Stanwell 2007 65th Anniversary 2 Pipe Set (Kyringe No 1) Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Stanwell is one of Denmark’s most celebrated and enduring pipe companies, having been founded by Poul Nielsen shortly after the second world war. Over the last six decades, Stanwell has established itself as both a leader in innovative Danish design and for producing well-priced pipes with precision construction and engineering. Many of its designs were created for the company by iconic pipe-makers in the Scandinavian scene, such as Sixten Ivarsson, Anne Julie, Jess Chonowitsch, and Tom Eltang. In 1982, the Stanwell celebrated its 40th anniversary as a pipe company with a limited run of Jubilæum, or “Jubilee” pipes, each taking the form of a classic design from the make’s history. In 1992, Stanwell celebrated its 50th anniversary, with another limited edition run of classic shapes, along with the option to buy boxed sets containing each shape featured. In 2002, another limited edition run of classic shapes was released for the 60th anniversary. In 2007, however, Stanwell celebrated its 65th anniversary with another limited edition release, but this time, things were quite different. Collectors were instead offered the chance to buy a boxed, two-pipe set of unusually classical bulldog renditions, one made from briar, and the other from beech wood. Even stranger, the box and one of the pipes referred not to Stanwell, but to “Kyringe.” To understand this, a little context is required. First, Stanwell was not always called “Stanwell.” Founded in 1942, Poul Nielsen’s pipe making venture was originally called “Kyringe,” after the small town it was located in in. For a few years during the Second World War, Kyringe made pipes in a very traditional, Anglo-French style, though these pipes were initially made from beech wood, as the war had significantly disrupted the briar trade. After the war, Nielsen was able to acquire briar once again (albeit in a still somewhat restrictive volume), and he made the decision to change the name of his company from Kyringe to “Stanwell.” He is purported to have chosen “Stanwell” because it sounded English and thus benefitted from the connotations of England’s famously high quality pipes. By the 1950s, Nielsen had struck up a partnership with the pioneering Scandinavian artisan Sixten Ivarsson and, as a consequence, the aesthetic of Stanwell pipes shifted dramatically. Over the decades, Stanwell would enlist more and more famous artisans to create decidedly modern shapes for its catalog, creating the brand as we know it today. But in 2007, Stanwell went—if you’ll excuse the pun—back to its roots. The design chosen to represent 65 years of Danish pipe making was not a “Danish” one in the sense that the word is commonly used, but it was, nonetheless, Danish. The “No. 1” was the first shape manufactured by Kyringe and was subsequently manufactured under the Stanwell name, prior to the make’s design shifts that commenced toward the end of the 1940s. As Kyringe-brand renditions were turned from beech wood and Stanwell-brand ones turned from briar, the two-pipe set chosen for Stanwell’s 65th anniversary contained a reproduction of each; one No 1 in beech wood, marked with the Kyringe nomenclature, and one in briar, marked with Stanwell’s name. I’m not sure exactly how many Kyringe No 1 sets were made, though I presume very few. As it was a 2007 release, the pipes were made at Stanwell’s Borup factory, in Denmark, which will no doubt pique the interest of collectors. These pipes are completely unsmoked (the briar one has an original bowl coating) and come with their original presentation case.   Details: (Approximate for both pipes) Length: 5.2″ / 132.0mm Bowl Width: 0.74 / 18.79mm Bowl Depth: 1.03″ / 26.16mm Weight: 0.9oz / 28g

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