Comoy’s (1940s) Extraordinaire 309XL Canadian 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.

“Extraordinaire” was a designation Comoy’s applied to several of their lines whenever one of its pipes was, simply put, extraordinary. Extraordinaires earned this title by having superior grain and were often larger pipes than Comoy’s ordinarily offered. Hence, this Canadian is indeed large by traditional Anglo-French standards (though is no less a featherweight), and has a bowl covered in tight, bird’s-eye, interlaced with tiger-stripe cross-grain. Based on the slightly arched, Comoy’s nomenclature and three-part C stem inlay, I would estimate this pipe to have been made some time between 1939 and the late 1940s.

The condition is good. Some wear to the rim, including a couple of spots of charring, some tooth chatter on the stem, and slight handling marks. Nicely preserved for its age.

Details:

Length: 6.5″ / 165.1mm

Bowl Width: 0.84 / 21.33mm

Bowl Depth: 1.55″ / 39.37mm

Weight: 1.1oz / 32g