Special edition case

May 2009

The 150st anniversary of the high-end pipe factory Comoy is the reason to release this remarkable cassette. In a wooden, leather-covered show box we find six briar tobacco pipes, all of the tried and tested classic shape. Particularly special is that they are mounted with an eighteen-carat gold band in stead of a silver one, which even more marks that it is an occasional edition. Out of the six pipes, five have a straight stem, only the top one is bent. In this way they reflect the sense of fashion of the pipe smoker from the 1970s, who had a strong preference for straight stemmed pipes, certainly when he chose classic English pipes. Of course, the sixth model was meant for use at variance, at less formal moments. 150 copies were made of this luxury case, say one for each year of the factory's existence. The show box is intended for the discerning customer who is able to buy his pipes per half dozen. Perhaps more common for that time than today, but only for the well-to-do pipe smoker. The shopkeeper who purchased such a cassette at the time without finding a customer for it, could sell the pipes separately in the end. After a few customers, the half-empty box no longer looked nice and will have disappeared to the attic. It is still an open question how many of these show boxes are completely preserved nowadays and how many of them still contain pipes in an unsmoked condition.

Amsterdam Pipe Museum APM 19.721

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