A Historical and Pictorial Guide To American
Christmas Pipes
1991-1992
The 1991 Christmas Pipe was in a sense a no brainer design wise.
We simply took a shape Curt had come up with in 1990 and we
advertised as one of our catalog shapes. Those of you familiar
with these shapes will recognize it as an 001B. It's a very light
pipe that really shows off grain and there was no debate as to its
acceptability as in previous years which saw us pouring through
catalogs and pipe shapes in search of a unique and widely
acceptable design. It was one of the few shapes that was
completely sold out within months after Christmas. It is no longer
available with the Christmas Pipe stampings but can be purchased
as an 001B.
When John came up to the shop in the summer of 1991 he more or
less had the Christmas Shape with him. It was a pipe we had made
as a unique shape previously that one of his customers had liked
and suggested as a Christmas Pipe. I wasn't so sure. I didn't
think its appeal would be universal enough. Also it was a fairly
large pipe and not that easy to make. I think I argued for another
design but in the end gave in. The entire shape run of 90 pipes
sold rather briskly proving I 'm better at making pipes than
marketing them!
The 1992 Christmas Pipe I honestly don't remember much
about. Sadly, a recession had just begun and pipes sales
plummeted. For a couple years after I mostly did pipe repair and
made some freehands for EA Carey untill things picked up again a
few years later. Here s the 92 from the collection of Robin Adair:
