Stanwell Sterling 66 Smooth Stack Estate Briar Pipe, Danish Estates

Description

Stanwell is one of Denmark’s most celebrated and enduring pipe companies, having been founded by Poul Nielsen shortly after the second world war. Over the last six decades, Stanwell has established itself as both a leader in innovative Danish design and for producing well-priced pipes with precision construction and engineering. Many of its designs were created for the company by iconic pipe-makers in the Scandinavian scene, such as Sixten Ivarsson, Anne Julie, Jess Chonowitsch, and Tom Eltang.

As far as I understand, the Sterling was a line introduced by in the mid-1970s. Intuitively, its fundamental distinction from most other Stanwell pipes was the addition of a sterling silver collar, though it does appear that Stanwell also chose stummels with nicer than average grain for such pipes as well. This one does indeed nice grain, with a good mixture of flame grain and bird’s-eye, but what stuck out to me about this particular pipe was something else: the shape. I’ve handled a lot of Stanwells over the years, but I can’t remember the last time I even saw a 66. From surviving catalogs, it seems the shape debuted in the 1960s, but it is not present in any I’ve viewed from around 1982 onward. This is reasonable in retrospect, given Stanwell’s increasingly sharp turn away from most “English” shapes until quite recently, but at the same time, I don’t think shapes like this one are as appreciated as they should be. Stack bowls are, for a start, simply wonderful for handling flake cuts, and the featherweight proportions on this one, despite its deep chamber, make it a real winner, I’d say. On a last note, based on the date this model would have been produced, along with its vulcanite stem and white, printed “S” logo, it will have been a Danish-made Stanwell from the iconic Borup factory, circa 1969-1998 (though as mentioned, likely closer to 1969-1982).

The condition is good. Some wear to the rim, including a couple of spots of charring, but nonetheless well preserved.

 

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.76 / 19.30mm

Bowl Depth: 1.81″ / 45.97mm

Weight: 1.1oz / 32g