A Historical and Pictorial Guide To American
Christmas Pipes
1993-1994
The 1993 Christmas Pipe was my concept. I wanted to make the
"Perfect Billiard". A billiard while being the most common of pipe
shapes has a variety of subtle detail. There have been many
successful billiards made over the years. John and I selected a
few of our favorites, the Dunhill LB, a Barling, and a Ser Jacapo,
and quantified the best features of each pipe into our own. We
noticed that the Barling had a slightly ovalled shank which made
the transition from shank to bowl very sharp and defined. A nice
touch. We like the slightly taller nature of the Jacapo and the
graceful round curves of the LB. Put it all together and walla,
The Perfect Billiard! Well. I thought it was a great shape and I
still do. However, it was a commercial flop. Not as bad as the
1990 but nothing could ever be that bad. We still have quite a few
left at all ends of the price spectrum. I guess I set my sites too
high, you'll have to decide for yourself!
The 1994 Christmas Pipe design was solely by John Hayes! To be
honest I didn't like it at first, though it did sell very well and
was quite well received. It's an apple bowl with a lovat shank,
slightly bent. The shank flares into the bowl in a smooth gradual
transition. This generally goes against my grain, as I like sharp
defined transitions between the bowl and shank and have generally
thought of the latter method as sloppy pipe making. Well, I admit
to being wrong. The pipe was quite graceful and a good smoker. I
think I made over 80 pipes ranging from $85 in the sandblast
finish to $300. in a natural straight grain. A few of the high end
pipes are still available.
