Are Peterson pipes still made in Ireland?

[bent bulldog]

Hello fellow pipers: Like many collectors of classic shape pipes I have a preconceived bias in favor of collecting and smoking pipes from the British Isles and Ireland. Now, I know having collected these things for over 45 years that yes, there may be some truth to the rumors one hears about Dunhills actually being turned in Italy or Petersons being turned somewhere on the continent, possibly Spain. However, even knowing that, there is something enticing and attractive to impossible anglophiles like me about the shank of a briar bearing the inscription "made in London" or "made in England, and in Peterson's case "made in Ireland" or "made in the Republic of Ireland" or even better "made in the Irish Free State". However, lately, I guess in the past couple of years those words have been absent from the newer Petersons. The newer pipes usually have a rather weasely wording like "Peterson's of Dublin" which really doesn't say where the pipe is made. right? So the obvious question for the coterie is does anybody out there have any ideas about where these pipes are made and how much of the pipe making process is completed outside of Ireland before the pipe is completed? Thanks for the help.

 

[Richard Burley]

I don't know, but the company will answer e-mail inquiries, in my experience.

 

[Briar Spirit]

This may be of interest to you: http://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson#Peterson_Today

 

[SpeedyPete]

I was made to believe that Peterson pipes are made in London by the same company that make Dunhill pipes. Btw, I also believe they make Rolex watches and Rolls Royce cars :evil:

I sometimes wonder whether the "owners" of different tobacco and/or pipe brands still know who makes what :twisted:

 

[monbla256]

I was made to believe that Peterson pipes are made in London by the same company that make Dunhill pipes. Btw, I also believe they make Rolex watches and Rolls Royce cars  :evil:

I sometimes wonder whether the "owners" of different tobacco and/or pipe brands  still know who makes what :twisted:

And I've heard all of these Co's are owned by VW so watch out how it smokes on the road !! :twisted: :twisted:

 

[SpeedyPete]

I was made to believe that Peterson pipes are made in London by the same company that make Dunhill pipes. Btw, I also believe they make Rolex watches and Rolls Royce cars  :evil:

I sometimes wonder whether the "owners" of different tobacco and/or pipe brands  still know who makes what :twisted:

And I've heard all of these Co's are owned by VW so watch out how it smokes on the road !! :twisted: :twisted:

:lol!: :lol!:

 

[lb]

a good friend from spain told me some years ago that most of the petersons (if not all) are made from spanish briar. he also told me that many dunhills bowls are cut in spain from spanish briar. i do not know if the finished product , but at least the first step is made in spain from spanish briar.

 

[monbla256]

a good friend from spain told me some years ago that most of the petersons (if not all) are made from spanish briar. he also told me that many dunhills bowls are cut in spain from spanish briar. i do not know if the finished product , but at least the first step is made in spain from spanish briar.

And then there is the word from others that they get their bowls done in France from Algerian briar and the same for Dunhill I've heard as well. Does it REALLY MATTER ? :twisted: :twisted: If they are made well, smoke well they could be made in Sri Lanka for whatever that would mean !! :twisted: :twisted:

 

[lb]

no , it does not matter . i understand dunhill sources are from several places , france and spain included.

 

[Wet Dottle]

Well... It may not matter if all you want is to smoke the pipe, but it matters to collectors that are interested in knowing more about the product they have. But no doubt forums are a great source of disinformation.

 

[monbla256]

Well... It may not matter if all you want is to smoke the pipe, but it matters to collectors that are interested in knowing more about the product they have. But no doubt forums are a great source of disinformation.

Since I'm mainly a smoker the "collecting" thing did not occur to me! Oh well :twisted: :twisted:

 

[bent bulldog]

Thanks folks for all the input. As several of you mentioned from a purely smoking point of view it probably doesn't matter where the pipe is made and let's face it when I seem to receive a sweeter cooler smoke from a 50 year old Dunhill than from a new $40 second it may be mainly a psychological reaction on my part as to the superiority of the older pipe and may have nothing to do with the pipe itself. However, that being said, the satisfaction one gets from smoking an old pipe made from ancient briar hand finished in England or Ireland (or wherever your favorite country of origin may be), even if mainly psychological . . . . isn't that just as valid a reaction as if the briar were objectively superior? For example, smoking a pipe with several large putty fills puts me off although I know those fills probably having little to do with the quality of the experience, many other have no problem with that and that's just fine, different strokes for different folks. There is room for all of us under the big Briar Brothers tent. Anyway it's all good and thanks again for the input.

 

[Sasquatch]

It's way more likely that the Dunhill smokes better because it has a really well cut stem (I am talking internal dynamics). That smooth perfect draw on an empty Dunhill tells a big story.

I've talked to lots of big-time pipe makers who have said "The pipe is the stem, plain and simple." I didn't really believe it, and I still think briar plays a role, but you can take a magic block of briar, carve a pipe, oil cure it, and jam a poorly made stem into it... and it'll smoke like crap.

Likewise, I've made pipes from Spanish, Greek, Italian, Agerian wood, and.... pretty much they smoke just great if you take care of the details in construction.

There are NUANCED variations in briar by source (and even moreso by mill). They don't dominate a pipe.

Seek not for magic wood, seek for properly built pipes.

 

[Brewdude]

It's way more likely that the Dunhill smokes better because it has a really well cut stem (I am talking internal dynamics).   That smooth perfect draw on an empty Dunhill tells a big story.  

I've talked to lots of big-time pipe makers who have said "The pipe is the stem, plain and simple." I didn't really believe it, and I still think briar plays a role, but you can take a magic block of briar, carve a pipe, oil cure it, and jam a poorly made stem into it... and it'll smoke like crap.  

Likewise, I've made pipes from Spanish, Greek, Italian, Agerian wood, and.... pretty much they smoke just great if you take care of the details in construction.  

There are NUANCED variations in briar by source (and even moreso by mill).   They don't dominate a pipe.  

Seek not for magic wood, seek for properly built pipes.  

There's a lot of wisdom here. Thanks Sasq.


Cheers,

RR

 

[SpeedyPete]

no , it does not matter . i understand dunhill sources are from several places , france and spain included.

I don't know where Dunhill buy their briar but I do not they buy the cheapest and worst available.  This is obvious because they can only use 5% of the briar they buy.  The other 95% go down the drain.  And they themselves confess to this

 

[bent bulldog]

Come to think of it, Sasquatch is right on the nose about the importance of the stem. I have smoked a few Dunhill estates with replacement stems and it is not nearly as enjoyable as the ones with the original stem intact. However, I do have to take exception to the conclusion reached by Speedypete concerning the quality of the wood on the Dunhill pipes. Just because they reject 95% of the briar in favor of 5% doesn't mean the entire batch of briar is cheap quality. In fact, I would contend that just the opposite is true, that is the trademark of a very demanding quality control department. Think about it, if a company were able to glean 5% of the briar batch with clear briar, no blemishes I,n the wood why wouldn't all the pipe companies be offering pipes with no flaws, pits of fills in the bowls. I have never seen a Dunhill with a fill of pit after 45 years in the pipe business. Nor have I ever seen a Dunhill burn out.

 

[monbla256]

I ddn't realize this thread was about Dunhill pipes, I thought it was about Petersons!! But this is Bob, the home of thread hijacking !! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

 

[Sasquatch]

Well, what we're talking about broadly is how much it matters if a brand of pipe is farming out their manufacturing process.  

Face it, Peterson made pipes out of Ireland.   Briar is Mediterranean.   So it's an import.   At this stage, Peterson and Dunhill are both pretty candid about having at least some of their bowl shapes cut outside of their shop.   So, okay, again, what's the difference, really?  Then a partially cut bowl is completed, given a stem, sanded etc at the factory in Ireland.  Whether the Spanish briar is machined in Italy or Ireland won't affect how it smokes.    

It's a Peterson because it says "Peterson" on the pipe.   But the materials used now are not the very same - briar cutters come and go, ebonite manufacturers come and go, the people in the shop die of old age and are replaced (or outsourced).  

If the provenance of your pipe means a great deal to you, then you have to buy provenencially guaranteed pipes.   I know the guy I buy briar from, I know where my stem material comes from, and I know each and every employee in my shop.  That doesn't guarantee a good pipe.  But it's fun to know that stuff.  And if I can MAKE a good pipe, the provenance of the briar etc helps me to achieve consistency.  That is something Peterson for example, quite obviously does not care a rat's ass about, and Dunhill, on the other end of the equation, seems to "get".  I don't agree exactly with how Dunhills are built, but they have been basically identical inside for a very, very long time.  Petersons... hell, open up two system pipes and the stem is different inside.   Non-system pipes are different again and the Sherlock pipes different again.  Supremes and House Pipes have a stinger.  P-lip, Fishtail, vulcanite, acrylic... Peterson does it all!  

The pipes are still "Made in Ireland" exactly the same way a car is "Made in America" from foreign and domestic parts.  There is still a factory in Ireland, peopled with pipe-makery types, fitting, sanding, staining, polishing.   Are they making every pipe in-house from raw materials?  Of course not.   You know who does?  Castello.  And just have a quick peek at the price difference.

 

[bent bulldog]

Sasquatch is right on!!! I could not have said it better. Amen.

 

[Richard Burley]

Sasquatch is right on!!! I could not have said it better. Amen.

Agreed, with quibble: substitute "provenance" for "providence," unless the subject has somehow veered skyward, at which point some of the ecclesiastics on board might want to take up the discussion.