A Historical and Pictorial Guide To American Christmas
Pipes
1989-1990
The 1989 Christmas Pipe marked the end of a remarkable three year run
of great selling Christmas Pipes. The design was suggested by Curt and modified
by John and is very Danish in nature. Arguably the most graceful of the
entire series. We somewhat borrowed the shank in the 1995 pipe. Curt and
I collaborated in is manufacture. I did the lathing and the drilling and
he did the final shaping. I don't recall how many we made but it was a lot.
certainly one of the most successful shapes in terms of sales and design.
1990 was probably the worst of the Christmas Pipes in terms of design
and sales! This pipe was my design and I pushed it from the start. I think
it was a neat unique shape, and in retrospect only one should have been
made. This was the year the new pipe market turned sour but I don't think
I can use that as an excuse for it's failure. The fault is in the design!
All year I had been fiddling with pipes that stood on their own stands.
I got started making Dunhill Cutty (a clay pipe design with the little foot)
for Georgetown Tobacco, that was very successful.I thaen made lots of pipes
with feet on them, I was smitten by the idea and as uniques they worked
well. My idea for the '90 Christmas Pipe was to add a black lucite foot
with a small brass ring accenting it to compliment the same motif in the
stem. I still think its a good idea, possible one ahead of its time, but
only time will tell.....
The pipe did balance upon its stand. The upshot was John had almost
a third of the 80-90 pipes left. Some sold in later years in his Febuary
sale and to later collectors. Eventually I took back what he had left and
converted them into a John Hayes Catalog shape #507, pictured below. At
this point we needed to do something with them! To my knowledge the pipe
pictured above is the only unsold pipe.
This shape is available from John Hayes Tobacconist