that Waddell did enter—and win—other PCI competitions. I also know that PCI members had a choice for their 1985 pipe of the year, but that was only between Stanwell and Steven and Roswitha Anderson of S&R Woodcrafters. That’s not to detract from this pipe, on the other hand, which is a beautiful, straight grain freehand with a figural “PCI” carving on the front, much in keeping with what Waddell was partly known for. Plus, if I’m right, this pipe is wholly unique, unlike the PCI pipes of the year, which were limited edition series.

-J.M.

This pipe is completely unsmoked.

 

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.81 / 20.57mm

Bowl Depth: 1.75″ / 44.45mm

Weight: 2.1oz / 62g