Comoy’s Blue Riband 159 Smooth Apple Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

Description

Comoy’s is a historic brand in pipe making, and possibly the most historic brand in the making of briar pipes. Though originally founded in 1825 by a French family from Saint Claude, France, production of Comoy’s pipes was soon moved to London, England, where it established itself as one of the quintessential English pipe companies.

A “riband” is, essentially, an archaic version of the English “ribbon,” but the term exists today as part of the idiom of the “blue riband,” an award given for outstanding performance above all others. Like the Dunhill Dead Root or the Sasieni Specially Selected, Comoy’s introduced the Blue Riband in the early 20th century as a grade bestowed on their very best pipes. As one mid-century advertisement puts it, the Blue Riband signified “[t]he undisputed masterpiece at the pinnacle of Comoy’s achievement”, with its strict requirements meaning that only around “one bowl in every thousand” would make the cut and become a Blue Riband pipe. From even a cursory look, this slender apple is indeed a very beautiful pipe, with quite mesmerizing flame grain. Based on the three-part C stem logo, this pipe will have been made prior to 1980 and the Cadogan Investments merger that took place in the first years of that decade. Based on the country of manufacture stamp (“Made in London” over “England”), it will be a post-war piece. So, its production will have been circa 1945-1980.

The condition is very good. Some minor darkening and finish fading on the rim, and a slight over-buffing of the stem, but nothing major.

 

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.75 / 19.05mm

Bowl Depth: 1.18″ / 29.97mm

Weight: 0.9oz / 26g