This was a turbulent period for the company with the outbreak of World war 1 and the start of the Easter uprising in 1916. The K&P shop was extensively damaged during the military action at this time (see attached newspaper report). 1895 Kapp & Peterson moved to bigger premises at 111 Grafton Street Dublin and also opened a new depot in Broad Street London.
Those who malign the brand because they’re made by the hundreds using machines, are very wrong, in my opinion. I like them a lot and the bang for the buck is the best I’ve ever seen for new pipes of this quality. When Tom Palmer bought the Peterson business at the beginning of the nineteen nineties’, he adopted the policy captain black tobacco of “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. Basically sticking wisely to what the business had historically been famous for, good quality, value for money, popular, classic shaped pipes. At the end of the eighties just as the Sherlock Holmes range was being issued, Peterson reintroduced the modern Captain Pete series.
Innovations like this are what set Peterson apart as pipe to be taken seriously. The Peterson Tobacco Company has been a family business since 1865 and has been chacom tobacco pipes manufacturing pipe tobacco that is famous throughout the world. I am confident that the future looks bright for the modern Peterson era of pipe manufacture.
1900 K & P exhibited with great success at the Paris International exhibition winning several gold medals and accolades for the quality of their pipes. Fredrick Henry Kapp, son of Alfred and known as Harry, joined his father’s business in 1914 at the outbreak of the first World War. At some time around 1874 Fredrick moved to Dublin.while brother George remained in London until his death 5 years later. Fredrick and his young family settled in the Rathmines district of Dublin. In July of the same year he opened a new shop in 53 Grafton Street selling Briar and Meerschaum pipes. Peterson pipes are beautiful and carved for both aesthetics and immense smoking pleasure for both the experienced pipe smoker and the beginner.
This one is a bent billiard with a rectangular shank, band and saddle stem. I will know more once I have it in hand to clean and restore. The nickel ferrule is made for the filter style stem that holds a Savinelli Balsa Filter. Another of the older briars was made sometime between the late 1890s and early 1900s. The idea behind this is; the smoke leaving the smaller diameter and entering the larger diameter will expand and slow down, thus dropping more moisture before entering your mouth. To some people the cleaning of system pipes can appear to be problematic, in fact they are in most cases easy to clean.
Normally with the newer unsmoked high grades that come into my collection, they remain un smoked. However I made an exception with this beauty and boy it was worth it. The Grafton is rated by Peterson as one of their Higher Grades along with the Royal Irish and the Rosslare Royal Irish.
On the System Standards and other less expensive systems, this extension with be made of Vulcanite turned integrally with the stem. On the more expensive System pipes this extension will be made of metal which screws into the Vulcanite stem. This extension on the earlier pipes will be of brass and the newer pipes will be of aluminium. Most smokers not knowing this function of the metal extension, assumes that it is a condenser/stinger and will remove it as they do with the metal condensers of Kaywoodie, etc. Should you have a System pipe with this metal extension, do not remove it for it will make the System function properly and give you a dryer smoke.
On Peterson’s bands, it reads “K&P” for Frederic Kapp and Charles Peterson, the company’s founders. On this page, you will find all of the Sherlock Holmes line’s designs, as well as all the other lines (Standard, Aran, St-Patrick’s day pipes…) that have contributed to the brand’s success for more than 150 years. Today, more than 150 years later, our patented System pipes and Classic designs can be found in brick and mortar and online retailer shops across the globe. We’ve seen enormous change in our century-and-a-half of pipemaking. Our retail store and factory have moved locations and our ownership has changed hands over the decades. I had seen this pipe on many occasions when I had previously visited Bonds E bay site.