Royal Copenhagen

December 2011

Porcelain is not a suitable material for a smoking pipe. Nevertheless, from the moment that porcelain was made in Europe, pipes have been made in that material. By making the pipe hollow-walled, part of the disadvantage, the development of condensation was compensated. The factory Royal Copenhagen Porcelain Co. Ltd. has released a series of pipes in the seventies of the last century. Popular shapes of briar pipes were copied for this purpose, mounted with a caoutchouc stem. Characteristic of that series is the blue underglaze in a hand-painted geometric-ornamental style based on stylized leaf work. The factory brand of three wave lines is painted at the bottom of the stem, where the porcelain changes in the mouthpiece. The pipes were never a success in sales. They were offered in luxury household stores, but also at the better tobacconist's, almost all over the world. However, the selling price was so high that most smokers did not dare to experiment and, surprisingly, some shapes remained on sale for decades. If we come across these pipes on the market today, they are usually unsmoked or used only a few times. That is not an indication of the smoking pleasure that the consumer experienced.

Amsterdam Pipe Museum APM 20.883

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